Space - the final frontier

Laura Hill and Elizabeth McRae starred in 'Spreading Out', one of the highlights of ATC's 2004 programme.

If Auckland Theatre Company artistic director Colin McColl could have his Santa wish for 2005, it would be to find a permanent home for the company.

With its offices in one rented space (Wellesley St), its rehearsal rooms in another (a warehouse in Ponsonby), and its venues anything from the Herald to the Maidment to Sky City theatres, the ATC is in a constant state of manoeuvring, whereas most theatre companies have a stable central set-up - including their own theatres.

"We really want to get our own theatre, absolutely," says McColl, who has just celebrated his first year in the job.

"It's a pretty precarious situation when you're in leased accommodation for our offices and rehearsal rooms, then having to hire out theatres.

"We have good relationships with the theatres but it is difficult. We can't do children's work and studio productions. There's a whole range of work not available to us because of hireage fees, but if we had our own space with added room for rehearsal and a small studio theatre, that would be fantastic."

Yet another disadvantage to hiring theatre space is that, to a major extent, the venue dictates the schedule.

"The year's schedule has to be jiggled according to the venue. It's incredibly difficult, it's madness. You have to book every available space then cancel and reschedule. It affects the flow through the year."

McColl is hopeful that the new council will support ATC's search for a home.

"We would like to think the city fathers would include us in their plans for an arts precinct. But as I keep saying to people on the council, you have to have living, breathing, smelly artists in there during the daytime, not just people sitting around in cafes," he laughs.

"We need big rehearsal rooms where artists can make a mess and lots of noise. It's advantageous for us to be in the CBD but finding big spaces with no pillars is quite hard."

With the ATC receiving $690,000 in 2004 and 2005 from Creative New Zealand, plus a one-off of $200,000 to get McColl's new team bedded in during the past year, McColl now believes the company is heading into what he calls "our stabilisation year, when we will get everything rock solid".

The highlights of the 2004 programme, in his assessment, have been the New Zealand trio - Goldie, Spreading Out and The Bach. The Bach will return for a season at a larger venue next year, then will tour to the Christchurch and Taranaki festivals.

McColl also plans to develop the ATC's international profile; he and business manager Kim Acland will travel across to Melbourne and Sydney early next year to develop a relationship with theatre companies "and see about some swap-sies", meaning a transtasman exchange of productions - something which hasn't been seen here in theatre for many years.

This year alone more than 75,000 people have attended ATC productions, a statistic McColl finds cheering.

Although shows like Virginia Woolf and Caligula did well (but The Talented Mr Ripley "was not as successful as we had hoped"), McColl emphasises once again that New Zealand plays seem to be striking a chord.

"That is heartening. We are a New Zealand company and God knows there's enough American culture colonising the world - we don't need more of it. We need to be flying the flag for New Zealand."

Having said that, he's also quick to point out that next year's programme, which he's launching at the end of January, will also include "unusual texts that are not performed that often".