KINGS OF THE GYM, SNAP!, END OF THE RAINBOW and More Set for Court Theatre's 2013-14 Season

Chief Executive, Philip Aldridge, is singing the praises of The Court Theatre's upcoming season. "It is an exciting mix of the new, the challenging, the classic and the outrageously funny and features a bright, wondrously witty interpretation of a much loved musical - The Mikado."

The 2013/2014 Vodafone Season, which includes new work from The Forge in addition to the full main-stage programme, is one of variety, dynamism and grandeur.

Dave Armstrong (The Tutor and The Motor Camp) returns with his up front and bitingly satirical new comedy Kings of the Gym. His last comedy sold out quickly and this one is bound to do the same.

The Court will première a new musical by Philip Norman and Stuart Hoar. The Great Art War exposes the controversy over a Francis Hodgkins' painting, which tore Christchurch apart in the 1950s.

Hui by Mitch Tawhi Thomas, winner of the 2012 Adam NZ Play Award, appears under the imprimatur of The Forge. (Both The Great Art War and Hui will feature in the 2013 Christchurch Arts Festival.) Later in the year, The Forge will also present Postal, a new black comedy by Lucy O'Brien.

Dame Ngaio Marsh remains greatly loved in her home town of Christchurch and Fiona Farrell's new play Snap! - an adaptation of Dame Ngaio's novel "Photo Finish" - will bring Inspector Alleyn to life on the main stage.

In 2014 the season continues with the show-stopping, music-filled story of Judy Garland in End of the Rainbow and the brilliant Australian drama When the Rain Stops Falling featuring Mark Hadlow. Comedy erupts once again with a wondrously anarchic treatment of The Hound of the Baskervilles and the season culminates in the magical A Midsummer Night's Dream, which will tour in China after its initial run at The Court.

For more information about the 2013/2014 Vodafone Season visit www.courttheatre.org.nz.