Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 9 : Construction of the cultural centre, 1977-1981

JULV 13, 1980 The Sunday Mall '(111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 ·oNLY ONE WAY TO RUN HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE, THEY SAY. If anyone a1ka Peter Dovl1 ond Ru,- 1 1ell McVey how to run o theatre 1uc– ceufully, they'll give a 1ucclnct on- 1wer: "By the • eat BY TIB SB&T , of your ponh." That's how they've · been operating the bar. oque Her Majesty's Thea– tre since they took It over from J .C. William– son• In 1076 and turned It from being a failure , Into whnt It Is now - a rip-roaring success. Peter and Russell, a or YOUR ·PIITS •, couple of theatrical whlzz kids (Peter Is 30, Russell, 29) succeeded where the renowned old WIiiiamson firm failed. "We could see the mls• takes they were making and learned by them." From spendln,r much or It. years "black" or closed becau.., or a lack Of shows, the old U,eatre has reached the stare where the llchts are banll1 ever turned out, And tr there Isn"t a show In sight, then Pe• ter and Russell mak~ 'lne. They pulled the bril– liant RobY!l Archer and her show "A Star Is Torn" from out or the blue when they realised they had a blank week before Derek Nimmo opened With his "Shut Your Eyes and Think or England," which began on Tuesday. "We knew we had the week when the theatre was empty, and we knew Rob)11 wanted badly to come to Brisbane. It worked out well," said Pet.er. The theatre was with· out a show over Easter. so the boys fllled the foy– er with chocolate and called It an East.er Egg Warehouse. There wa1 even the year when they took a heap or Christmas trees down to •ell lu Sydney, A 11 procteds to the thealrt, or course. They hurc promoted sho ~s. They ha \·e eVt?n put money Into shows, alti1ou~i1 a, couple or th!!m "bombe~•• badly. '.1..,hey have nwept noors, they hR ve pair,ted. They have doi1G ~vrrythlnll ~ Yet las~,,-y-ear 200,000, came to our live shows make money - and to save It. They allo realised that flexibility was all "We knew that locr.l companies couldn't pay as much as some or the v is iting ones, a,nd charged them accord• lng!y," said Peter. "It costs $6000 a week to run the place and, If there's no show in, that's what we lose. It we can rent It for $3000 a week, then we"re only losln1 $3000. "We tried to pt Wll• llamsons to be neslble with their charcea, but they charred the ume all lbe time." Peter and Russell be– lieve Her Majesty's Is the rtrst theatre In Australia to adopt this flexibility, "We decided that we'd do all we could to get people Into the theatre all the time. "Last year 200,000 people came to our live shows, an Increase of 40,000 on the year be• fore," said Russo:L Russell and Peter both worked for the theatre when It was run by WII• llamsons. Peter was sent up from Sydney by Wllllamsons In 1074 to manage the thea– tre and had the doubtful distinction or closing the firm's operations down In Brisbane. Wltlt the dole faelnc them, Peter and , Russell d..,ldtd they had nothing to lose by takln,r over the theatre themselves - and a lot to caln If It worked, "We ran on the kind• ness of the bank man– ager for a whlle,'' they said. Bui;, no matter how suc cessful they have made the theatre. there Is now the worry that they mightn't have It tor much longer. The news that the AMP society !ins prob• abl)' sold It lo a rtrm or developers has sent them Into the depths or gloom. There Is the fear that the gracious old lady that opened In 1888 as Her Imperial Majesty's Opera House wlll soon be no more than a pile or dust. n u s• e 11 McVe:, said yesterday there waa hope tbal lho prospective pur- cbuen wouldn't eon• templata redevelopment until wben Ule Cultural Centra on the South Bank wu oompleted In 198.. ao that Brisbane wouldn't be without a theatre. "But, after that, we don't know what will happ,I\,'' he said. The two have had talks with representatives of the purchasers as yet un• named, and said "they are very understanding." The:, suggeated that the auditorium could, perhaps, be retained In the new development. There have also been suggestions that a bit or homework could be done on the viability of a com– pletely new theatre In any new development. They are not con• tern pi at Ing battlec to save the theatre until they know exactlY what the new owners Intend to do. Peter and Russell stress that even with the new Lyric Theatre In the CUiturai Centre, Bria• bane will need another theatre of the size of Her Majeaty's, Both say the Lyric Theatre Is being built ror op,ra and ballet "but It's not really suited to the sort or atutr we put on. There's more to theatre than op,ra and ballet, you know. "And nobody has ever asked us what our needs are as fRr as the CUiturai Centro 1s concerned. "At the moment It doesn't help that Brls– b an e only has one theatre or the size of Her Majesty's, We're losing a lot of shows that want to come up here btcause we're booked up and there's nowhere else to go, "The other theatres In town are too small to make any money." Until now the ownerw or lhe theatre, the Au•• trallan Mtllual Provident SocltlY, have kept Peter and Rusaell tltd to a 1lx– monlhly lease. ",Ve've bten prepared to spend money on the place but when you think you·1•e only got It for six months there's no In– centive. rr we'd had a longer tense we could have done all the things that need to be done." The two have spent "thousands of dollars" extending the orchestra pit so that the orchestra doesn't have to now up Into the audience and people aren't sitting on top or the tympani 6CC• tlon. "But there are stlll pltces or plastic covering holes in the roof," said Peter. "We figure that's the responsibility of the landlords." Peter and Russell are convinced that the theatre Is built to last "at least another 100 years. With a bit or refurbish– Ing It could be beautiful." Russell and Peter re• gard the new Cultural Ce n t re pesslmlstlcally. "If It's run like all the other cultural centres around the place It won't work well, The people who run It are going to be too Car removed from the people who work In It and use It." Peter was ents In 1061. His mother lives at Byron Bay, 1111 brother Rick workl with him at Iler l\laJeoty's. Russell ls a Qµcenslnn– der wllh a mother who wns a bit of n Mrs Worthington. She put her boy on the stage, but on the technical side. He has been there ever since, Russell has been mar• rled, Peter hasn't, Ho says his and Russell's partnership Is "like n m n r r Ia g e . It's pretty traumatic; but It's last• od.'' Most other people who run theatres regard Peter and Russell with a cer• tnln amount or trepida– tion. "They depend on ac– countants to run them," said Peter. "But that doesn't work. This Isn't a numbers game. It's a gut feeling.