There’s no theatrical experiences quite like the ones you have when you’re young, before the capacity for wonder gets squeezed out of your soul by critics, worthiness and hidden ticket fees.

Brisbane Arts Theatre has always been a place of magic for me because so much of my formative theatre-going experience happened there.

I vividly recall actors running along that rickety gallery balcony handrail during a pantomime (Cinderella, I think), the wonder of seeing Count Dracula transform into a plastic bat that flew over the audience’s heads and witnessing my school’s English teacher, Mr Cannon, knock it out of the park in an Alan Ayckbourn play, after which my friends and I drank cask wine across the road (one of those wholesome activities teens got up to before they became addicted to their phones).

Over the years I kept going back – they always did interesting productions, the foyer bar was cute, tickets didn’t cost too much. One of my plays, Trivia, had a run there and a film I wrote, Jucy, was filmed at Brisbane Arts Theatre, with the bacchanalian cast party scenes being based on the clothing-optional ones that they used to have (I was told) at wrap parties for Arts Theatre productions (general rule of thumb: the more amateur-dramatic a production, the wilder the wrap party).

Brisbane Arts Theatre has been running in some form or another since 1936, moving to 210 Petrie Terrace in 1961. A lot of actors have trod the boards there, including Barry Otto, Michael Caton, Bernard King, Carol Burns and a plucky little aspiring ham called Wayne Goss.

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Numerous romances – short and long – have started in that foyer bar. Like a lot of community theatre companies, Brisbane Arts Theatre always seemed to be on the verge of going broke or burning to the ground or being bulldozed, or a combination of all three. Still, it managed to hang on somehow, through the devotion of its workers and audiences, until last year when it was sold.

However, just as God looks after drunks, small children and fools, every now and then She also smiles on Brisbane theatre. The new owners aren’t putting in a Botox clinic, pet grooming business and/or block of flats. They’re keeping it a theatre. And expanding.

The new owners are Fiona and Dan Kennedy. Dan and Fiona, along with Gregory Wilken, own Ad Astra Theatre Company, which has been based out of 57 Misterton Street, Fortitude Valley, since 2018.  According to Wilken, the original Misterton Street black box theatre will still exist but be renamed the Satellite Theatre, while the proscenium arch theatre at 210 Petrie Terrace is being renamed the Galaxy Theatre.

The former workshop will be a multipurpose space called Pluto (they’ve got a whole intergalactic theme going on) and will be a black box theatre but also a comedy and rehearsal/small events space. The foyer, function room and courtyard will be called Cosmos.

The former costume cottage has been gutted and restored to become the head office for Radioactive, a Brisbane-based film production, development and distribution company.

According to Wilken, Radioactive “will host monthly film director, producer and writer nights in their offices which will include a large balcony looking over Brisbane’s western suburbs”.

“Ad Astra will also hold monthly events for theatre writers, actors, crew and directors,” Wilken adds. “We hope that this space will become a hive for film and theatre activity in Brisbane for many years to come.”

So, while it’s sad to see the Brisbane Arts Theatre company go off into the sunset, the spirit survives – as in, literally, the Brisbane Arts Theatre ghost (all good theatres have at least one) will still have a venue to haunt, and 210 Petrie Terrace will still be a wonderful slice of land in Brisbane where we can gather in the dark and watch footlight-illuminated magic happen.

Because every time an arts venue in Brisbane closes part of the city dies a little – yeah, I’m talking to you, owners of where Festival Hall used to be – so every attempt to keep it going should be celebrated and supported.

artstheatre.com.au