Many children have been introduced to live theatre by the Tim Bray Theatre Company. Now, after 33 years, it’s closing, writes Dionne Christian.
My younger child was just 5 months old when I took her across Auckland, accompanied by her older sister and my dad, to see Badjelly the Witch at the PumpHouse Theatre in Takapuna. For the entire performance, perfectly timed at less than an hour, she sat on my lap transfixed.
“We could see the baby from the stage,” the performers told me afterwards. “It was amazing to watch her little face and eyes. She was taking everything in!”
And so ended another trip – and there were many – to see the Tim Bray Theatre Company stage a production joyously created and jubilantly performed with the under-7s firmly in mind (though, 13 years later, her older sister would return to see another TBTC version of Badjelly, promising her young adult friends it would be worth the trip. And it was).
Now, after 33 years, TBTC has come to an end with one last Christmas performance of The Santa Claus Show. Its founder and artistic director Tim Bray has desmoplastic small round cell sarcoma, a rare soft-tissue cancer more commonly seen in children and young adults but occasionally found in older adults. The condition isn’t curable, but he has started a course of chemotherapy to help control the cancer and will require ongoing treatment.
This is devastating news to anyone fortunate enough to know Bray, who smiles easily and readily but must have steel in his kind and optimistic heart to have run a children’s theatre company for three decades. During that time, he has overcome misperceptions about children’s theatre and financial challenges – during the pandemic, especially – to build a $2 million enterprise that rivals Auckland Theatre Company for audiences.
The company’s trustees looked for a successor but, says chairperson Peter Winder, couldn’t “find a unicorn” to take over. Bray says his health challenges mean he doesn’t have the energy or capacity for the essential handover and training. It does take a special person to run a children’s theatre company, especially one that has been so consistent and unswerving in its commitment to young audiences.
Bray stood tall – literally and figuratively – in the belief that the arts are for everybody by pioneering accessible performances for neurodiverse, deaf and blind/low-vision children and teens. TBTC’s Gift a Seat programme also allowed kids who might otherwise not get the chance to attend a performance for free.
His contribution is well summed up by Winder: “Tim Bray’s work to entertain, delight, and ignite the imagination of children over 30 years is legendary. He has an amazing ability to take simple children’s stories and bring them to life. “Generations of children have seen Santa fly, pirates go to a rumbustification, Margaret Mahy’s dragon grow to fill the stage, and dogs steal sausages. Tim’s shows have brought New Zealand children’s literature to life and helped us all to laugh out loud. His contribution to New Zealand theatre will be sorely missed.”
Sharing his sad news, Bray said: “It’s been an honour to contribute to the arts community and create unforgettable experiences for young audiences.”
He told me he has enjoyed watching my girls, now 20 and 15, grow up. He has been a central part of their growing up – and that of thousands of other children – by encouraging in them a love of play and reading (all his shows are based on beloved local and international books), and opening their eyes to a world of possibilities where creativity is valued and celebrated.
Tim, the honour has been ours.
Dionne Christian is the Listener’s digital editor.
