The brand new long awaited home for The Court Theatre officially opens Saturday May 3 in Ōtautahi Christchurch. It is an impressive $61.4 million purpose-built home for New Zealand's largest professional theatre company. The new space features a 379 seat main auditorium and a second 150 seat theatre. It's a significant moment for the city: this major production house has been in temporary lodgings in a shed in Addington since the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes.
Centre mainstage for the opening production is one of Aotearoa New Zealand's most beloved actors, directors and writers for theatre, film and television. Sir Ian Mune. He was knighted in 2024 in recognition of a 60-year career.
Involved in our professional theatre since 1964, Sir Ian gained further attention when he co-wrote seminal film hits Goodbye Pork Pie and Sleeping Dogs in the 1970s, and went on to direct Came a Hot Friday in the 1980s, to name just a few iconic works.
It's a work he adapted from stage to screen as a director in 1992 that sees him on the new Court stage. Sir Ian Mune is narrator in End of the Golden Weather, Bruce Mason's classic solo play, adapted as a full cast version by Raymond Hawthorne. Another great senior theatre figure, Hawthorne died on the fifth of April.
End of the Golden Weather is a coming of age story imbrued with nostalgia for a New Zealand childhood summer spent at the beach. That idyll plays out as the realities of the outside world and approaching adulthood start to seep in.
Culture 101's Mark Amery spoke with Sir Ian Mune during rehearsals this week and began with a reading of the play's famous opening scene setter.
