About Cavalcade

Cavalcade is a joint venture between:-

  • The Marlborough Civic Theatre Trust:
    • In 1985, after a lengthy fund-raising campaign, the Trust opened the 460-seat Marlborough Centre to replace the privately-owned 800-seat His Majesty's Theatre, which had been demolished as an earthquake risk in 1971.
    • The Marlborough Centre operated successfully for some 30 years, but the building in which it was housed proved impossible to modify to ensure compliance with modern building, safety and fire regulations.
    • The Trust embarked on a plan to replace the Marlborough Centre with a modern fully compliant new theatre, and in 2016 opened the 700-seat ASB Theatre on the banks of the Taylor River in Central Blenheim. 

and

  • Robin Sutherland:
    • Robin completed a BCom degree at Victoria University in 1961, and, in 1965 entered practice as a chartered accountant in his home town, Blenheim, in the firm which eventually became Winstanley Kerridge.
    • He was a founder Trustee of the Marlborough Civic Theatre Trust, and participated in both "new theatre" campaigns.
    • In 1989, Robin left his accounting practice for a new career in professional theatre production. He has produced and co-produced in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Australia, and toured to Singapore, Hong Kong, The Philippines and Japan.
    • Shows Robin has co-produced and presented include Chess, Ken Hill's Phantom of the Opera,  Cats, Thunderbirds FAB, The Secret Garden, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.
    • Robin retired from theatre production in 1997, returning to his home in Blenheim.

Cavalcade was established as a subscription system, with the twin objectives of:

  1. growing audiences for local amateur productions
  2. bringing to Blenheim a wider range of New Zealand professional performers and companies than would normally tour to a provincial centre such as Blenheim.  

In each of the last two years Cavalcade has presented three local amateur shows to its subscribers, and seven professional shows to its subscribers and the general public.

The Cavalcade concept

 

Cavalcade is a subscription series concept in the promotion of shows - as far as we are aware it's unique in New Zealand. It is a joint venture between the Marlborough Civic Theatre Trust, and former theatre producer, Robin Sutherland.

The Cavalcade 'subscription' concept offers a number of significant advantages in cost and ease of use over the usual methods of theatre promotion.

How does it work?

Every time we put on a show, we email you early giving you advance preferential booking rights to your Cavalcade seats, and a discounted price for all Cavalcade ticket purchases.

Cavalcade members will pay for their tickets by direct depositing the ticket price into the same ASB Theatre bank account as you used to use for your monthly Cavalcade deposit. At the end of the Cavalcade preferential booking period, all tickets remaining unsold will be put on public sale.

Tickets

Instead of the usual theatre ticket - one for every show - subscribers use a Cavalcade card. It's your entree to every Cavalcade show, the theatre - and your seat. 

Parties

Get a party of your friends or family to subscribe and make it a great night out for each Cavalcade show. Give your party a name and include it in the relevant section on everyone’s subscription.

Patrons can chose a "party" name, in which case all who choose that party name will be seated together.

Great value for money

As a Cavalcade member we give you advance preferential booking rights to your Cavalcade seats, and a discounted price for all Cavalcade ticket purchases. You are under no obligation to book to see each show – although we’d love you to come.

Settle in to your very own seat

You’ll be reserved into the best available seats when you subscribe to Cavalcade, and retain those same seats for every Cavalcade show you choose to attend.

A regular date with friends or family

Get a party of your friends or family to subscribe and make it a great night out each month, sitting together for every Cavalcade show. Give your party a name and include it in the relevant section on everyone’s subscription.

Have questions?

Send us an email and we'll send you back an answer as soon as we can.