FREE THEATRE CHRISTCHURCH
  • ABOUT
    • Manifestos and Writings
    • A brief history...
    • Who We Are
    • The University Connection
    • Shirley Horrocks documentary
    • Training and Devising
    • Home, Space and Design
  • HOME
  • WHATS ON
    • The Passionate Puritan
  • EDUCATION
    • Kids Holiday Programmes
    • Schools Workshops
    • Adult workshops
  • PRODUCTIONS 1979 - present
    • The Cat Eleonore
    • The Deadbeat Opera
    • Babylon Berlin
    • Beggars Banquet
    • Woyzeck
    • The Axe
    • Endgame
    • Digitising Performance
    • Erewhon: Over the Range
    • A Summer Night's Dream
    • How Dare You
    • A Winter's Tale
    • Ars Acustica
    • Alice
    • The Black Rider
    • Frankenstein
    • The Mauricio Kagel Project
    • Footprints/Tapuwae
    • Kafka's Amerika
    • Ubu Nights >
      • Past Ubu Nights >
        • Ma Ubu Night
        • Ubu Through the Looking Glass
        • Ubu in Wonderland Ubu Night
        • Frankenstein Ubu Night
        • Casablanca Ubu Night
        • Faust Ubu Night
        • Not Hamlet Ubu Night
        • Punk Ubu Night
        • The Art of the Deal Ubu Night
        • Crossroads Ubu Night
        • Ubu Shows Us the Way to Brecht's Whiskey Bar
        • The Devil and the Blues Ubu Night
        • Bowie Ubu Night
        • Warhol Ubu Night
        • Berlin Kabarette
        • Beat Ubu Night
        • Twin Peaks Ubu Night
        • David Lynch Ubu Night
        • Kafka Ubu Night
        • Tango Ubu Night
        • Ubu Ubu Night
        • Lovecraft Ubu Night
    • Canterbury Tales
    • The Soldier's Tale
    • Bluebeard's Castle >
      • Bluebeard's Castle credits
    • I Sing the Body Electric
    • Big Heads Protest
    • Hereafter
    • Passion, Pulse and Power
    • The Earthquake in Chile
    • Don Giovanni Invites you to Dinner
    • Doctor Faustus
    • The Marvellous Corricks >
      • Corricks - Credits
    • Distraction Camp
    • Remake
    • Ella and Susn
    • There and Back Again
    • Faust Chroma
    • Enigma Emmy Goering/Nico Sphinx of Ice
    • Change Proposal
    • Faust Feast
    • Diana Down Under
    • Philoctetes >
      • Production Credits - Piloctetes
    • Fantasia
    • Christmas Shopping
    • Grimm's Sleeping Beauty
    • Achternbusch in the Antipodes
    • Caucasian Chalk Circle
    • Samson Airline
    • Antigone
    • Kabarett Kabul
    • Footprints/Tapuwae
    • The Well Intentioned Wife
    • The Last Days of Mankind
    • Bakkhai / Diotek
    • Krapp's Last Tape
    • Murderer Hope of Women / The Philosopher's Stone
    • Comrade Savage
    • Love on a Bicycle
    • Crusoe: A Lapsarian Mass in Twelve Movements
    • Medea
    • Songs to the Judges
    • Resolution Island
    • Oedipus Rex/Oedipus at Colonus
    • The Empire Builders
    • States of Shock
    • Robinson Crusoe or: I That Was Born To Be My Own Destroyer
    • Power
    • MedeaMaterial
    • Salome
    • Electra
    • The Girl Who Sings Waterfalls
    • Hamletmachine
    • Oresteia
    • A Respectable Wedding
    • Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
    • Cloudkiwiland
    • Double Act / Postponeless >
      • double act credits
    • Preversions
    • The Mortal Pleasure of Wander Lust
    • Red Cross & Takeaway
    • Lulu
    • Cowboy Mouth
    • The Meeting >
      • the meeting credits
    • Action / Tongues
    • The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
    • A Letter from L
    • Dinosaurs and All the Rubbish / The Hunting of the Snark
    • Free Theatre Christmas Show
    • The Ride Across Lake Constance
    • Electra
    • In Three Minds
    • The Rapist Over Suzannah
    • 1984: The Future Is Now
    • Make-up Ground down / Texts for Decomposition
    • Leonce and Lena
    • Court Case: Free Theatre vs The Arts Centre
    • The Almost Free Theatre Kabernette
    • The Joffongract
    • King Lear
    • Kabarett
    • King Ubu
    • Black Cat Cabaret
    • The Gas Heart/Ox on the Roof/The Mirror Wardrobe One Fine Evening
    • Jazz Cellar Dada / Heavy Metal Cabaret
    • Round Dance
    • Woyzeck
  • Te Puna Toi
    • Past Te Puna Toi Projects
    • Artists in Residence
  • SUPPORT
  • CONTACT
  • CNZ application

Who We Are

Free Theatre Ensemble

Free Theatre Christchurch (est. 1979) is New Zealand's longest running producer of avant-garde theatre. 
​

Peter Falkenberg has remained Artistic Director since Free Theatre was established in 1979. 

Formally named Free Theatre Incorporated in 1982 (after previous names Workshop Theatre and Scheisse!! Theatre), founding members of the society were: Peter Falkenberg (President), Robin Bond (Vice President), Neil Williams (Treasurer), Sue Donaldson (Producer), Karren Beanland (Secretary and Business Consultant) and Committee Members Nick Frost, Dick Corballis, Patrick Evans, Tom Taylor, Max Hailstone and Deirdre Moen.

Groups of actors, musicians and designers from diverse backgrounds worked together on projects over an extended period. Performers trained regularly, incorporating different styles, forms and media into their experimentation as a means of exploring the ideas that were central to each project. Then and now each production can involve a variety of collaborations with other organisations (recent examples include the UC School of Music, CSO, Pacific Underground, A Different Light, NASDA, Te Ahikōmau a Hamoterangi, Te Pao a Tahu).

Numerous artists, writers, students, directors, designers and performers have worked in the Free Theatre over its five decades. Early members of Free Theatre were connected to Flying Nun and Caxton Press and the theatre integrated visual artists and musicians from the start. In the 1980s collaborators included Rudolf Boelee, Stephanie Johnson, Graham Bennett, Lesley Maclean, Lisa Densem, Bill Direen, Julia Allen, Lara Strongman, Nansi Thompson, Stuart Mckenzie, Charles Heywood, Martin Trusttum and Roy Montgomery. In the 1990s collaborators included Alan Brunton, Bernadette Hall, Peter Robinson, Lawrence Wallen and Mark McEntyre.

 We interviewed two early members of the Free Theatre Group (Nansi Thompson and Stuart McKenzie) for Digitising Performance: Conversations on the future of Live Theatre (2020). 
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Members of The Free Theatre Ensemble in 2008 (Faust Chroma)
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Free Theatre artists and collaborators in 2017 (The Black Rider)
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Members of The Free Theatre Group in 1984
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Free Theatre artists in 1995 (Medeamaterial)
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Free Theatre artists in 2000 (The Last Days of Mankind)
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Doing an "Om" before the performance, a Free Theatre tradition! (Kafka's Amerika, 2014)
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Free Theatre artists and collaborators in 2023 (Beggars Banquet)

Current Ensemble Members

Peter Falkenberg - Artistic Director
Marian McCurdy - Company and Education Programme Manager
Aaron Hapuku - Committee Member
Greta Bond - Committee Member
Reuben Derrick - Committee Member
Stuart Lloyd-Harris
Jenny Ritchie
Hester Ullyart
Chris Reddington
Aaron Boyce
Sarah Clare Judd
Chris Carrow
Sam White

Recent Ensemble Members


George Parker
Emma Johnston
Heather Webb
Stuart McKay
Gijs Ochsendorf
Gabriel Moinet
Naomi Campion
Mica Doljnikoff
Mike Berry
Andrew Clarke
Coralie Winn
Ryan Reynolds
Samson Samikannu
Simon Troon
Liz Boldt
Dan Heaphy
Mike Kime
Nicole Reddington
Rory Dalley

Free Theatre Committee

Free Theatre is an Incorporated Society and decisions are made by our Committee who meet regularly to discuss Free Theatre projects and concerns. Our current Committee Members are:

President: Peter Falkenberg
Vice-President: Reuben Derrick
Secretary: Marian McCurdy
Treasurer: Greta Bond
Member: Aaron Hāpuku
​Member: Sue Hassell

​Since 2018 when a Strategic Plan was completed with the help of Providence Group, Michael Prentice continues to support the Committee providing advice around strategic direction.

Michael Prentice is an independent brand and communications strategist, having previously run and lead strategic development for design and advertising agencies. He has a long history of supporting the arts - including founding Chair of The Black Grace Trust (contemporary dance); Director of the Aotea Board of Management (performing arts facilities), and Trustee of Auckland Opera Studio. He is currently a member of the Arts Council for Creative New Zealand. 
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  • ABOUT
    • Manifestos and Writings
    • A brief history...
    • Who We Are
    • The University Connection
    • Shirley Horrocks documentary
    • Training and Devising
    • Home, Space and Design
  • HOME
  • WHATS ON
    • The Passionate Puritan
  • EDUCATION
    • Kids Holiday Programmes
    • Schools Workshops
    • Adult workshops
  • PRODUCTIONS 1979 - present
    • The Cat Eleonore
    • The Deadbeat Opera
    • Babylon Berlin
    • Beggars Banquet
    • Woyzeck
    • The Axe
    • Endgame
    • Digitising Performance
    • Erewhon: Over the Range
    • A Summer Night's Dream
    • How Dare You
    • A Winter's Tale
    • Ars Acustica
    • Alice
    • The Black Rider
    • Frankenstein
    • The Mauricio Kagel Project
    • Footprints/Tapuwae
    • Kafka's Amerika
    • Ubu Nights >
      • Past Ubu Nights >
        • Ma Ubu Night
        • Ubu Through the Looking Glass
        • Ubu in Wonderland Ubu Night
        • Frankenstein Ubu Night
        • Casablanca Ubu Night
        • Faust Ubu Night
        • Not Hamlet Ubu Night
        • Punk Ubu Night
        • The Art of the Deal Ubu Night
        • Crossroads Ubu Night
        • Ubu Shows Us the Way to Brecht's Whiskey Bar
        • The Devil and the Blues Ubu Night
        • Bowie Ubu Night
        • Warhol Ubu Night
        • Berlin Kabarette
        • Beat Ubu Night
        • Twin Peaks Ubu Night
        • David Lynch Ubu Night
        • Kafka Ubu Night
        • Tango Ubu Night
        • Ubu Ubu Night
        • Lovecraft Ubu Night
    • Canterbury Tales
    • The Soldier's Tale
    • Bluebeard's Castle >
      • Bluebeard's Castle credits
    • I Sing the Body Electric
    • Big Heads Protest
    • Hereafter
    • Passion, Pulse and Power
    • The Earthquake in Chile
    • Don Giovanni Invites you to Dinner
    • Doctor Faustus
    • The Marvellous Corricks >
      • Corricks - Credits
    • Distraction Camp
    • Remake
    • Ella and Susn
    • There and Back Again
    • Faust Chroma
    • Enigma Emmy Goering/Nico Sphinx of Ice
    • Change Proposal
    • Faust Feast
    • Diana Down Under
    • Philoctetes >
      • Production Credits - Piloctetes
    • Fantasia
    • Christmas Shopping
    • Grimm's Sleeping Beauty
    • Achternbusch in the Antipodes
    • Caucasian Chalk Circle
    • Samson Airline
    • Antigone
    • Kabarett Kabul
    • Footprints/Tapuwae
    • The Well Intentioned Wife
    • The Last Days of Mankind
    • Bakkhai / Diotek
    • Krapp's Last Tape
    • Murderer Hope of Women / The Philosopher's Stone
    • Comrade Savage
    • Love on a Bicycle
    • Crusoe: A Lapsarian Mass in Twelve Movements
    • Medea
    • Songs to the Judges
    • Resolution Island
    • Oedipus Rex/Oedipus at Colonus
    • The Empire Builders
    • States of Shock
    • Robinson Crusoe or: I That Was Born To Be My Own Destroyer
    • Power
    • MedeaMaterial
    • Salome
    • Electra
    • The Girl Who Sings Waterfalls
    • Hamletmachine
    • Oresteia
    • A Respectable Wedding
    • Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
    • Cloudkiwiland
    • Double Act / Postponeless >
      • double act credits
    • Preversions
    • The Mortal Pleasure of Wander Lust
    • Red Cross & Takeaway
    • Lulu
    • Cowboy Mouth
    • The Meeting >
      • the meeting credits
    • Action / Tongues
    • The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
    • A Letter from L
    • Dinosaurs and All the Rubbish / The Hunting of the Snark
    • Free Theatre Christmas Show
    • The Ride Across Lake Constance
    • Electra
    • In Three Minds
    • The Rapist Over Suzannah
    • 1984: The Future Is Now
    • Make-up Ground down / Texts for Decomposition
    • Leonce and Lena
    • Court Case: Free Theatre vs The Arts Centre
    • The Almost Free Theatre Kabernette
    • The Joffongract
    • King Lear
    • Kabarett
    • King Ubu
    • Black Cat Cabaret
    • The Gas Heart/Ox on the Roof/The Mirror Wardrobe One Fine Evening
    • Jazz Cellar Dada / Heavy Metal Cabaret
    • Round Dance
    • Woyzeck
  • Te Puna Toi
    • Past Te Puna Toi Projects
    • Artists in Residence
  • SUPPORT
  • CONTACT
  • CNZ application