STRUT Dance will be the first of many arts groups to use the long-shuttered Liberty Theatre in central Perth.
WHEN Sofie Burgoyne and Tim Green first set eyes on the Liberty Theatre, they were struck by the opportunities for their company STRUT Dance.
Property developer Randal Humich also saw the potential in the theatre, after his family company bought a strip of ageing properties along Barrack Street in central Perth.
This rare meeting of minds, between creatives and commerce, will lead to the opening next month of STRUT’s latest SITU-8 season in the Liberty Theatre.
The Perth International Jazz Festival plans to use the space for its ‘1, 2, 3’ show, which brings together a program of soloists, duos and trios, while Bloomhouse Projects is presenting a classical recital.
Otherside Brewing Co, which owns music venues Freo Social and Mojos, plans a month of live music leading up to Christmas.
Then comes festival season when the Perth Fringe Festival will use the space.
While Humich Group has longer-term plans for a major development anchored by a 23-storey building on Barrack Street, it plans to retain most of the existing buildings, including the theatre.
Mr Humich sees them as an asset, providing something distinctive and appealing for the central city.
“The big shopping malls all have the same shops as the city,” Mr Humich told Business News.
“The city needs a point of difference.”
He believes the reinvention of the Liberty Theatre as an arts venue will add vibrancy to the central city, adding to its appeal and boosting foot traffic.
Mr Humich muses on the potential to host classical music performances or opera recitals at lunch time, making the music more accessible and demystifying art forms usually confined to rarefied venues such as His Majesty’s Theatre.
These plans also accord with his ideas on how to best use heritage buildings.
“A lot of people just focus on the façade, but it’s not just that, it’s how you activate the space,” Mr Humich said.
With Humich Group being one of the major retail property owners in central Perth, his plans have a clear commercial motivation.
But Mr Humich has been prepared to invest time and money to make it happen.
His quest started with lots of phone calls to arts companies to gauge their interest in using the Liberty Theatre, followed by multiple site visits.
That wasn’t an easy step for Mr Humich, who said he was always interested in the arts but not actively involved.
His motivation stemmed in part from having two children studying at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts.
He learned about the shortage of affordable rehearsal and performance spaces in Perth and decided to do something about it.
Mr Humich has already provided space in the historic Moana Hall building on the Hay Street Mall for WAAPA students to rehearse.
And he has spent money getting the Liberty Theatre into a suitable state for audiences and performances.
This has included upgrading the ventilation and bathrooms, adding emergency lighting, and installing a disabled lift and ramps.
However, Mr Humich has done nothing to hide the rundown rawness, including peeling paint and exposed ceiling timbers, that come from being empty for decades.
Colourful history
Built as office premises in 1890, the Liberty building was extended and converted to a theatre in 1954.
It was considered Perth’s first arthouse cinema, bringing European films to audiences unfamiliar with such risqué fare.
As with many others in the neighbourhood, the building went into decline after closing its doors.
That was partly a result of their unusual ownership: they were owned by 55 descendants of Daniel Connor (aka Daniel O’Connor), an Irish convict who became one of the wealthiest people in the Swan River colony before his death in 1898.
His property holdings passed from one generation to the next, but little was done to improve them. Mr Humich met one of the property owners three years ago and liked the opportunity.
He spent the next 18 months contacting and negotiating with the other 54 owners, who held 202 certificates of title between them.
“What pains me is that the space sat here for 25 years unused,” Mr Humich said.
New approach
But it was the theatre’s ragged state that appealed to the STRUT curators.
“The space is perfect for us now,” Mr Green said.
“We don’t want to lose the patina and character.”
The upcoming SITU-8 season features eight works in one, providing performers and audiences with opportunities to experience different parts of the rambling building.
As well as the main cinema hall, there are side rooms and upstairs rooms, the lobby and the projection booth, all connected by stairs.
“We will be playing with different parts of the space,” Mr Green said.
He explained that the eight pieces, prepared in tandem with contemporary music company Tura, were each created with the spaces in mind.
Ms Burgoyne said the people involved all brought different memories of the theatre.
She said there would be lots of surprises, with audiences moving through different spaces and seeing works from different places.
Some would enter the building from the front, Ms Burgoyne said, while others may enter from the back, which would also have a laneway bar.
Ms Burgoyne, who is also co-director, said STRUT was keen to hear from property owners who may have interesting spaces for the 2023 season of SITU-8.
The low-budget revival of the Liberty is very different to the nearby Piccadilly Theatre.
It was upgraded as part of the expensive restoration of Piccadilly Arcade, which was completed a year ago.
The theatre was earmarked as a performance space managed by concert promoter Brad Mellen but has not reopened its doors, reportedly after a commercial breakdown.
CBRE senior director Lee Lawler said the space was still being marketed.
“The original upgrade and restoration of the first floor was close to completion when COVID-19 issues severely intervened,” she said.
“The finished product will be completed and opened when negotiations with one of the interested parties is finalised.”
