A car burglary victim is prepared to negotiate with the thieves who stole his laptop so he can retrieve vital computer code.
Top Dog Theatre musical director Robert Tait lost his Macbook Pro when his car was broken into outside a Christchurch school on January 20.
The computer contains the script and original music he has written for the theatre's upcoming production of Shakespeare's The Tempest at Mona Vale next month.
Mr Tait said to access his backup files he needed a hidden code embedded in the stolen machine.
He would "gladly'' let the thief keep the computer if they or an intermediary - "preferably an innocent representative'' - will allow him to copy all his files onto a portable disk.
"This meeting will be on a no names, no pack drill basis, no recriminations and no trickery,'' he promised.
Mr Tait said the thief has done him "a favour in a way'' because his replacement computer was "a step up'' from the one he lost, but he still needed vital files from his old machine.
"It's not only show stuff that's on it, there's other important files and website data.''
Mr Tait said there was no doubt "the show would go on'' as he was working to reconstruct the music and script for the play performances from February 12 to 22.
- By Cullen Smith of the Christchurch Star
