The Court Theatre’s latest production is looking forward to a sitting ovation. The Court has just completed construction of a wood-fired pizza oven in the theatre’s foyer.

BASE @ The Court will begin serving pizzas to audiences from the opening night of The Streaker on September 17.

BASE co-founder Rod Thomson assisted in the design and construction of the new pizza oven and will be operating the pizzeria with his sons and fellow founders Chris and Andy. Thomson is pleased to be part of the new venture. “We brought our mobile unit here for previous productions very successfully, so I was really excited to be involved,” says Thomson. “It’s fun to create the pizzas in an open kitchen, and people enjoy watching us make them: we like to call it ‘food theatre meets live theatre’.”

The Court’s Business Manager, Sarah Pugh says opening BASE @ The Court will be the culmination of a long process. “We wanted to make sure we got everything right – the right facilities and the right people involved – and that took a lot of time and a lot of very hard work from our team. Everyone was very happy when they tasted their first slice,” says Pugh.

Chief Executive of The Court Theatre, Philip Aldridge considers the new pizza oven another way for the theatre to sustain itself. “With the uncertainty of lottery grants and increasing competition for funding, many arts organisations are under pressure to find alternate sources of revenue. We’re lucky that BASE are a Christchurch business who wanted to support fellow locals,” says Aldridge.

BASE @ The Court pizzas will be available from Saturday 17 September and can be pre-ordered when booking tickets or ordered at The Court Theatre bar. The menu includes many of BASE’s popular pizza flavours from its Re:Start Mall location including margherita, mushroom and feta and Moroccan lamb; as well as flat bread, marinated olives and antipasto platters. Vegetarian options and gluten-free bases will also be available.

Whether each show at The Court will receive a special “themed” pizza remains to be seen, although Thomson says for The Streaker the obvious toppings would be “meat and two veg.”