TasWeekend: Drum roll, please, for the revamped Theatre Royal’s keenly awaited opening

Hobart’s beloved Theatre Royal reopens this month after extensive renovations. Regulars and visitors alike will enjoy the many improvements, writes LINDA SMITH.

Theatre Royal chief executive Tim Munro amid the renovations. Picture: EDDIE SAFARIK

IT’S been a long wait, but when theatregoers return to Hobart’s revamped Theatre Royal later this month they can expect an experience that is “transformational” and “extraordinary”.

Theatre Royal chief executive Tim Munro says after eight months of being closed for renovations the theatre will welcome its first audience on May 30, and he expects visitors to be gobsmacked by the improvements.

The 182-year-old theatre itself remains untouched, but the surrounding foyers, toilets and box office have undergone a major overhaul, giving the site a spacious and more contemporary feel, while also being sympathetic to the history of Australia’s oldest continually-operating theatre.

Each of the theatre’s three levels now has a dedicated foyer and bar area, including the top level known as The Gods. The dated second-floor toilets have been demolished to make way for new facilities, while the glass-fronted ground floor extension features a spacious bar, box office, cloak room, toilets and bench seating, enabling people to enjoy a drink and a snack and socialise before and after shows. And the Backspace Theatre at the building’s rear has been demolished to make way for a new 300-seat studio theatre.

The renovations are part of the first stage of the $96 million Hedburg development next door.

The new creative industries and performing arts centre is under construction on the corner of Collins and Campbell streets and will encompass the Theatre Royal, the University of Tasmania’s Conservatorium of Music and the Creative Exchange Institute (CxI). The precinct will be called The Hedberg after the former Hedberg Brothers garage on Collins St, the facade of which has been retained. The entire project is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

“It has been a contemporary theatre for a long time and it just needs contemporary facilities,’’ Munro says, while offering TasWeekend a tour of the new-look Theatre Royal. “What we’ll have when we reopen will be transformational and extraordinary. After eight months without an audience we can’t wait to get some artists and some audiences back in here.’’

During the renovations the box office operated from the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, but has now reopened at the theatre, accepting bookings for the 2019 season.

Among the first shows will be Senior Moments, a comedy revue featuring Australian acting veterans John Wood, Benita Collings, Max Gillies, Kim Lewis and Russell Newman from May 30 to June 1, and musical duo Deborah Conway and Willy Zygier on June 6.

Munro says many regulars are excited about returning to the theatre. He also hopes the opening of the Hedburg precinct later this year will attract new followers and “add another string to the bow” of arts tourism in the state.

“A lot of people are looking forward to coming back,’’ Munro says. “Our most loyal fans have been closely following the progress of the renovations.’’

He says the Theatre Royal has undergone a few facelifts in the past — including repair work carried out following a fire in 1984 — but this is the first major revamp in many years.