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I'm writing this on my holiday, from a small town on a hill in central Tuscany. Last night there was a dinner in the main street - 200 or so people of all ages sat at long tables and laughed and shouted and talked and ate the food they had grown and cooked and drank the wine they'd made. I asked my neighbour at the table how often this kind of event takes place - "Oh, about ten times a year," he said. Amazing, I thought. This community gathers every six weeks or so, for pleasure shared, stories exchanged, children watching their parents, grandparents watching their children. Walking home later I thought that's what a theatre can be. A place where every six weeks or so a group of 300 or so people come together to share in the pleasure of witnessing story. For 20 odd years Company B at Belvoir St has been building its traditions, putting down layers of story. My hope is that it remains a reliable and developing place of surprise, witness and joy. I hope that our community has gathered and found pleasure, and that each subsequent visit is enriched by the memory of earlier visits, that the success of each production is measured by how vividly it stays alive in the mind. I hope for the theatre to be like a fabulous favourite restaurant that keeps adding to its menu, changing, but where the taste, the style, the quality, the idea behind it remain recognisable, unique and inimitable. Our Season for 2008 is defined by its powerful sense of fable, of large cultural ideas finding definition in the emblematic patterns of relationship and behaviour. And somewhere near the heart of each show lies the question, 'How is art created out of loss, contradiction and social trauma?' How does the enactment of fable alter the story by telling it? How is it that despair is somehow redeemed by laughter? Particularly exciting in 2008 is that three of the shows introduce directors to the Upstairs Theatre who have come to Belvoir St through startling work in the independent theatre scene and for B Sharp in the Downstairs Theatre. It's a particular testament to Lyn Wallis, who left Company B after 10 years' glorious service only weeks ago, that her vision in creating B Sharp is bearing such spectacular fruit. Over the past couple of years there has been show after show where people queued at the Belvoir St box office, unable to get a ticket - Gulpilil, Page 8, The Sapphires, Stuff Happens, Keating!, Parramatta Girls, Exit the King, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?... They stood there cursing the fact that they had neglected to buy a Season Ticket. Don't let that be you in 2008! Love,
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Belvoir St Theatre launches new share offer:Download Offer of Information Statement Belvoir St Theatre was founded in 1984, and was the brainchild of Sue Hill and Chris Westwood. The idea of a new and innovative theatre - owned and run by people who worked in or loved the arts - was spawned when the Nimrod Theatre building on Belvoir Street Surry Hills was threatened with demolition. In one one weekend, Chris Westwood and Sue Hill convinced fifty of their friends to invest $1000 for the deposit on the building. In the ensuing six months a further 550 investors from the arts and entertainment industry came on board. The syndicate purchased the building and formed Belvoir St Theatre Limited. The 600 new owners included Robyn Archer, Gillian Armstrong, Peter Carey, Ruth Cracknell, Judy Davis, Mel Gibson, Max Gillies, Dorothy Hewitt, Nicole Kidman, Sam Neill, Dame Joan Sutherland, Patrick White, David Williamson, Neil Armfield, Mike Willesee, Colin Friels, and Gwen Plumb. To avoid the financial crisis experienced by the building's previous owners, a unique legal structure and constitution was created, protecting the building from exposure to box office risk. Company B, manages the theatre and produces the shows while Belvoir St Theatre Ltd (Company A) owns the bricks and mortar. It is a uniquely constituted Australian cultural organisation that inherently expresses the members' commitment to the support of its artistic community. Being born of a contemporary approach to theatre ownership and operation, the theatre gained a reputation as 'radical'. Its original charter set out its vision for the company: to create contemporary, politically sharp, hard edged Australian theatre; to develop new forms of theatrical expression; to create work by and about Aboriginal Australians; contemporary music theatre; work created by women; radical interpretations of the classics and work that is surprising, diverse and passionate. 20 years after its first production - Ha Ha Ha Performing Humans - opened in March 1985, Company B still stands at the forefront of Australian performing arts, an exciting and award-winning producer of classical and contemporary work. Between July 2005 and October 2006, Belvoir St Theatre underwent a major redevelopment to provide Company B with a state of the art home for the future. During this time, Company B and B Sharp productions were performed at the Seymour Centre in Chippendale. The reopening of Belvoir St Theatre was celebrated officially on 4 October with the opening night of Stephen Sewell's It Just Stopped, directed by Neil Armfield. Interested in becoming a Belvoir St Theatre Shareholder?For more information about becoming a shareholder contact: |
1973 November: The derelict Surry Hills tomato sauce factory is leased to Nimrod Theatre Company. 1974 February: Conversion of the factory commences from prize winning plans by architect Viv Fraser. 1974 May: Torrential rain in Sydney delays the opening of the theatre. 1974 June: The Bacchoi opens at Nimrod's new Surry Hills theatre. 1976 The Downstairs Theatre opens with Nimrod's production of Speakers. 1984 February: After eight turbulent years, Nimrod agrees to sell the theatre to a property company. Adverse publicity halts the sale. 1984 May: Nimrod sells Belvoir St Theatre to independent consortium Understudies Pty Ltd. 1984 September: Company B takes over the Surry Hills theatre. 1985 March: Company B stage their first production Ha Ha Ha Performing Humans. 2005 July: Belvoir St Theatre closes after Ray's Tempest for redevelopment 2006 October: Belvoir St Theatre reopens on opening night of It Just Stopped. |
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