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From issue: February 2000

Without These Old Theatres

by Alison Bartley

The success of Wellington's International Festival of the Arts depends on the city's heritage theatres.

The Baroque splendour of Wellington's St James Theatre is wonderfully expressed in its triple-tiered boxes. Photo: Grant Sheehan

The eighth New Zealand International Festival of the Arts opens in Wellington in early March with heritage venues providing many of the performance spaces for the three-week feast of music, opera, dance and theatre. Public attention is focused on the shows themselves but the venues where these take place are pivotal to creating a viable event.

From its inception, says the Festival's Deputy Director, Alex Reedijk, the Festival has been absolutely dependent on the existence of the capital's two large, historic, proscenium-arch theatres, the WestpacTrust St James and the Opera House. "If the St James or the Opera House closed, we wouldn't have a Festival - it's as simple as that," says Reedijk.

Wellington hosts the New Zealand Festival because it has a crucial element necessary for a good international festival - appropriate geography. By "geography" festival organisers mean the proximity of venues to each other and to the heart of the city and the availability of other spaces for more unusual shows.

The view from the stage looking out into the auditorium of the St James. Photo: Grant Sheehan

"Wellington is very fortunate," says Reedijk, who has been involved in many festivals, both in New Zealand and overseas, "in that its geography is wonderfully organised, with key venues all within five minutes walk of each other." The secondary venues are also within walking distance.

Before the St James was refurbished three years ago, the Festival was an "active mover and shaker" in the campaign to save the grand old Edwardian theatre, with its rococo auditorium and baroque fagade. Now, with its enlarged proscenium arch, which improves sight lines, the new foyers and the new backstage area, the St James is the preferred venue for many of the performing arts.

The Courtenay Place frontage of the St James. Photo: Grant Sheehan

"It is only since the refurbishment 'says Reedijk, "that large scale productions, such as the Mark Morris Dance Group, seen in 1998, have been able to be included in the Festival." The large stage and seating capacity at the St James is particularly important for dance and the Royal New Zealand Ballet Company is a devotee of this, its home theatre. The ballet company's general manager, Sue Paterson, believes that older theatres not only enshrine a certain ambience but also offer the kind of stage dancers like and the space needed to show dance to advantage.

Size is also important for opera according to the National Opera Company spokesperson, Patricia Hurley, although it is secondary to acoustics. These two factors, rather than the age of a theatre, are important in her view. "Wellington's Opera House is one of the best theatres acoustically for singing in New Zealand. Opera singers don't use mikes so we need to be careful about what theatres we use to ensure the sound can be heard," Hurley says.

Although there is widespread affection for our older theatres, sophisticated audiences are increasingly fussy about sight lines, acoustics and temperature levels in a theatre, Reedijk says.

The interior of the St James Theatre, before its recent restoration, looking from the balcony onto the stage. Photo: Alexander Turnbull Library*

"These are issues with old theatres such as the Opera House and building owners have to be responsive about addressing current audience needs."

Comfort aside, the success of the historic theatres, according to Reedijk, is also a matter of congruency between the architecture and the art form. "The style and period of those theatres enhances the kind of shows we present, many of which come from the European lyric theatre tradition." There is something in the shape and design of these older theatres which engenders a sense of both grandeur and intimacy.

Large modem theatres are perceived to be not as good acoustically as the older theatres and to lack the atmosphere of the historic buildings. "A modem theatre like the Aotea Centre is cold; it has no joy or ambience. You are talking about the difference between Te Papa, which I love, and going into an old church in the United Kingdom. You get the feeling of time, place, history," says the New Zealand Ballet Company's production manager, Nick Kyle.

A similar view, also from several years ago, in the State Opera House, Wellington. Photo: Alexander Turnbull Library*

Kyle prefers to sit in the dress circle of older theatres: "It's not just about seeing the show; the theatre can create so much around the show. Looking around, you get the feeling of a special event."

By the minimalist standards of twentieth century modernism, these old theatres are highly ornate. But the detailed plaster work, plush red velvets and gold paintwork together to create a sense of occasion. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, with many of the country's older theatres being renovated rather than demolished, improvements are enhancing audience enjoyment. The creation of bars in the theatres which allow audiences to mingle and meet to discuss the show add to the sense of occasion which venues such as the St James offer.

So next time you are at the theatre, look around - that current of excitement circulating in the auditorium before the curtain rises may have been generated by pleasure at the building itself, as well as by anticipation of the performance.

The St James Theatre Wellington and the State Opera House have both been registered by the Historic Places Trust as category I historic places.

Alison Bartley is a Wellington journalist.