Theatre veterans take on sold historic Adelaide site
A posse of long-term theatre industry names are taking the reins at a loved Adelaide heritage institute formerly saved from development.
Theatre industry veterans will take over the running of the historic Goodwood Institute after an artist-led association officially came into existence yesterday.
The news comes after the current owners of the 1928 building, Chris Iley and Simone Avramidis, announced the sale of the theatre for an unknown amount to a mystery local couple earlier in August.
Iley – who has been running the theatre since 2014 – and Avramidis saved Goodwood Institute from development in 2020 and have turned it into a thriving local theatre.
Goodwood Institute chair Rusty Russell told InDaily the new association was a “brand-new start”, although he said it would mainly affect the behind-the-scenes running of the theatre.
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“The Goodwood Institute has two missions – one is to sustain the building, but the second is to encourage and foster the local arts community,” he said.
While the buyer of Goodwood Theatre wished to remain private, Russell said that the association would be “running the show” as caretakers of what he describes as a “comfy old jeans kind of theatre”.
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Russell said Goodwood Institute officially came into existence yesterday after receiving a pile of paperwork, with the association to officially start running the theatre on September 14.
“The theatre was founded in 1928, so we’re coming into the second century, and really, when you start thinking in those terms, like well, ‘How is this going to last in the long term and be as successful in its second century as it was in the first?’,” he said.
“The not-for-profit structure locks that in as a community and resource and something that everyone can enjoy.”
Among those responsible for the behind-the-scenes running of the theatre will be Chrissie Brown, who is associated with Hot Sauce Burlesque, the Australian Shakespeare Company, Athenaeum Theatre and Laugh Factory and Laugh Factory USA.
There would also be arts administrator, operator and performer Sophie Williams, author, comedian and cabaret performer Libby Trainor Parker, Victoria Bannon, who is an international law practitioner, company director and arts board member, as well as Russell, who describes himself as a “Goodwood local and occasional accidental comedian”.
Russell said the association model would allow them to continue running the space as a community-orientated theatre, saying running a theatre was not an especially profitable enterprise.
“To be honest, the way to make a profit from the theatre is probably to sell it and turn it into apartments, and that is something we absolutely did not want to happen. There are a lot of developments happening around – I don’t see anyone buying apartments and turning them into theatres,” Russell, whose background is in not-for-profits, said.
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“If we lost it, we wouldn’t get it back. So, this is really, for me, certainly, an opportunity to go, ‘No, actually, let’s make sure this stays a theatre’.”
Russell said not to expect major changes to the theatre in its first 12 months, saying they would honour existing bookings, including for the 2027 Fringe season.
“So, we don’t expect any massive changes in the first 12 months while we get a feel for it and then we’ll figure out whether we’ve bitten off more than we can chew and how much fun we’re having at that point,” he said.
Russell said Goodwood Institute would be a versatile space, with yoga classes and an orchestra pit as well as hosting theatre productions.
“It actually has a lot of potential for different layouts and things – it’s a very broad space, and hopefully we’ll see some of those more exotic uses come back, because I think that’s part of the charm,” he said.
“It’s very easy today to be isolated, and I think one of the cures for that is to have these spaces where people are welcome and you can hang out.”
Asked why the arts sector was struggling, with theatre companies like Slingsby Theatre Company closing after nearly 20 years and Laneway festival dropping Adelaide from its schedule, Russell believed this was caused by cost-of-living pressures.
“I think it is going to be a struggle for quite a few years, particularly if people fall out of the habit of going to shows,” he said.
“But I think having healthy spaces that are like this that we can promote actively could help arrest that trend.”
The local heritage-listed building first opened in 1887 as a library, with later additions added in 1893, 1905 and 1928, while renovations were completed in the 1950s, according to the Institutes of Australia.
It currently features a 215-seat theatre and two black box theatres with 50 and 24 seats respectively, as well as a gallery, bar, foyer and outdoor laneway.
Good Institute is holding its final COMEBACK theatre season throughout August, with Danielle Lim and Sam Lau performing Bang on the Nerve and Zero Theatre Collective putting on Have Sex With Me Please from August 20 to 23.
Then, from August 27 to 30, Deus Ex Femina will perform All the Things I Couldn’t Say and Dead Darling Theatre will perform All Grown Up (But Not Really).
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