100-year-old Christchurch theatre group 'hanging on by a thread'

A scene from the group's 2019 show Summer Carnivale. Photo / Supplied

A Sumner theatre company is "hanging on by a thread" after Covid has caused audience and volunteer numbers to dwindle.

The Makutu Community Theatre (formerly Sumner Theatre Group) has been described as "dying a slow death" while it struggles to cover costs and bring in new volunteers.

Theatre president Sarah Mankelow said before the February 22, 2011, earthquake, the group had 150 volunteers and it was difficult to fit everyone on stage.

Now, with about 20 volunteers, including cast, backstage workers and bar staff, the group is struggling to operate.

"There's so much work that goes into it. If there's not enough people to spread the load, then it becomes a chore and that's when the fun goes out of it for those of us that are left," she said.

The group has been running for more than 100 years, performing cabaret-style shows that see the audience seated at tables rather than in rows.

The group's longest-standing member Colin Evans remembers his first performance when he was 14 in 1986.

He later joined the group when he was 25, becoming the stage manager for three years.

The now 50-year-old took a break in 2018 but has come back this year after seeing the group struggle to pull in the audience and volunteer numbers.

"I never really thought it was my thing as a kid, then I realised how much fun it is," he said.

Evans' mother Lin and sister Karen Doak were also performers for the group, while his father Dave had been stage manager in the 1990s.

"It's been a pretty big part of my life, so I don't want to see it die," Evans said.

There are usually 10 shows each season, reduced to eight following the earthquake.

However, this year there are only four, last Friday and Saturday (August 12 and 13) and this Friday and Saturday (19 and 20).

Mankelow said the group is also struggling to cover costs for renting the city council-owned building Matuku Takotako: Sumner Centre.

Allan Brown (left), Karen Hallsworth and Jesse Johnson perform a scene from Love on the Caribbean Queen in 2018. Photo / Supplied

The group moved into the building after the old building at the same address was demolished following the earthquake.

The group uses the income from tickets to cover rental costs but with cancelled shows and fewer tickets being purchased, this was becoming more difficult.

"We're running on bare bones ... basically our costs are increasing and we've had a year of no income and a year last year of marginal income," Mankelow said.

"People have changed the way they socialise ... some people are quite reluctant to be in large groups still in a crowded situation."

Mankelow said the old building was used only by the theatre group so had changing rooms and space for storage, however, the new facility is designed for wider community use.

This means the group has to pay $10,000 a year to hire storage units for costumes and props.

"I'm now questioning whether we keep our costumes because $10,000 a year is most of our income, if we're even doing a full season, so it just doesn't add up anymore," Mankelow said.

She said the current building also has leaking issues, with the recent flooding seeing half a metre of water sitting in the lift shaft and getting into the electrics.

On top of this, the group's technical team were all hit with Covid two weeks before the show.

Mankelow said it would be devastating to see the group stop operating but at the rate things were going, it was a possibility.

"We are hanging on by a thread," she said.

"We might not be the greatest actors, singers and dancers in the world, but we get so much out of it."

- starnews.co.nz