Elder of Hamilton theatre takes final bow
The late Richard Sutherland never had his name up in lights but that’s just the way he liked it.
There’s a notable irony in Richard Sutherland’s career in Hamilton. Despite decades delivering and supporting arts, theatre and performance – and likely the longest association with the city’s Founders Theatre of anyone – he never performed on Hamilton’s most-trod and most talkedabout stage.
There were countless walks across it, but never a flourish or final bow to an adoring audience.
Sutherland’s professional involvement and championing of the city’s theatre and performance sector spanned four decades.
He started with Hamilton City Council in 1987, and never left, only stepping away when ill health required a separation, in 2020.
He oversaw thousands of shows and performances, dealt with hundreds of colleagues and clients across New Zealand’s event and stage communities, and was Hamilton’s connection to the Royal New Zealand Ballet and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
An electrician by profession and enthusiastic thespian by choice, he went from pushing buttons and plugging things in, to making deals, building relationships and friendships – all on the city’s behalf – as a way of making things happen, and building new audiences in a growing city.
Sutherland died peacefully at home in early April, with his wife and lifetime companion Lorraine Sutherland by his side.
He was 63.
Theatre bought the couple together, and it would be a constant source of inspiration, love and creativity which kept them strong over a long marriage.
It was a deep bond and understanding which would see theatre items hastily repaired at home or home items hastily rushed to the theatre by Richard.
When Sir Ian McKellen came through Hamilton in aid of Christchurch’s 2011 earthquake, Richard provided the only throne-like chair he knew of . . . straight from the couple’s lounge.
A fond Sutherland memory of a backstage interlude involved Scottish comedian Billy Connolly: They’d been having a discussion backstage about NZ traffic . . . a conversation Connolly simply ‘‘walked out on stage, and carried on with the audience’’, Sutherland recalled.
Connolly was, Richard remembered, ‘‘a delight, down to earth, and didn’t mind me being there backstage’’.
Spending so long in the industry, influential players like New Zealand icons such as Gray Bartlett, and the promoter and tour operator Ian McGann became personal friends for Richard.
There were tickets to sell, deals to do, promotion to sort out, technical aspects to settle on. In the early years, it was also a case of making sure the promoter paid the front-of-house staff, most of whom were volunteers from the likes of Hamilton Operatic Society – another storied Hamilton institution Richard dealt with consistently over the years.
‘‘The shows just blend into one another after a while, when you’re working those hours,’’ he mused in mid-March
2021.
‘‘And there were some long hours, particularly when a Hamilton Operatic show was in . . . they’d be rehearsing every night for weeks, then two weeks of the show itself, with only one night off – that became tiring.’’
Working 65-70 hours a week wasn’t uncommon, sometimes staying into the wee hours of the morning.
There were times late at night when the Sutherlands would be woken by a call from police or security, notifying them an alarm had been triggered at Founders, the Meteor, or Clarence Street Theatre. That became tiresome, but necessary.
Sutherland would crop up in the pages of the Waikato Times, talking about the latest show or season, discussing maintenance or changes at the theatres, or whatever else was coming up.
Media wasn’t something he entirely liked doing, but to make business happen – and make clients happy – he fronted up to local journalists.
The Times has a number of photographs of Richard on file, a reflection of his contribution to the city and its community.
The council constantly morphed and reinvented its theatres and venues division over those 30-odd years. Richard reported to a series of different managers, in various incarnations of the unit (Hamilton City Theatres, Event Facilities Unit, H3), but his longest stint saw him have a high level of independence and autonomy as Theatres Manager, from the mid-1990s to 2016, when Founders was closed. Unable to get a safety rating on the antiquated flying system – comprising a myriad of ropes and pulleys akin to a 17th century tall ship – the council’s chief executive was left with little choice but to close the doors.
Business cases in a succession of council 10-year-plans had been shunned, leaving a theatre behind the times and needing extensive modernisation.
The meagre earthquake strength ratings were the final blow, but Richard wasn’t surprised, nor concerned – he’d never been particularly fond of Founders as a building, and by 2016 there were murmurings of a new theatre downtown which had pricked his interest.
Founders in his time had seen everything: beauty pageants, Amway conferences, National Party rallies, fullfrontal nudity, comedy, drama, ballet, cattle shows, Lippizaner dressage horses, even the New Zealand Squash Open, with matches played in a glass court on stage.
Founders had been the VIP area for corporate sponsors of the Hamilton 400 V8 Supercars race, something Richard enjoyed greatly – in no small part due to his love of motor racing, and his personal pursuits in the Targa Rally of New Zealand, in his much-loved modified BMW.
A known straight-shooter and consummate professional – and highly respected in the industry – among Richard’s most satisfying contributions to the city and regional theatre scene was his mentoring and support of dozens of staff.
Several followed him into lengthy careers working for the council’s theatres and events division.
In later years at H3, he became a kaumatua figure, asked to give karakia and thoughts at the opening and closing of staff events, and a task he was deeply moved by when approached.
Looked up to as the man with the most experience in the H3 office, he shifted seamlessly from booking events for Founders Theatre to making things happen for clients at Claudelands, the city’s new venue jewel.
The desire to ‘‘do the deal and build new audiences in Hamilton’’ drove him to constant emails and phone calls with industry contacts who knew he had built up such knowledge and mana, you knew you were getting the truth, in an uncut but diplomatic way.
Thirty-four years is a long time with an employer. A lot changes – tastes, technology, fashion. But change can only be created by the people, and it’s the people who give a place its life, its colour, its energy.
In a theatre, you see some of those people, but you never see many who contribute. Richard Sutherland was one of those side-of-stage people.
His name may not have been up in lights, or on large promotional posters, but his effort, tireless commitment and sharp mind repeatedly made it possible for thousands of others to tred the boards, and to entertain.
And that’s exactly how he liked it.
Richard Sutherland fondly remembers when Scottish comedian Billy Connolly was performing in Hamilton: ‘‘He was a delight, down to earth, and didn’t mind me being there backstage’’.