KEY POINTS:
A trio of original New Zealand plays has become so successful internationally that the theatre company that owns them is about to franchise the productions in Asia.
Jacob Rajan and Justin Lewis' plays Krishnan's Dairy, The Candlestickmaker and The Pickle King are now a million-dollar business.
Since Krishnan's Dairy debuted in New Zealand more than 10 years ago, the plays have been performed around the world.
This month alone Krishnan's Dairy and The Candlestickmaker have been staged in Sydney and Brisbane.
The Candlestickmaker has also been to Germany this year.
Now, Rajan and Lewis' theatre company, Indian Ink, is negotiating to franchise the productions to Singapore, from where they will tour around Asia.
Lewis said last year The Pickle King drew an audience of almost 8000 in Singapore and turned a tidy profit.
While the company's annual turnover fluctuated, it had hit the $1 million mark, he said.
Indian Ink was also about to start two local seasons of its fourth play, The Dentist's Chair, first performed at the New Zealand International Arts Festival in February.
The company started down the traditional route of trying to break into the European market after performing at the Edinburgh Festival in 1999 and 2003.
It got as far as securing backers - including a wealthy British individual who was willing to put in £40,000 ($104,000) - and booking a West End theatre, when Lewis and Rajan took a step back.
At £20,000 a week to keep a production going, "I came to the conclusion that we would end up being something that the theatre managers and owners on the West End call a 'bank raid' - which is essentially where they raid our bank account", Lewis said.
Not willing to lose their investors' money, the pair decided to take a longer-term view.
Asia "caught me by surprise", Lewis said.
Indian Ink was approached to go to Singapore, but the two partners initially weren't keen, thinking there wouldn't be enough of a market for their work.
But after four play seasons there and exponentially growing audiences "we were coming back with serious cash", Lewis said.
Now Indian Ink is talking with its Singaporean partner about developing a production that is based there and can tour around other Asian centres.
With a magical use of masks, Rajan performs many parts in the three plays and has appeared in every production so far.
However the new franchised model will require other actors, in particular an Indian actor to replace Rajan.
Lewis hopes the franchise will be up and running in the first half of next year.
Cath Cardiff, manager of arts development for Creative New Zealand, said commercial productions such as Priscilla Queen of the Desert were commonly franchised, but it was not usual in straight theatre because of the problem of retaining quality.
"Most companies are very reliant on people in the production maintaining the integrity of the original artistic concept."
Hilary Beaton, the new director of Wellington theatre company Downstage, said the idea of franchising the plays was "pure genius".
She said that in essence it was the same thing as television networks had long done in selling a programme format, or as authors did in having their books translated into other languages.
* The Dentist's Chair, the Opera House, Wellington, tomorrow to Saturday, and SkyCity Theatre, Auckland, September 10-27.
