Fortune favours the brave

Dunedin is one of the smallest cities in the world able to maintain a professional theatre. And life is certainly full of drama at the Fortune Theatre. Nigel Benson peeks behind the curtains.

It's 1974, and a class of Corstorphine School children shuffle excitedly into the Fortune Theatre in the Octagon to see their teacher, Kay Thomson, perform in Charley's Aunt.

I'm not the only 10-year-old who starts a lifelong love affair with theatre that day.

In the past 34 years, legions of people have experienced something special at the Fortune Theatre.

In many ways, the Fortune is our canary in the coal mine.

When it is healthy, it is a sign our local arts community is healthy.

The Fortune was founded in July, 1974, by Huntly Elliot, Murray Hutchinson, David Carnegie and Alex Gilchrist.

It was originally located in the Otago Cine Club theatrette, at the rear of the Athenaeum building in the Octagon, but by 1978, it had outgrown the location and moved to the Trinity Methodist Church, at the top of Moray Pl.

The church was designed by R. A. Lawson as the third building in his First Church and Knox Church trilogy, and has a New Zealand Historic Places Trust "B" classification.

A few months before his death in 1999, Huntly Elliot said: "Back in 1973, the idea of starting a professional theatre in Dunedin seemed a logical one.

"At the time, all other main centres and some smaller ones had thriving community theatres and Dunedin had not."

The Southern Comedy Players, which had been an institution at the Playhouse Theatre in Albany St, had disbanded several years earlier.

"We agreed on the need for a professional company - one which would bring together the city's then parochial audiences, provide regular work for its actors, and offer Dunedin theatre-goers some continuity."

Huntly Elliot had seen his vision realised by the time he died on May 27, 2000.

Head of design Peter King originally joined the Fortune as a trainee stage manager in 1978, just as the move to its present home was being completed.

"For a young person, it was a very colourful time. It was almost like olde England.

"We'd get a lot of English actors out here in those days; people like Peter Drake and William Bullock.

"You could almost smell the grease makeup coming out of their skin," King said with a smile.

"We'd work every day for six months without a day off. They paid me $70 a week. I don't know if we ever got full houses in the Athenaeum.

"It was old-school theatre and it was a fringe thing. We took it very seriously, but we also used to drink a lot of alcohol."

King later ran his own theatre design company in Australia for 20 years, before returning to the Fortune in 2001.

"It was lovely coming back. You walk into that theatre and you can be transported somewhere else. They can take you on a journey you hadn't imagined.

"There are so many more things for people to do these days, with all the electronic devices and everything.

"But that's one of the greatest things about theatre - it's one of the few things that haven't changed," he said.

"We're very privileged to have professional theatre in a town of this size. That's one of the things I love about Dunedin; you can live in a small town, but still do big-city stuff."

Theatre manager Janice Marthen enthused: "Peter's sets are incredible. He's a genius at what he does.

"The Fortune is renowned for the quality of its sets. It's one of the areas where I think we've made amazing progress in the last few years.

"We're attracting directors and actors and staff of international standing."

The Fortune budgets for 2500 to 3000 people attending each production.

"It's tough. It's really tough. If one show doesn't fly, it has an incredible impact on the next production. You can tear yourself up thinking, `Why?'." Marthen said.

"Our goal is to engage on both sides of the stage. We're after that unique connection between the audience and actors.

"We want to inspire and transform people's lives, because that's what we believe theatre can do."

The Fortune receives $430,000 from Creative New Zealand and $45,000 from the Dunedin City Council, which is used for overheads and to help subsidise ticket prices.

"We'd be looking at $75 or $80 a ticket otherwise," Marthen said.

"Our budget's very tight. Without Creative New Zealand, we couldn't exist.

"We're always looking for new backers and sponsors. We're very lucky to have supporters like the Bank of New Zealand, Perpetual Trust, Vincent George House of Travel, WHK Taylors, the Dunedin City Council and the Community Trust of Otago.

"They've all been incredibly supportive for a long, long time," Marthen said.

"As the economy tightens, perhaps theatre is going to go to the back of people's minds as entertainment, but I firmly believe we can still promote world-class theatre at affordable prices.

"It's going to be a challenge, but we will rise to that challenge," she said.

"The core audience has been changing in the last couple of years. We've had a 20% increase in children and families.

"The Twits broke all box-office records. We were getting letters afterwards from kids saying they wanted to be actors, which is wonderful.

"And God love Roger Hall. Long may he continue writing plays. He's a phenomenon in New Zealand.

"People have a real relationship with his characters. It's extraordinary that a writer can talk to people in that way."

The Fortune is also committed to its regional audiences and tours a major production every year.

"The tour is a super passion, because it's an opportunity for regional people to see our work.

"We want to give the people of Otago and Southland world-class theatre that everyone can be exceptionally proud of.

"We'd love to tour more, but it's a very expensive exercise," Marthen said.

"I think the power of live performance will always have a place. Human beings need to connect with each other. I call it the `goosebump factor'. It's an extraordinary thing."

When she spoke to the Otago Daily Times, Jude Gibson had just taken another curtain call at the Fortune after playing Blanche in the latest production, A Streetcar Named Desire.

"As an actor, [I find] the Fortune's atmosphere, especially vocally, is an absolute joy. It has an amazing acoustic, because of all the wood.

"You can feel the voices, rather than just hearing them," she said.

"Not many theatres have that these days. They're all made of concrete.

"I really enjoy the Fortune, and Dunedin. There's a certain standard of work that's produced here that agrees with me professionally," she said.

"I believe theatre has to be of such a good quality that it really speaks to people. It has to be produced to a level of excellence.

"Streetcar is right up there. It's of international standard and Dunedin should be very proud of that.

"Dunedin is very lucky that there have always been people here who were willing to put themselves on the line for theatre down here."

Gibson (53) has been a professional actor since she was 19.

"I was one of the first wave of Kiwi actors to make the choice to stay here, rather than pursue that much-travelled path to England," she said.

"We wanted to stay and produce theatre here, in New Zealand, with our own voice. But it's been hard. Very hard.

"Like all artists, you go through times of doubt about your ability. It's not for the faint-hearted.

"But you reach a point in life where you have to trust the steps you have taken are the right ones.

"It's a wonderful feeling when someone comes up to you on the street and says, 'You really touched me.' It's gold - and fuel - when something like that happens."

Singer-songwriter Jae Bedford can be found pouring drinks in the Fortune house bar when he's not clipped to a guitar.

"It's amazing how much the role affects the actors. Some of them have to come to the bar after the show and have a couple of drinks to get out of character.

"Sometimes, they're the nicest people, but they'll be rude when they're asking for a drink, because they're still in character.

"Other ones can't lose their accents," he mused.

"The after-show parties can be pretty crazy, too. We get lots of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert dancing. I usually put Johnny Cash on when I want to make the cast leave and I need to go home to bed," he said with a laugh.

Bedford is one of several multi-talented Fortune staff. The Jae Bedford Band has played at the Otago Museum every month for the past five years and his single Where To Go From Here? recently won best New Zealand composition at the Gold Guitar Awards.

Meanwhile, marketing assistant Louise Moulin has just published her first novel, Saltskin, and also found time to write several songs on Jackie Bristow's latest album, Crazy Love, which was nominated last month for the New Zealand country album of the year.

Production manager Alan Surgener has been working in theatre since he was a 10-year-old schoolboy in Ayr, Scotland.

"New Zealand is the 25th country I've worked in and this would be one of the best theatres I've worked in," he said.

"I love it here. Janice's management is driving it really well.

"She's implemented a lot of changes here that theatre people I've known for decades are talking about; like having a different artistic director for each production, which I think has been a very, very positive step. It keeps things fresh and new."

Stage manager Brendan van den Berg moved to New Zealand from South Africa two years ago with his partner, artist Martin Maass.

The pair have worked on South African television soaps as well as movies such as Blood Diamond, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and 10,000BC, which was largely filmed in Otago last year.

"We love it here. In New Zealand, you're allowed to be a person; you can just be yourself. There's a sharing here that's lovely.

"In South Africa there's a saying: 'Every rooster on his own heap.' People don't want to share over there," van den Berg said.

"I think that's part of why theatre is so alive in this country. In South Africa, it's a real struggle to get people to go to theatre instead of the movies," he said.

"Coming here to the Fortune, you feel the energy when you walk into the place. It's an emotional roller coaster every night.

"Every night it drains you. There's only one take every night and every one is different. It's an amazing thing."