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"For quarter of a century Free Theatre has refined cultural
horizons and shaped Christchurch's perceptions of contemporary theatre"
- The Press, 21 May 2008 |
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"For quarter of a century Free Theatre has refined cultural
horizons and shaped Christchurch's perceptions of contemporary theatre"
- The Press, 21 May 2008 |
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"I know - even from my preliminary research - that the archival history of the Free Theatre is full of surprise, richness, experiment, and provocation. There is so much energy in its tradition which can continue to inspire and inform the present day. But this influence can only happen if that tradition is preserved, catalogued, written about and brought to life on the screen!" - Shirley Horrocks
From 1982 |
From 1985 |
From 1985 |
This is a project to collect, organize and preserve the remarkable 30-year history of Free Theatre Christchurch. It will culminate in a Free Theatre archive for contemporary researchers and artists, and serve as the raw material for a documentary film to be made by respected New Zealand filmmaker Shirley Horrocks. A book on the Free Theatre is also in the pipeline.
For some time there has been a need to collect, organize, preserve and present a comprehensive Free Theatre history. Materials were scattered to the four corners and much of it could potentially have been lost.
Over the summer of 2010-2011 the initial stages of the project were completed with help from a Creative Communities grant. A vast array of recordings, posters (many of them artworks in themselves), newspaper articles, reviews, etc as well as personal anecdotes and reflections on the Free Theatre were collected and archived.
However there is still much to do in terms of detailing the contents of the archive and sketching out the history of the company. Material continues to be sent to us. The next phase will involve interviews and we will then look to ways to present the material.
The hardcopies of the collection are to be stored with Te Puna Toi (the research wing of Canterbury University's Theatre and Film Studies Department). At Te Puna Toi, the Free Theatre archive will be freely available to artists, researchers and the wider public. Free Theatre has also been asked to deposit material with the New Zealand Film Archive who with Te Puna Toi intend to develop a database of New Zealand experimental performance. A collection showcasing Peter Falkenberg's work is being deposited in the international archive the Centre for Performance Research (CPR), Aberystwyth, Wales.
We will be updating the website with materials from the archive as we go. If you would like to submit material for the archive, please let us know.
7 July 2011