New Zealand's Fortune Theatre laid claim to being the world's southernmost professional theatre company and sole professional theatre group in Dunedin, until its closure on 1 May 2018, citing financial difficulties. The company ran for 44 years. The theatre regularly produced local shows and hosted touring performances. The former Fortune Theatre building is registered as a category I historic place by Heritage New Zealand, which recognises its historic and architectural significance. Originally a Methodist church, it is located on the corner of Moray Place and Upper Stuart Street, in the heart of the southern city of Dunedin. As of 11 December 2019, the building is empty with no current plans for the building. Financial difficulties in 2000 threatened the theatre with closure, and forced the sale of the building to the Dunedin City Council, who leased the building back to the Fortune Theatre Trust.
Early years
The Fortune Theatre company was co-founded by David Carnegie, Alex Gilchrist, Murray Hutchinson and Huntly Elliot in 1973. The company was initially located in the 105-seat Otago Cine Club theatrette at the rear of the Athenaeum building of the Octagon. However, after hiring full-time acting staff in 1977, it was decided that the venue was too small to continue to be viable and in 1978 the company moved to the former Trinity Methodist Church where it remained until its closure in 2018.
Legacy and significant moments
Over its 44 years the Fortune Theatre staged 407 main stage productions, and sold over 750,000 tickets. On its closure in 2018 commentator Kate Prior said: "Fortune Theatre has been an essential engine of new writing in New Zealand, a launch pad for some of our best actors, and an Otago and Southland theatre home."
Education
The Fortune Theatre provided a range of options for schools such as tours around the theatre, and opportunities to talk to the cast and crew of a production. It also offered education workshops which were show-specific. The workshops were designed to link to a range of subjects in the New Zealand Curriculum, including NCEA achievement standards in subjects such as Drama at NCEA levels 1–3. In addition, the Fortune Theatre hosted a drama ambassador programme to engage students with the theatre by offering opportunities to attend rehearsals as well as complimentary tickets. This programme began in 2005 with 19 schools in the Otago and Southland region areas of New Zealand.
Larnach – Castle of Lies
In 1994, the Fortune Theatre performed a play about the tragedies of William Larnach's family, titled "Larnach – Castle of Lies", before 100 invited guests in the ballroom of Larnach Castle.
"It was a night to remember. As the guests arrived a terrible storm blew up from nowhere. The smoke from the fires blew back down the chimneys so that you couldn't see – and your eyes hurt. Hail crashed on the iron roof so that you couldn't hear. Doors mysteriously opened by themselves and it got very cold. In the play – just as Larnach shot himself there was a blinding white light. Afterwards at supper people were talking about the lightning strike as Larnach held the gun to his head. I said `Oh no that was stage effects.' We asked the stage manager. He said `It was none of our doing, it was lightning.' I think that Larnach was present that night. He didn't like the play." -- Margaret Barker
''Ghost Hunt''
In 2005, the theatre was featured on Ghost Hunt, a New Zealand television show, as it is claimed that the theatre is haunted. The Ghost Hunt investigation team were shown a photo which reportedly shows the ghost of a young woman gliding through a wall of the foyer, below a Gothic window Not long after the Fortune Theatre moved into the old church, tales spread of "sinister voices" being heard offstage and well-secured lights falling from the lighting grid. A phantom audience member has also been reported by theatregoers on numerous occasions. Reports continued to come from a variety of reliable sources until the claimed hauntings of the Fortune Theatre became a part of Dunedin folklore. The Ghost Hunt investigation team visited the theatre and were shown a picture that is claimed to show the ghost of a young woman gliding through a wall of the foyer, below a Gothic window. During the investigation team's visit, they were also able to talk to people who had worked at the theatre and claim to have had paranormal experiences in the building: A lighting technician claimed that he was all alone setting up on stage one day when he "glimpsed a person" over his shoulder on the edge of the stage and thought that "they were reading through some lines, as an actor would" but knew no cast members were around at the time. He turned the stage lights on and "suddenly they were gone". A man who ran the box office claimed to have had two "disconcerting" experiences. The first experience involved a "young boy sitting in the corner". He initially "thought nothing of it" but the "realisation struck" him that the theatre was closed. He "turned back around, but he'd disappeared." The second experience involved a girl he claims he noticed when he "looked up to the back corner of the audience seating, near where the soundman usually sits" after he heard "a strange noise in the theatre" on one occasion.
Building architecture
The Trinity Methodist Church was designed by Scotsman R. A. Lawson and was opened in 1870. Made out of the local materials trachyandesite and Oamaru stone, the former church is an example of Gothic Revival architecture and contains a "Rose" stained glass window which is located at the back of what is now the theatre's main stage. The building is close to the city's centre, The Octagon.
