Established in 1979, Free Theatre Christchurch has consistently produced inventive contemporary performance for over three decades. In 2011, thanks to a Creative Communities grant, the company instigated an archival project to collect, organise and preserve materials from productions, including images, film footage, programmes, reviews and publicity. A portion of these materials can be found on this page, which will be updated regularly. See also Manifesto and Writings by and on Free Theatre on our About page. As such, this is a unique and valuable resource, presenting a living history of contemporary performance in New Zealand over three decades.

The Free Theatre archive has provided material for a documentary Free Theatre: the 37 year experiment (2017) about the company by respected New Zealand filmmaker Shirley Horrocks. A book is also to be written by company members. Free Theatre has been asked to deposit material with the Centre for Performance Research in Wales and New Zealand Film Archive, who wish to develop a database of New Zealand experimental performance. If you would like materials to be preserved within the Free Theatre archive, please contact us. Free Theatre would also like to thank RATA Foundation for their assistance in making this website and archive possible.