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THE END OF THE GOLDEN WEATHER
By Bruce Mason, in a company version by Raymond Hawthorne
CAST
NARRATOR
Sir Ian Mune KNZM OBE
ENSEMBLE
Mark Hadlow ONZM
ENSEMBLE
Alison Walls
Kathleen Burns
James Kupa
Gregory Cooper
ENSEMBLE
Sela Faletolu-Fasi
ENSEMBLE
Anna McPhail
PRODUCTION
DIRECTOR
Lara Macgregor
MOVEMENT DIRECTOR
Hillary Moulder
LIGHTING DESIGNER
Martyn Roberts
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER
Tim Bain
COSTUME CONSTRUCTION
Sarah Chisnell
Findlay Currie
ENSEMBLE
Nick Tipa
Reylene Rose Hilaga
SET DESIGNER
Mark McEntyre
SOUND COMPOSER/DESIGNER
Matt Short
OPERATOR
Geoff Nunn
COSTUME DESIGNER
Deborah Moor
STAGE MANAGER
Jo Bunce
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Annie de Senna
PROPS MANAGER
Julian Southgate
SET BUILD MANAGER
Matthew Duffy
COSTUME MANAGER
Daniella Salazar
PROPS ASSISTANT
Rochelle Wright
SET CONSTRUCTION
Seth Edwards-Ellis
Edward Roche
Richard van den Berg
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Ted Eason (Photography and Videography), Charlie Jackson of Charlie Rose Creative (Photography), Sarah Rowan (Video Editing), Sandra Roberts of Skip Ink (Publicity), Jamie Boyd (Makeup), Patrice Hammond (Hair & Wigs), Krissy Clark (Scenic Painter) and Dean Holdaway (Technical Support). Programme proudly printed by Caxton.
Running Time: 120 minutes including a 20 minute interval
The End of the Golden Weather staged at The Court Theatre 3 May to 7 June 2025.
Ross Gumbley
Artistic
Advisor
Welcome to The Court Theatre’s forever home!
In 1971 a group of brave and driven individuals, melded together by the indomitable Yvette Bromley, realised their vision and created a professional theatre company for Canterbury. And yet this new company was without a home. For the first 4 years of The Court Theatre’s existence the company moved from digs to digs in search of a place to reside. The company played in the visually stunning, but acoustically challenged, Canterbury Provincial Chambers. But the shared use of that venue proved to be too challenging with sets and props often having to be struck on a daily basis. A litany of unsuitable venues followed. None of these spaces were ideal and sometimes barely even suitable! But they allowed the company to survive. Survival being the company’s key characteristic.
In the mid-seventies The Court Theatre found a home in The Arts Centre. What is forgotten now, because of the length of the tenure, is that The Arts Centre was always considered to be a temporary venue. However, it was the intense intimacy of those spaces that drove the evolution of the company. It resulted in The Court Theatre’s famously high production standards; if an audience member is seated a yard away from an actor their costume has to be superbly made.
By 2011 the company was at bursting point, crammed into a listed building that prevented the company from expanding. The earthquake on 22 February 2011 evicted the company from The Arts Centre. The Shed in Addington was found a week later and has been the company’s home till now. Addington
was also a temporary venue. Owned by a group of businessmen with commercial interests at heart, the building was too hot in Summer and too cold in Winter. Oh, and the roof was apparently made from an old sieve. But, ‘The Shed’, bless her, was a lifeboat for the company. Well… that’s all changed.
Welcome to the home that The Court Theatre has been seeking for 54 years. The Gough Family Foyer of the new Court Theatre space exemplifies the building’s commitment to sustainability and the use of locally sourced materials; the laminated timber is from Rotorua, the Blackwood floors from the West Coast and the steel is from Bromley. Both auditoria - the Stewart Family Theatre and the Wakefield Family Front Room - have been designed to maximise an audiences’ engagement with the work.
Supporting the twin stages are a series of spaces rich with natural light where all the disciplines of a producing theatre can live; costume construction, the Rātā Foundation Studio, home to the many and varied educational programmes that are offered by The Court Theatre, props construction, a workshop for set construction, rehearsal spaces, space for administration and marketing. The Court Theatre building is finished off with a series of flexible spaces, all decked out and ready for performance, that can adapt to the requirements of the company, and the city, for many years to come.
We set out to design a permanent home for The Court Theatre; to serve our local audience and visitors to Ōtautahi. We may have created the best theatre space in Aotearoa… that is for you to judge.
Dr. Alison Walls
Artistic
Director
Nau mai, haere mai.
What an honour and a joy to welcome you to The End of the Golden Weather at The Court Theatre in the heart of the city.
Planning a season is a challenging, if exciting, task, but it is especially daunting to plan a season for a brand-new theatre. And yet, the easiest choice for our Ryman Healthcare 2025 Season was, in the end, The End of the Golden Weather.
We knew that the first show of the season and in the Stewart Family Theatre had to carry some symbolic weight—as well as be simply a great piece of theatre. We felt strongly that the first work in The Court Theatre’s permanent home—the realisation of a dream that began in 1971 when the theatre made its premiere in the Canterbury Provincial Council Chambers—had to be a piece from Aotearoa that had a place in our theatrical legacy. What better than one of the first New Zealand plays to rightly hold its own as a classic.
Bruce Mason’s iconic work has an irresistible poetry to it that captures the essence of the fictional Te Parenga in the 1930s (in reality, Takapuna) through humour and the delightful specificity of its multitude of characters, which lend the play the authenticity and subjectivity of personal memory that somehow simultaneously evokes universal experience.
But the first show in the Ryman Healthcare 2025 Season also had to have the scope and scale worthy of our new stage, and so we have chosen Raymond Hawthorne’s well-established company version. Lara
Macgregor as director was another easy choice. Lara is a superb and accomplished director and actor, who not only has a long and close relationship with The Court Theatre, but has the sensitivity to text, character, and environment that this play demands. Working with her are some of Aotearoa’s finest designers: set designer, Mark McEntyre, costume designer, Deborah Moor, sound designer, Matt Short, and lighting designer Martyn Roberts. It is our great honour to have Sir Ian Mune, who directed the film of The End of the Golden Weather, leading the ensemble as Narrator.
We are grateful to our loyal show sponsor Harmans Lawyers and to our season sponsor Ryman Healthcare. These sponsorships help make professional theatre in the heart of Ōtautahi a reality. Nor could we do this without our core funder, Creative New Zealand, or our other valued supporters, funders and donors.
The End of the Golden Weather is a wonderful start to our Ryman Healthcare 2025 Season. Our new space, with two distinct theatres has broadened the horizon of artistic possibility. The Ryman Healthcare 2025 season is full and varied. We have works by Aotearoa’s most important playwrights and a Shakespeare, alongside bold new works from Aotearoa and abroad, rounding out the year with a fun and vibrant musical. Scared Scriptless has its new home in the Wakefield Family Front Room and the Education and Engagement Department is busier than ever.
Our doors are open and we are delighted to share everything that live, professional theatre can offer you.
“You created no mana, no reputation or authority to justify your work. In fact, to most people, it wasn’t work at all, just pretentious frivolity” - Bruce Mason
Though he had worked across every sector of the theatre, Mason acknowledged he couldn’t truly claim to have carved out a career. Instead, he faced his frustration head-on:
“I’m a Kiwi, born and bred. We’re at our best in a corner: good improvisers, bad experts, as an American critic once said of us. No theatrical framework? Right, then, I would create my own. Touring a play is expensive? Then cut to the minimum, table and chair. Scenery is costly to make and cumbersome to cart around? Do it all with words: appeal directly to the audience’s imagination. Casts are expensive? Be your own. Do all forty parts. Play anywhere, in any circumstances, to any audience.”
Mason performed The End of the Golden Weather solo 250 times in the first two years, and 986 times in total throughout his prolific career. He brought it to life in small halls and established theatres alike, across Aotearoa, until cancer made it too difficult to continue touring.
His final performance of the play was recorded with Radio New Zealand in March and April 1981 — famously holding up the sagging side of his face to speak with his usual clarity.
Bruce died on the last day of 1982, having just completed work with Sir Ian Mune KNZM OBE on the film adaptation, which reached the big screen in 1991.
The overwhelming importance of performing this piece is felt by everyone involved in the company — from honouring Bruce Mason and his legacy in a world where professional acting in New Zealand once didn’t exist, to sharing a space with Sir Ian Mune KNZM OBE, who helped bring Bruce’s work to a wider audience.
There is no more fitting way to open this new chapter at The Court Theatre.
Lara MacGregor Director
In 1969 Bruce Mason was interviewed for a television programme celebrating the 500th performance of his original one-person version of The End of the Golden Weather that he came close to performing 1000 times around the country over the previous decade.
In that interview he was asked where he wanted to ‘get’ within the arts and he replied, “I just wanted to feel that I had a
calling for theatre and that this calling would at length be recognised, so that I could give my life and best energies to it. But you can’t work in a vacuum. A man won’t write symphonies, if there’s no orchestra to play them.” There was no solid theatrical framework at that time in New Zealand for Bruce – or any other New Zealand professional – to hang their coat on. There was no way for him to build a reputation “…or authority to justify work.” In the eyes of most of the country at that time acting, the arts, was considered “pretentious frivolity”.
How was Bruce to know that over fifty years after this interview, his work would live to see yet another life, held respectfully within a thriving artistic framework – The Court Theatre, and the orchestra that is their incredible new building.
To all the people who have worked so tirelessly to enable this vision to come into being to provide us this framework on which we can justify our work –THANK YOU.
To this special cast of creatives, who have worked so beautifully to realise this gentle story – THANK YOU.
And finally, to Sir Ian Mune. What you have brought to this journey is beyond words. Your heart, your connection to this story and to Bruce, weave a richness into this production I never dreamed possible.
THANK YOU.
SIR IAN MUNE KNZM OBE
Narrator
Ian Mune has a unique relationship with The End of the Golden Weather. A major professional highlight was bringing this Kiwi classic to the big screen back in 1991, so reconnecting with the original in his first appearance at The Court Theatre is a special occasion.
Early in his career, Ian chose to return to New Zealand after two years with the Welsh Theatre Company in order to ‘talk my own language’something he’s done with distinction ever since as actor, writer, director, producer, mentor, narrator, and author, earning many awards and much recognition along the way. Sleeping Dogs, Came A Hot Friday, What Became of the Broken Hearted, and the documentary tribute Billy T - Te Movie are just some examples.
James Kupa Boy
James (Ngāti Kahungunu) is a graduate of Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School (Bachelor of Performing Arts). His Court Theatre credits include The Perfumed Garden, Frankenstein, The Girl on the Train, Dance Nation, and Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express.
His other theatre credits include Betty’s Summer Vacation, Twelfth Night (Toi Whakaari), A Streetcar Named Desire (Circa Theatre), Strange Resting Places (Taki Rua), Penalties, Pints and Pirouettes (Centrepoint Theatre), and Dungeons & Comedians (Little Andromeda).
James’ television credits include Dark City: The Cleaner, The Brokenwood Mysteries, Ka Pai Living, Agent Anna, and Nothing Trivial.
Gregory Cooper Firpo
Gregory has been a professional actor, writer and director for over 25 years. His Court Theatre credits include Elling, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and The Wind in the Willows.
He wrote and directed Mark Hadlow’s one actor show MAMIL (Middle Aged Man In Lycra) and co-wrote That Bloody Woman, a rock musical about Kate Sheppard.
In 2023 he directed his play Mr & Mrs Macbeth for The Professional Theatre Company in Nelson and this returned for a season at The Court Theatre. His latest play MAMIL 2: GOMIL (Grumpy Old Man In Lycra) had a successful season at the Isaac Theatre Royal earlier this year with a nation-wide tour planned.
MArk Hadlow ONZM
Ensemble
Mark Hadlow, ONZM, is one of New Zealand’s best-known actors, with countless theatre, film, television, commercial, and radio credits. He has directed theatre, opera, and film throughout New Zealand.
Court Theatre highlights include lead roles in Elling and The Father. Other theatre highlights include MAMIL, written by good friend Gregory Cooper and performed over 330 times to more than 70,000 people, and the sequel GOMIL which opened in Ōtautahi Christchurch in February 2025. Film highlights include the Sir Peter Jackson films The Hobbit Trilogy, King Kong, Meet the Feebles, and Mortal Engines; as well as Blue Moon, for which he won Best Actor at the 2024 IPAAF Awards. Mark is also Artistic Director of The Professional Theatre Company in Whakatū Nelson.
Kathleen Burns
Ensemble
Kathleen’s career began at The Court Theatre in 2003 with The Court Jesters, and she still performs in Scared Scriptless. Since then, she has worked the country as an actor, writer and director. She is also a graduate of the National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Art.
Her previous Court Theatre acting credits include Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, Educating Rita, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Ladies Night, Steel Magnolias, The Pink Hammer, RENT, and Sense and Sensibility. Other theatre credits from around the country include A Servant to Two Masters, Under Milkwood, Cinderella, and Treasure Island (Circa Theatre), Avenue Q, Five Women Wearing the Same Dress, and Flagons and Foxtrots (Fortune Theatre). Her screen credits include Sextortion, Ghost Shark 2, The Bostrom Scenario, and Wilbert Wire.
Sela Faletolu-Fasi Ensemble
Sela Faletolu-Fasi is a Pacific writer, director, and actor from Ōtautahi Christchurch. Her Court Theatre credits include Matai in 2017 and Fresh Off The Boat in 2019.
Her other theatre highlights include collaborating with The Court Theatre in 2013 to bring No Limits, a Maori and Pacific youth performing arts group that she founded after the earthquake to perform Speak Your Truth to a sold-out audience on the mainstage.
Most recently, Sela has been touring New Zealand early this year with her new play, Love; Mum as the writer/director/producer/actor after a soldout development season in 2024.
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Monday - Friday: 11:30am - 2:30pm, 4:30pm - late Saturday & Sunday: 9am - late reservations@odeon.co.nz 022 420 1378
Nick Tipa Ensemble
Nick Tipa (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Hāteatea) is a graduate of 16th Street Actors’ Studio (Full-Time Programme). This is his first Court Theatre production. His other theatre highlights include The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), The World’s First Lovers, and Romeo and Juliet
Nick is a writer, having recently written and staged his play Babyface at the Dunedin Fringe Festival. He is also a musician, with original music released under his own name and his band Laney Blue. For his role as Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Nick won a 2023 Dunedin Theatre Award for best actor in a male role.
Alison Walls Ensemble
Alison Walls is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College (MFA, Acting) and The Graduate Center (PhD, Theatre and Performance Studies). She has directed Katzenmusik (The Court Youth Company) and Dance Nation for The Court Theatre. Her other theatre highlights include Henry V (Wellington Summer Shakespeare), Fuddy Meers (director, BATS, Chapman Tripp Award nominee), When the Rain Stops Falling (Circa Theatre), and Antony and Cleopatra (director, Wellington Summer Shakespeare). Alison’s television credits include Passion in Paradise. Her film credits include The Calf, Poles Apart, and Bone Creek. Alison has performed and directed in Wellington, Chicago, and New York. While living in New York, Alison was a proud company member of New York theatre non-profit The Upstart Creatures.
Anna McPhail Ensemble
Anna is a graduate of Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School (Bachelor of Performing Arts) and The University of Canterbury (Grad Dip Teaching and Learning). Her Court Theatre credits include Proof, King Lear, Hamlet, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.
She is currently a Drama Teacher at Christchurch Girls’ High School and would like to thank the Principal and the Board, for granting her leave to participate in this marvellous production.
Reylene ROSE Hilaga Ensemble
Reylene Rose is a graduate of the National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Art (Bachelor of Performing Arts – Music Theatre). Her Court Theatre credits include The Littlest Ninja, Thumbelina, and Scared Scriptless. Her other theatre highlights include PLAY PLAY (Cubbin Theatre Company), Around the World in 80 Days (Anthony Harper Summer Show), and Dungeons and Comedians (Little Andromeda). Reylene is a member of The Court Jesters and Equity New Zealand, and is an in-house producer at Asian Waves Productions. She is the singer of the track “Backspace…Delete” from Isolation Mixtape Volume 2 (Blackboard Theatre Collective), and is a regular player on the online D&D series Dice Legenz.
Deborah Moor Costume Designer
I feel absolutely thrilled and privileged to be asked to design the costumes for The End of the Golden Weather by Bruce Mason, the very first production in this beautiful new home after working for The Court Theatre since 2000.
The play is set in 1930s New Zealand in the summer, at the time of the depression when life had its own challenges after WW1. It is a carefree time initially for the Boy, until events start to impact on how he views the world.
Bruce has many beautiful pieces of narrative that give a roundness to some of the characters we see briefly, but interestingly his own family have very few descriptions. Just the same as our own families would if we were writing about them, as they are so familiar to us. Lara’s brief to me was to lean into these beautiful descriptions, with a lot of colour to stand out from the set.
One of the challenges has been to tell this story with very few actors playing many different roles, with sometimes only a few lines between changes of character.
There have been many moments to have fun along with keeping the 1930s feel for these characters. Doing the research is the most fun part and always my starting point. Then comes the challenging part of multiple characters and choosing fabrics that resonate for the period, along with pieces we have in stock from our amazing collection. Juggling characters and fast changes, hoping along the way that everything comes together in the end.
What a privilege to work with Lara and this amazing cast and crew, back with many people I have worked with for years.
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MURDER ON THE TORMORE EXPRESS A THRILLING WINTER ADVENTURE
Embark on an unforgettable night aboard Tormore Express. A sold-out event in 2024, this immersive experience combines a scenic train ride and a multi-course dinner with a grappling whodunit mystery. Work together with fellow passengers to solve the crime and enjoy a performance from The Court Jesters.
DATES: 12 July and 16 August 2025
For more information and to book, please scan the QR code or call us on 0800 872 467
Lara Macgregor Director
Lara works as an actor, director, and performance coach in theatre and film throughout New Zealand. She studied acting in New York City with Uta Hagen and Anthony Abeson and worked for ten years as an actor in the U.S. She holds a Post-Graduate Diploma in Directing from The National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney and has directed over 40 productions in the last decade.
In 2009, Lara was appointed Associate Artistic Director at The Court Theatre, then became Artistic Director at Fortune Theatre in 2010. In 2024 she founded her own company, Birds of a Feather, directing Suzie Miller’s global sensation Prima Facie.
Lara is represented by the incredible team at Gail Cowan Management.
HilLary Moulder
Movement
Director
Hillary has choreographed productions such as Ladies Night, Once, Flagons and Foxtrots, Next to Normal, Matilda the Musical, That Bloody Woman, Mamma Mia!, Fun Home and more. She has also performed in productions such as Strictly Ballroom the Musical, Chicago, Jesus Christ Superstar, Jersey Boys, Time Machine, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, A Streetcar Named Desire, A Christmas Carol, Matilda the Musical, Beauty and the Beast - The Pantomime, and We Were Dangerous (Piki Films). In addition to this Hillary has directed the enchanting shows Sense and Sensibility, A Flight Before Christmas, Every Brilliant Thing, and Mamma Mia!.
She is a proud member of Equity New Zealand and is truly grateful to be a part of the first production in The Court Theatre’s new forever home.
Mark mcentyre Set Designer
Mark is best known in the theatre world for his set designs for The Court Theatre, Tawata Productions, Pacific Underground, NZ International Festival of the Arts, Melbourne Arts Festival, Christchurch Arts Festival, Taki Rua Productions, and Auckland Theatre Company. Mark has represented New Zealand in the Prague Quadrennial of Scenography and Theatre Architecture. Mark’s recent designs include O le Pepelo, le Gaoi, ma la Pala’ai (IKENSO/Auckland Theatre Company for the Auckland Arts Festival), Transmission Beta (Circa Theatre), Ngā Rorirori (Tawata Productions, National Tour), Prima Facie (Birds of a Feather), and Dawn Raids (Pacific Underground). Mark is also the Academic Manager of Performing Arts and a supervisor in the Post Graduate programme, Master of Creative Practice, Ara, Te Pūkenga.
Martyn Roberts
Lighting
Designer
Martyn Roberts is a multi-award-winning lighting designer and Senior Professional Practice fellow at the University of Otago in Dunedin, NZ. Martyn has been creating award winning light and set designs for several years both here in NZ and overseas.
He has recently designed Commentary of Dreaming for Company Beck, Wahine Mātātoa for Theatreworks, Company (by Samuel Beckett) and the interactive production The Anderson Localisation, all in the 2025 Dunedin Arts Festival. In 2024 he worked with Lara Macgregor and Mark McEntyre on the award-winning production of Prima Facie in Dunedin, starring Serena Cotton. He founded afterburner in 2001, a light and sound collective creating installation/theatre hybrid pieces. He designed the lighting for Peninsula by Gary Henderson for The Court Theatre in 2005.
DEBORAH MOOR
Costume
Designer
Deborah has worked in theatre for 25 years, designing and producing costumes for plays and musicals. She has worked for The Court Theatre since 2000, becoming the Costume Department Manager in 2019 and managing for 3 years. Some of her favourite shows have been My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins, Jersey Boys, and many children’s productions including Puff the Magic Dragon and Disney’s Frozen JR. Her design credits include Backwards in High Heels, Glorious, Winston’s Birthday, and Once, amongst others. Deborah has worked nationally and internationally on various projects, creating work for Southern Ballet, Southern Opera, Circo Arts, and Jenny Gillies. She also designed the costumes for Showbiz’s Come From Away this year. Deborah is thrilled to be designing the first show in the new theatre. She feels very privileged to have worked in three Court Theatres.
Matt Short
Sound Composer/Designer
From the bustling streets of London to the vibrant stages of New Zealand, Matt’s career has spanned the dynamic world of media and entertainment. Beginning as a marketing rep for a major record label, he quickly moved into broadcast television, becoming a senior camera operator for British Sky Broadcasting. Mastering the Radamec and Stanton crane systems, Matt gained invaluable experience in live TV production in the studio and on international assignments. Returning to New Zealand, Matt worked with TVNZ, co-filming, recording sound, and composing music for an adventure guide series, before making his mark as a composer and sound designer.
Matt brings his extensive technical expertise and creative vision as a Technician and Sound Composer/Designer, ready to captivate audiences with his work.
UPTRAIN, DOWNTRAIN HIGH TEA, HIGH DRAMA & HI-JINKS ON THE TRAIN
Step aboard a Great Journeys New Zealand's train for an unforgettable experience featuring an interactive performance by The Court Theatre. As the stunning landscapes roll by, indulge in an exquisite high tea and sip on champagne, all while being swept into the glamour and intrigue of 1920s high society. A captivating family drama unfolds around you, making for an immersive and unforgettable journey. Themed attire is highly encouraged.
DATE: 31 May, 26 July and 30 August 2025
For more information and to book, please scan the QR code or call us on 0800 872 467
www. g r e at jou rn eysnz .co m
Julian Southgate
Properties Manager
Julian has designed numerous Court Theatre sets including Side by Side by Sondheim, Much Ado About Nothing, Pacific Post, The Women, Amadeus, End of the Rainbow, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Plum, Le Sud, Romeo and Juliet, Exit the King, In the Next Room, or the vibrator play, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, The Wind in the Willows, A Streetcar Named Desire, Sense and Sensibility, Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, and A Doll’s House.
His other stage set designs include Cats, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (Showbiz Christchurch), and the national tour of Pinocchio (Royal New Zealand Ballet). Julian has also made props and sculptures for numerous festivals, operas, and outdoor and street theatre.
Jo Bunce
Stage Manager
Jo is a long-term theatre professional with over 30 years of experience in live theatre and film. She graduated from the University of Canterbury with a Bachelor of Arts in 1994 and went on to earn a diploma in Technical Production from Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School in 1996.
Throughout her career, Jo has worked as a stage manager, lighting designer, and operator both in New Zealand and internationally. Her passion for live performance has seen her involved in over 60 productions for The Court Theatre since 1996, where she currently serves as the head stage manager. Some of the highlights of Jo’s career at The Court Theatre include Amadeus, End of the Rainbow, Stephen King’s Misery, Sense and Sensibility, and Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express.
T H E V I C T O R I A
Nestled in the heart of Christchurch, The Victoria Free House is a warm and inviting pub where great drinks, delicious food, and good times come together We pride ourselves on our welcoming atmosphere, friendly service, and a lively lineup of events. From live music to comedy, there is always something happening at The Vic
All Day Menu
B E S T A P P E T I Z E R S
We make it easy to quench your thirst with a quick pint, a fine local wine, or a snappy cocktail With 20 beers on tap, including crisp lagers, bold IPAs, and smooth stouts, including, Guinness there’s always the perfect pour waiting for you.
We have a selection of snacks, and generous sharing platters, and a fast, pre-theatre dinner service. If you're after a quick bite with your drink with friends, or a hearty meal before the show, we serve up quality, flavour, and fast service
779 Colombo Street, (on the corner of Armagh)
minute walk from The Court Theatre
Show your ticket for 10% off food & drinks at the Victoria
Mark McEntyre Set Designer
The End of the Golden Weather marks the return of The Court Theatre back into the city. I have been part of The Court Theatre family for over 30 years, and so it is exciting to be part of the first project in the new home.
The design process started for me by listening to a podcast of Bruce Mason performing the play in its original form as a solo performance. I was inspired by the quality of Bruce Mason’s voice and the rhythm of his delivery. For me, these qualities evoked a nostalgic memory of my childhood growing up in a coastal community in New Zealand, a territory that provided the opportunity to explore and try to capture the heart of innocence that we call childhood.
The design process is always collaborative. I worked closely with Lara to understand her vision and to capture those ideas in a landscape. Early photos of Takapuna beach provided a starting point. The jetty became a strong motif, bringing a sense of authenticity to the design. This design element provides the scale, height, texture, and playing space to locate the world of this play. From a structural perspective, it creates a series of spaces that provides for Firpo’s sense of isolation, and for the ensemble to be present, both of which are central to the delivery of the play.
It is a privilege to be part of the process of bringing this New Zealand classic to the stage in The Court Theatre’s new home.
Rangiora’s best location to live, learn and grow.
Situated in West Rangiora, Townsend Fields presents a living space that enhances your outdoor experience with open countryside, surrounded by reserves, waterways, native planting and recreational walkways and paths. Simply put, it is the town’s newest, eco-friendly location to call home.
Whether it is retirees looking for a tranquil, peaceful setting or families wishing to raise their children in a safe, family-friendly environment, Townsend Fields is the natural choice for living.
To make an appointment, or if you have any questions, phone or email Chris.
Stage 4 titles are now available
Stage 5 titles expected Oct 2025
Builders terms available
Section sizes from 603-893m2
Sections priced from $425,000
Services to the boundary
Te Matauru Primary School zone
let us ENTERTAIN you
From first sip to final bow.
Make your visit to our new home even more memorable with a bite to eat or a drink in hand.
We’re serving up a fresh selection of woodfired Neapolitan pizza, snacks, coffee, wine, tap beer, and non-alcoholic options from our brand-new hospitality offerings. Whether you’re arriving early, enjoying interval, or savouring the moment after a show, there’s something delicious waiting for you.
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THE COURT COMPANY
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