KEY POINTS:
Just two months ago, Auckland City was busy seeking a consultant to report on future theatre needs for downtown Auckland with a focus on the mothballed St James Theatre.
But that's suddenly yesterday's project. All eyes are now on the long-deserted Mid City cinema complex at 239 Queen St as the possible solution to the city's theatre crisis.
The four-cinema site is part of the detritus from the Bridgecorp finance company collapse, and receiver PricewaterhouseCoopers wants expressions of interest submitted by next Wednesday.
Expected to meet the deadline will be the Auckland City Council in conjunction with Auckland Theatre Company and other theatre interests. Sitting on the sidelines with fingers crossed will be a cross-section of arts supporters ranging from funding organisations like the ASB Trusts to Associate Arts and Culture Minister and Auckland Central MP Judith Tizard.
This column is rather devoid of direct quotes, because no one wants to jinx the venture, or risk upsetting the unique and delicate coalition that has emerged over the past month or so. But the vision is that for under $35 million, the existing concrete shell could be converted into a 550-seat home for major drama productions, a 350 or so seat substitute for the long-planned Q Theatre at the back of the Town Hall, and two or three rehearsal spaces, one of which could be a 250-seater "black box", suitable for, among other things, dance.
Perhaps the most incredible thing about this proposal is that this once trendy venue has sat abandoned and forgotten for over five years, gutted of everything but a few light fittings, while the Auckland arts community agonised over the lack of decent CBD performing spaces.
Almost as incredible is the speed with which city bureaucrats and politicians and the theatre community have embraced the concept as a project worthy of serious consideration.
Driving from behind the scenes has been Deputy Mayor David Hay, who overrode initial bureaucratic scepticism by calling for a report from Terry Mansfield, the council's project director for the Town Hall and Civic Theatre restorations and the Vector Arena. The assessment was far from starry-eyed, underlining, apparently, drawbacks such as the need for upgrading fire-safety provisions and problems providing truck access and backstage facilities to what was once a series of cinemas.
What is exciting everyone is the estimate that for around $35 million Auckland could have a multi-theatre complex to match, for example, the acclaimed Seymour Theatre Centre at Sydney University. Given that the proposed 350 to 450-seat flexiform Q Theatre has been priced at $21 million on the way up, it's not surprising funders and just about everyone in the theatre world see the merits of pursuing the Mid City alternative further.
It all came about thanks to a feature written six weeks ago by my colleague Catherine Masters on Q Theatre and Auckland's chronic shortage of theatre space. Sitting back with his morning coffee, real estate agent Mike Greer was inspired to engage in a little inspired lateral thinking and he was soon on the phone to anyone named in the article suggesting he might have the answer. Within days he was escorting a steady of stream of interested parties, Ms Tizard included, through the site. And so the idea grew.
Not surprisingly, Q Theatre enthusiasts, who, after a 10-year struggle for credibility and funds, finally got resource consent to proceed just as this alternative project emerged, have taken time to warm to the proposal. But with a little persuasion, Q leaders have joined a weekly consultation group on Mid City chaired by Dr Jill McPherson, arts, community and recreation general manager.
The ASB Community Trusts, which have pledged $4.5 million to the Q project, are also interested bystanders. They can't pull their grant while the Q project remains alive, but a theatre complex of the kind envisioned fits perfectly with the organisation's long-term strategy to support recreational and sporting infrastructure in the region. The hope would be, if the Mid City National Theatre - now that has a nice ring to it - does become a goer, then Q and its benefactors will join in.
Of course, with the back of the Town Hall site then surplus to requirements, the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and New Zealand Opera could take over the old Town Hall garaging as a rehearsal space. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Fingers crossed.
