100 and 40 years of theatre – Adelaide Festival Centre's 2013 season

Adelaide Festival Centre
Adelaide Festival Centre. Image: supplied

The Adelaide Festival Centre turns 40 in 2013.

In a style of symmetry worthy of the Freemason's Lodge down the road, current CEO and Artistic Director Douglas Gautier was there for The Festival Theatre's opening night on June 2nd 1973 carrying out the duties of his first paid employment – as an extra in Fidelio, The Centre's inaugural concert.

The money to build the AFC, originally envisioned by Liberal and Country League Premier Steele Hall due to the ever-expanding Adelaide Festival of the Arts, was obtained by public donation after Robert Porter, the then Lord Mayor of Adelaide, launched a public appeal (with the  ardent support of Labour Premier Don Dunstan) to raise funds. South Australians opened their wallets and the appeal met its target within a week.

The Centre's Ruby anniversary will get under way with The Illusionists, a magic show combining seven of the “world's greatest magicians” beginning on New Years Eve and running until January 12.

As South Australian families built the AFC so South Australian families will be rewarded during 2013 with some delightful works to help introduce kids to the joys of live theatre during their school holidays:

In January (23-26) the AFC presents The Listies Do Compooters, a comedy about cyberspace. On 16-20 April the AFC and Patch Theatre Company bring the 2008 Helpmann Award winning children's play Mr McGee And The Biting Flee to the Space Theatre. The Dunstan Playhouse hosts Room On The Broom, based on the award-winning picture book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, from 16 to 20 July.

The official Programmes won't be released until March and August respectively but from May 4 through to September 7 the AFC's ever popular Something on Saturday – theatre for children aged 3-10 years, promises to again entertain an estimated 15,000 people. While Little Big Shots, an international film festival for kids, runs from 10-13 October. A series of short films, including animated works and documentaries, made for kids while some have even been made by kids.

As part of the 2013 Come Out Festival, Binjareb Pinjarra – “A comedy about a massacre” will be staged at the Dunstan Playhouse on 25 and 26 May. Rhonda Roberts of The Dreaming Festival in Queensland has said “This is reconciliation theatre at it's best”.

In an Australian Premiere, The State Theatre Company of SA, the AFC and Arts Project Australia combine to present Brief Encounter. The United Kingdom's Kneehigh Theatre's adaptation of Noel Coward's classic 1945 film (which in itself was an adaptation of his own 1936 one-act play Still Life) to the Dunstan Playhouse from 10-28 September.

Commissioned with the assistance of the Don Dunstan Foundation, a new Australian play Maggie Stone, written by Australian playwright Caleb Lewis and directed by new State Theatre Company Artistic Director Geordie Brookman runs from 8-30 November.
Balletomanes will be pleased that The Australian Ballet's production of Swan Lake will run from 5-11 July in the Festival Theatre. The Australian Ballet celebrated its golden anniversary last year and this p

roduction choreographed by Stephen Baynes has garnered critical acclaim across the country.

On 19 September the AFC presents as part of its OzAsia Festival, the Moon Lantern Festival, a popular community gathering in Elder Park from 3PM to 8:30PM which includes a diverse range of family entertainment, food outlets and market stalls. The Moon Lantern Parade at sunset is followed by a fireworks display.

Angela Lansbury
Name dropping: Angela Lansbury will star in Driving Miss Daisy, which will play at Her Majesty's Theatre in Adelaide. Image supplied

The Festival Theatre 40th Anniversary Concert will play on two nights, Friday 31 May and Saturday 1 June starting at 8PM. Conducted by Arvo Volmer and featuring Soprano Sara Macliver, Mezzo Soprano Sally-Anne Russell, Tenor Paul McMahon, Bass Stephen Bennett with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the Adelaide Symphony Chorus the concert will pay homage to its inaugural concert by performing Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 Choral and premiering Fanfare Festiva – fanfare for the next 40 years, a work commissioned for the event and written by South Australian Graeme Koehne. More events are expected to be announced leading up to the Anniversary Concert.

2013 also marks the 100th birthday of Her Majesty's Theatre (originally called The Tivoli) in Grote Street, Adelaide. The AFC now manages “Her Maj” and so with a nod to the establishment of the AFC itself, Gautier has announced the Centennial Gala Concert on 6 and 7 September as a Fundraising Event to help revamp the grand old dame of South Australian theatre with plans to increase the seating capacity by up to 500 people.

In 1913 Lili Langtrey – The Jersey Lily, (encouraged into acting by her friend Oscar Wilde and known as much for her liaisons with European Royalty as for her stage productions) performed on opening night. A litany of the world's greatest performers have appeared at Her Majesty's since then, including; Dame Joan Sutherland, Dame Judi Dench, Edward Woodward, Luciano Pavarotti, Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev, Sir John Gielgud, Sir Robert Helpmann, Victor Borge and most recently Jonathan Pryce.

Upcoming highlights include Barry Humphries' farewell tour Eat Pray Laugh! which will kick-off the programme for 2013 at Her Majesty's on 18-27 of January. Directed by Simon Phillips, all of Humphries' audience favourites are expected to be on show from the garish Dame Edna to the boorish Sir Les Patterson. The show is nearly 2-and-a-half hours long, including an interval, and is not suitable for people under 15 years of age.

Her Majesty's name dropping continues from the 17th of May to the 2nd of June when two octogenarian actors tread the boards – Angela Lansbury, CBE (winner of 5 Tony awards and 6 Golden Globes) and James Earl Jones, who was just last year awarded an Academy Honourary Award “for his legacy of consistent excellence and uncommon versatility”, will star in Alfred Uhry's 1988 Pulitzer Prize winning play Driving Miss Daisy.

As part of the dual anniversary celebrations, the AFC is actively seeking out past staff, trustees, board and committee members, performers and friends to contact them at; [email protected]

or for more information visit www.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au

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