More certainty sought on upgrade
‘‘The issue for us is that there’s clearly a market out there for big stage productions, but we need some certainty on the dates.’’
Chris Thomas, South Canterbury Drama League president
Bookings at Timaru’s Theatre Royal will be taken until at least December, but the start date for its $11 million upgrade remains unknown – ‘‘disappointing and frustrating’’ the South Canterbury Drama League.
Timaru District Council group manager commercial and strategy Donna Cross said the council had been working with affected stakeholders, such as the drama league, to make sure the council understood events they were planning, and so the league ‘‘knows the likelihood of being able to utilise the theatre for events they are planning for next year’’.
‘‘We have been taking bookings up to the end of December but are revising this [the theatre will be able to be kept open for longer],’’ Cross said.
‘‘Once we have our project manager in place, we will be able to finalise our project plan and establish a close date with more certainty.
‘‘The design phase of the project will be quite involved and take some time. Construction work to upgrade the theatre will not commence until we have our final design.’’
However, South Canterbury Drama League president Chris Thomas said the Theatre Royal ‘‘is not in a great state, and the ‘back of house’ is not fit for purpose’’.
‘‘We are really unlikely to use the theatre for major productions until it gets renovated.’’
This year, the league’s production of Legally Blonde moved from the Theatre Royal to the Playhouse, in Church St.
Thomas said the drama league still had the option of staging larger productions at the Playhouse in the meantime, but planning for its major productions began ‘‘about 12 to 14 months out’’.
‘‘The issue for us is that there’s clearly a market out there for big stage productions, but we need some certainty on the dates,’’ he said.
He was also concerned that a change in council after the local government elections in October could complicate matters further.
‘‘My concern is that the original decisions could be overturned and lead to a scaled back project,’’ he said.
The council’s Long Term Plan has set aside $11m for the Theatre Royal upgrade, and another $12m for the Heritage Precinct. The two parts are being planned to take place in tandem.
‘‘The council advised us in 2015 that the Theatre Royal was a priority project; we’re in 2019 and there’s no sign of it being closed this year, and for all we know it might not in 2020,’’ Thomas said.
‘‘At the moment, it is very difficult to put long term plans in place.’’
Cross said the council expected to employ a project manager in October.
‘‘However, early physical ‘enabling’ works are anticipated to occur during the design phase,’’ she said.
‘‘For example, the demolition of adjacent buildings to make way for the new development. This will influence the close date as it may not be feasible for the Theatre to remain open once these works commence,’’ Cross said.
‘‘We will give consideration to the feasibility of these works being able to be carried out while the Theatre is still operating.’’