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Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Concerns over viability of new venue build
Casting aside Dunedin's Mayfair Theatre from being in contention for council funds for redevelopment could hold back performing arts in the city, a representative has warned. The Dunedin City Council favours supporting a multi-venue package that includes construction of a new theatre and does not include upgrading the 400-seat Mayfair Theatre. The approach backed by the council depends on substantial community fundraising and Mayfair Theatre Charitable Trust chairman Geoff Patton doubts a viable path has been chosen. Mr Patton said there was a lot of uncertainty about the proposal to push ahead with a new performing arts venue, for which the council allocated $9.5million for 2030-31 within its nine-year plan. About $20m would need to come from other sources — but likely more — if the council did not chip in more itself. "My worry is, it's going to suck so much money out of the arts' supporters to build the theatre," Mr Patton said. "If it's going to replace the Mayfair, it has to be able to do everything the Mayfair does now and be better." Backing the Mayfair instead would be cheaper and arts money might then be available to support performances, he suggested. The city council included $17.1m all up in its 2025-34 long-term plan for what was described as cornerstone or seed funding for upgrading the Playhouse Theatre and Athenaeum building and the idea of a new venue. The package pencilled into the plan last week followed years of debate about what should be done after the 2018 closure of the professional Fortune Theatre company. Stage South was set up after the closure to foster and promote the sustainability of professional theatre in Otago and Southland and it was one group critical of the Mayfair's limitations. Councillors were told ahead of long-term plan hearings last month, consideration of further investment into the Mayfair would be a mistake and the converted picture theatre was "fundamentally unfit as a 21st century performing arts venue". Problems included an inflexible stage, poor acoustics for the spoken word, inadequate access and the building was damp and aged, the Stage South submission said. The ethos behind a new build was outlined on the group's website. "All should feel welcome: amateurs and professionals, Māori and [Pasifika] groups, disabled performers and audience members, dance, opera and touring companies, musicians, schools, children's and musical theatre. Two dedicated performance spaces maximises return, and a new build ensures that 21st century technology is incorporated right from the start." The Mayfair had been part of a combined pitch to the council alongside the Playhouse and Athenaeum venues for refurbishment funds, but it fell out of the picture this year. The council had pushed for the theatre sector to arrive at a consensus about what was needed. A statement of intent came out of a collective known as the Performing Arts Group in January — a new build was in and the Mayfair was essentially absent. "Had I been involved with that or even shown the draft before it was sent, I would simply have said, 'well, I disagree'," Mr Patton said. "Don't call it a consensus when it's not." There were then efforts to discredit the Mayfair through submissions to the council, he said. "You can do that if you want to, but you actually need to give the Mayfair credit for what it does. "On virtually no money, we've kept that theatre going." It was well-used, particularly for musicals. Plans existed for new toilets, installing a lift and replacing the roof. "From now going forward, nothing will happen, because we've been told that to get any sort of substantial fundraising for something like this, a redevelopment, that we will need council backing," Mr Patton said. "And if you don't have council backing, you won't get it."
Otago Daily Times
02-05-2025
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Mayfair slammed amid calls for cut reversal
Disharmony in Dunedin theatre circles has hit a crescendo amid a chorus of calls for a $17.1 million council budget cut to be reversed. The money set aside in the Dunedin City Council's 2021-31 long-term plan for development of a mid-sized theatre was absent from the 2025-34 draft plan, upsetting various groups. They have called for the capital spend to be reinstated, but have also been embroiled in a disagreement among themselves. An explosive submission to the council from professional theatre advocacy group Stage South included a withering assault on the Mayfair Theatre. "Any consideration of further investment into the Mayfair is mistaken," Stage South Charitable Trust spokeswoman Karen Elliot said in the submission on the council's 2025-34 draft long-term plan. "It is fundamentally unfit as a 21st century performing arts venue." She described the Mayfair as having a small, inflexible stage, European proscenium arch, "poor acoustics for spoken word, inadequate access, poor sightlines, inevitably high running costs and multiple technical design limitations". "It's inherently unworkable for modern theatre and with its strong colonial flavour and lack of community space actively excludes Māori and Pasifika performance," she said. "Representatives are unwilling to accept or discuss its limits and have been notably absent in meetings between Stage South, the Regent, the Playhouse and the Athenaeum over the last 12 months." The Mayfair, Playhouse and Athenaeum buildings had been jointly pitched for a refurbishment programme, but the Mayfair's status has lately been in question and this has seemed to coincide with input from Stage South, which has advocated for a new build. Mayfair Theatre Charitable Trust chairman Geoff Patton said the theatre existed because of a small team of volunteers. "We realise the theatre is old, some of its facilities are not the best and it needs money spent on it, but that was the whole point of the exercise undertaken with the Playhouse and Athenaeum." The only meeting of significance he missed was one called with 13 hours' notice and the invitation was sent at 11.15pm, he said. Mr Patton said much of the criticism of the Mayfair appeared to relate to professional, non-musical theatre. "We have to remember that the theatre was transformed into a live venue for, and by, the Dunedin Opera Company," he said. "The majority of its hires are for musical events. "The Mayfair has been the city's 400-seat theatre for 60 years, and if the proponents of the new build can't raise $30m, it will continue to be for many years yet." Dunedin Repertory Society stressed the urgency of work needed to improve the Playhouse Theatre. It had previously been agreed among theatre partners the Playhouse should be first, "being the smallest, cheapest, easiest and fastest project to deliver". Athenaeum building owner Lawrie Forbes said his complex was under-used and had potential to deliver an "unparalleled, edgy, multi-use events centre". Neither Mr Forbes nor repertory society representative Brent Caldwell was critical of the Mayfair.
