RCC returns to Victoria Square after five year absence

The organisers of RCC hope a return to its original home marks a new beginning for the controversial festival venue.

One of the Fringe festival’s most popular venues is going back to where it all began tonight.

The RCC opens tonight in Victoria Square after a five-year absence from the square, and the venue’s major backer hopes a new slimmed down format will remain a fixture of the city’s annual festival season.

This year’s RCC will host local Adelaide acrobatics and physical theatre group Gravity & Other Myths (GOM) on the main stage, while a series of other interactive installations will also feature.

Physical theatre company Stalker will present its show Mountain, which combines aerial performance with interactive light technology, while pop-up Italian eatery Roberta’s Italian Disco Diner will also make a return after two years with RCC at the University of Adelaide.

A giant inflatable installation called Looped will be the visual centrepiece of this year’s program.

Royal Croquet Club managing director Roberto Cardone and creative director Stuart Duckworth setting up Roberta's Italian Disco Diner. Picture: Mark Brake

RCC director Roberto Cardone, co-founder of Cibo Espresso, acknowledges the RCC’s challenges of the past, but believes a return to Victoria Square could mark a new beginning for the popular venue.

“This year it’s a much smaller event,” he said.

“When you look at the model at the university the first year, we were in every theatre and spaced out all over the place - to build that sort of infrastructure it was a massive investment.

“We toned it back last year but still there were a lot of different theatres, whereas this year it’s going back to what it was - a big open event.

“There’s more visual arts, interactive shows and thing to have fun with, and with the one ticket you see all of that.”

While consistently achieving some of the biggest ticket sales and artistic acclaim at the Fringe, RCC has had a chequered history since it was founded by Stuart Duckworth and Tom Skipper as the Royal Croquet Club in 2014.

In 2017 a disastrous attempt involving the Adelaide City Council to operate a pop-up bar in China led to the company’s voluntary administration with debts of more than $1m.

Under new ownership, the event was moved to Pinky Flat in 2018 and then the University of Adelaide for the past two years.

RCC drew hundreds of thousands of visitors at the university with a program curated by former Adelaide Festival artistic director David Sefton.

But the event fell into the red in both years, and was hit last year by escalating fears around the COVID-19 pandemic.

Royal Croquet Club managing director Roberto Cardone and creative director Stuart Duckworth show off the view from Roberta's Italian Disco Diner to the main stage. Picture: Mark Brake

“It was quite massive what we did at the university - it was a massive investment, we didn’t make money and there were definite errors - being too ambitious,” he said.

“You’ve got this stereotype of RCC being a complete piss up basically, but what people don’t realise is some of the acts we got were pretty special - Pussy Riot for example.

“If anything it (seasons at the university) helped us be a bit more controlled - it probably stopped the wildness of the previous years.”

The university pulled out of its hosting agreement with RCC last year, leading to the event’s return to its original home.

Unlike the early years at Victoria Square when the venue operated until 3am, this year’s agreement with the council allows it to remain open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, and 11pm all other nights.

A scheduling clash with an Indian cultural festival means RCC will take up the southern half of Victoria Square, while Gouger Street traders are being encouraged to participate in a street party precinct.

Working alongside Mr Duckworth, who remains the event’s creative director, Mr Cardone said this year’s event would be a “test year for us and we’d like to prove ourselves”.

“It’s not been the easiest ride to get here but I think we can definitely turn it into a good business model that’s profitable,” he said.

“One of the reasons I was really interested in the business is I love South Australian brands.

“For me it’s about seeing creative people stay here, own something, develop something and create a culture of people that then filters into other things.”

RCC tickets cost $21, and will run Thursdays to Sundays for five weekends.