Irish musician Dave Flynn performs with Em Griffiths (left) and Lee Corbett Barton (right) as Flynn’s Celtic Strings at Shambles Theatre on February 14. Photo / Supplied
Irish musician Dave Flynn performs with Em Griffiths (left) and Lee Corbett Barton (right) as Flynn’s Celtic Strings at Shambles Theatre on February 14. Photo / Supplied
Three months ago, there was “a million litres of water” flooding Rotorua’s Shambles Theatre.
Treasurer Charles Edwards says the theatre now looks “a million times better” and is ready to welcome back audiences.
A free community concert by Irish musician Dave Flynn and his new trio, Flynn’s CelticStrings, will be held tomorrow - a week before the theatre is expected to celebrate its 75th anniversary.
The water was deemed contaminated, meaning most items it came into contact with had to be disinfected, replaced or thrown out.
It was enough damage to leave many people wondering whether Shambles would reopen, Edwards said.
He estimated the rebuild cost at “well over” $150,000. Insurance covered most of it.
Edwards said the theatre received strong community support. A Givealittle campaign raised about $1200 and a further $2000 was donated privately. This allowed the team to make improvements.
The foyer, bar and kitchen were fully refurbished and redesigned, with extensive repainting carried out and the bar and kitchen reconfigured.
Edwards said members and supporters also helped with the clean-up once builders had finished.
Saturday’s concert will give the community its first chance to see the restored theatre, minus a few pictures still waiting to be rehung. It has been made free with Rotorua District Council Creative Communities Fund support.
Composer and guitarist Dave Flynn formedFlynn’s Celtic Stringsand the trio has toured throughout New Zealand, including sold-out performances with the New Zealand String Quartet at the 2025 Wānaka Festival of Colour and collaborations with Dunedin musician Robert Scott.
The trio brings together Wellington-based fiddle player and vocalist Em Griffiths and Kawerau mandolin player and vocalist Lee Corbett Barton. Flynn met them through years of touring and Celtic music circles around the country.
The Shambles Theatre was flooded by a burst water main last November. Photo / Supplied
Flynn has never performed in Rotorua, and the Valentine’s Day show will be the group’s third concert as a trio.
The trio’s music draws on centuries of Celtic tradition, with a strong focus on variety and feeling rather than a single sound. There was music for “dancing”, music for “mourning”, and music for “lulling people to sleep”, Flynn said.
Those influences shape the concert’s flow, moving between lively, foot-stomping tunes and slower, more reflective pieces, alongside songs featuring vocal harmonies from all three performers.
Audience participation is encouraged, with some songs designed to be easily sung along to, creating moments of shared experience between performers and the crowd, moments Flynn described as “pretty magical”.
He said Celtic music often resonated with New Zealand audiences, particularly those with Irish or British heritage, but also connected strongly with people encountering it for the first time.
Annabel Reid is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke’s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.
