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‘The Court Theatre is a Huge Part of our History’ – Gretchen La Roche on Taking the Theatre into a New Era

image Gretchen La Roche by Neil Macbeth

Gretchen La Roche is excited about what 2025 has in store for The Court Theatre. You can hear the enthusiasm in her voice when she talks about the new building in the heart of the city and how that new location will be a new beginning for the 53-year-old company.

Gretchen has been at the helm of The Court as executive director for the past six months and recently introduced the new season’s programme to much acclaim.

We spoke to her about what’s in store for The Court Theatre in its new home.

How are you enjoying the new role?

It’s fantastic. It’s a great organisation to work for and it’s got a lot of exciting things going on – obviously one of the things I’m really looking forward to is the brand-new theatre coming online next year with its fantastic programme, so it’s a really exciting time right now for The Court Theatre. It’s going to be a huge change and one that I think is going to be very stimulating for the company – being in the inner city is going to add a vitality to the company, I think. It’s going to be great to come back and be part of a wider creative neighbourhood.

Before this you were with Creative NZ, and before that you were with Chamber Music NZ and the CSO, so how is it for you to go from a very music-oriented background to a theatre role?

Each art form has its own very distinctive characteristics and qualities but then there’s also some commonalities. I’m here as executive director, we have a wonderful artistic director and associate artistic director and a great production team who work in the specialised space of theatre production, and so my role is quite different to that, it’s to look at the big picture stuff and help chart the direction of the company. At the moment there are two primary points; stabilising the organisation, helping it find its future direction and bringing it into the new theatre.

When you say stabilise, what does that mean?

I think it’s common knowledge that there have been some tough financial years and it’s gone through a big leadership change, so I guess the stabilisation is around building organisational culture and helping it to get back on track after some difficult years. Covid wasn’t easy for anyone and that is true for The Court.

It’s been really challenging for all arts organisations, particularly with Covid, but Christchurch does seem to have had more than its share of challenges, going right back to the earthquakes – and for The Court, it lost its home, so it hasn’t been an easy decade, has it?

I think The Court did remarkably well after the earthquakes. I think Phillip Aldridge did a great job in getting the shed up and running so quickly. I found that a really inspiring moment, personally, because it was showing that we had the ability to solve our problems here and find ways around them. It was a great statement of hope and confidence for the arts sector. But yes, it can be overlooked that Christchurch has had a lot of challenges in recent years. Earthquakes, the Mosque terror attacks and then Covid.

A triple whammy so to speak. I want to talk a little about The Court Theatre and its remarkable heritage. What have you learned since being in the role?

It’s really neat when you read back about the early history with Yvette Bromley and Mervyn Thompson starting it up and from what I understand there had been attempts at professional theatre in Christchurch prior to that but they hadn’t really taken off. I think it’s such an achievement to start any company, regardless of its longevity, but to establish a company and have it get 53 years under its belt, is just fantastic.  It’s had its challenges over the years but it’s always risen above.

How much of that ‘rising above’ has to do with Christchurch audiences do you think?

I think Christchurch audiences are hugely supportive. They’re adventurous, brave, loyal and forgiving as well. Loyalty and forgiveness are two very critical things, because nothing is certain for an arts organisation and you can’t make decisions solely based on numbers, there’s no magic formula. You do have to take artistic risks, and you have to push the boundaries sometimes and most of the time you get it about right, but sometimes you don’t, and that’s where both the loyalty and forgiveness of Christchurch audiences comes in.

And I guess that loyalty was very important through the disruption of the earthquakes?

Audiences were very forgiving and patient and stoic through a lot of temporary times as well. They staunchly stood by the arts when things would crop up, they’ve really stood alongside us. I think audiences here are very special, actually.

What kind of things are you going to bring to the role? You’ve talked about taking The Court into the future – does that future include things like expanding the education programme? You did a lot of that when you were with the CSO, so is that something you’re interested in exploring in this role?

Absolutely. The Court has a great educational programme and that focus is already broadening and expanding and the new theatre will give us more scope for that. It really supports that, because there are multiple adaptable spaces as well as a dedicated studio – the Rātā Foundation Studio for education and engagement – and these spaces can be used for all sorts of things: workshops, masterclasses, development, and readings – right through into developing and presenting work.

It sounds like a space that lends itself to collaboration.

Partnerships and working with others is very important. Nobody can be expert in all things so it makes sense to partner with others who have expertise in other areas, and then together you can do some pretty magical things. I think too, it’s that wider understanding of the space. It’s also going to be available for other parts of the performing arts and arts community to make use of. It’s a very special thing that the city has invested in this theatre and yes, it’s the home of The Court theatre, but it’s also critical that it’s a welcoming space to support the creative endeavours of others.

So it’s fair to say the new space is a very exciting prospect for you. 

I was really fortunate to have a tour last year, and they’d just announced they were starting to recruit for this role, and it wasn’t actually something I’d been thinking about, but once I went on that tour of the space and saw the opportunity that sat there for The Court to make into its future – it really made me want to be a part of that.

Christchurch has been a great springboard for so many artists, particularly in theatre – Ngaio Marsh and a whole host of other actors come to mind – but actually it’s not just actors, is it? The Court itself has nurtured technical directors, and lighting people and wardrobe people – a whole range of creative careers have been launched from there.

The Court is very special in this regard. It’s producing house theatre, so everything from conception to delivery is actually made, developed, and thought-of from within the company itself. That’s really special because we’re really the last theatre in Aotearoa fully of that model. When you have all that knowledge and expertise in the one place then you get a better artistic outcome, but you also have all that knowledge of how all the pieces interlink and it becomes of greater importance that you are seeking to pass that on to others. You won’t experience that anywhere else in the country now, and it’s rare even in Australia. From my point of view, it’s absolutely something worth embracing and making more of because it’s so rare and special and it has a critical part to play in future career making and legacy. The vast number of people who have come through the Court Theatre and have gone on to do other things, is a hugely important part of our history.

It’s really about not only honouring the heritage but broadening the legacy, isn’t it?

Yeah. It’s always a fascinating thing. The length of history of a lot of the professional arts in New Zealand is younger here but that becomes a really interesting thing to ponder -how to honour history and legacy but avoid getting caught as a museum piece. That’s where the creative evolution is critical.

You can see that in your programme – it’s a lovely balance of classic New Zealand works but also more contemporary pieces.

That’s awesome to hear because the response has been really positive. I’m chuffed for the team who put that together because they’ve responded really well to the idea of balance and variety and range. The new theatre, again, allows us to exploit the difference between the two primary spaces in the building and reflect that in the programming.

If you had to distil it down to a sentence, what is the essence of The Court Theatre for you?

I’d like to think it’s connected into its community, so it understands the people of Christchurch and Canterbury and responds to that through a broad offering of work that’s reflective of who we are and that also encompasses bravery. On top of that I would say it’s also about skill and quality and knowledge.

What theatre has really connected with you personally here in Christchurch?

It’s been really exciting to see ‘The Savage Coloniser’ come through WORD. Work at Little Andromeda is really great. I’m very excited about ‘A Doll’s House’ coming up at The Court, you don’t get to see a lot of Ibsen these days!

Did you do drama at school?

No. I was always in the orchestra pit for the school productions!

Just finally how does being in Christchurch affect your own creativity? I know you’re not originally from here, but do you find it an inspiring city to live in?

I do. I love the energy in the city at the moment, it’s extraordinary. There’s a real sense of pride and belief in this place. I love the big open sky. The whole geographic setting just screams possibility to me. The connection between the sky, the Port Hills and the ocean just lifts my soul.

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