The New Theatre, Newtown

Ms CARMEL TEBBUTT (Marrickville) [6.01 p.m.]: The New Theatre is an important part of the cultural landscape of my electorate. The New Theatre, located in King Street, Newtown, was founded in 1932 and is one of Australia's oldest continuously performing theatres, professional or amateur. In 1973 it moved to its present address, a former television picture tube factory. Ownership of these premises was made possible by a grant from the Whitlam Government. In 2007 the New Theatre was honoured by the National Institute of Dramatic Art for its contribution to the Australian Performing Arts and 75 years of continuous production. From its beginnings as a political workers theatre, it has become one of Sydney's leading independent theatre companies, creating high quality, diverse and challenging theatre.

The New Theatre's patron is former Federal Minister Tom Uren, who has done so much to support and revitalise creative life in the inner west. The New Theatre receives no ongoing funding or sponsorship and survives on the income it generates through its productions and the enormous efforts of its volunteer members. Recently it was established that the theatre had to undertake urgent building works to comply with the City of Sydney place of public entertainment licensing requirements. The cost of these works was $70,000 and through a tremendous fundraising effort the theatre raised $50,000. I was very pleased a few weeks ago to announce that the New South Wales Government also has provided a grant of $20,000 to meet the cost of the works.

I thank the Minister for the Arts, Frank Sartor, for his support of the performing arts in my electorate. I thank also Ruth Neave, his adviser, who was always available as we worked together on this issue. I pay tribute to Rosane McNamara, President of the New Theatre; Frank McNamara, President of the New Theatre Properties Limited Company; and the many supporters of the theatre, including Richard Walsham, who all worked so hard in both raising awareness of the theatre's plight and funds to address it. The high esteem in which the New Theatre is held is demonstrated by the strong community support for its fundraising efforts. Newtown is very fortunate to be home to such a celebrated theatre, which plays a critical role in nurturing new Australian writers, actors and practitioners.

The history of the New Theatre is of course fascinating and is well set out in "The New Years: The Plays, People and Events of 75 Years of Sydney's New Theatre." The social, political and economic environment of the 1930s when the theatre was formed was very different to that of today. They were times of acute financial depression. People's lives were tough and unemployment was rampant, with long dole queues common and evictions of families unable to pay the rent on substandard houses. It was against this background that the New Theatre movement was born in America. Following the American trend, amateur workers' theatre groups sprang up in Australia. In 1932 the Sydney Workers Art Club was established in a premises on Pitt Street. The Sydney Morning Herald reported:

A club has been established with the object of bringing within reach of the working classes various advantages in the way of lectures, musicals, recitals, art classes and the exhibition of pictures.

I was interested to read that the first real evidence of the dramatic aspect of the club's activities was the players group's first public performance of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists in 1933. A 1987 performance of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists was the first play I ever saw at the New Theatre. By 1936 the New Theatre in its Pitt Street premises already had produced a number of generally accepted plays by writers such as Bernard Shaw, Upton Sinclair and Muriel Box. The early 1960s saw a definite upswing in New Theatre's fortunes at three successive New South Wales Arts Council Drama Festivals, and in 1963 the Sydney Theatre moved to premises in St Peters Lane near Kings Cross. The 10 years spent there were marked by many successes. Needing more space for major productions, workshops and acting classes, children's theatre and street theatre rehearsals, Sydney New Theatre moved in 1973 to Newtown, where for the first time it owned its own building.

The New Theatre is unashamedly political and states in its constitution, "Theatre must be vital, dynamic and meaningful to its time." It has sought plays with social and political themes, and aims to produce theatre about people and experiences that are not always presented in the more mainstream, commercial theatres. On more than one occasion it has been the subject of censorship attempts. At the same time, the theatre has aimed for performance and production quality and to provide exposure for Australian writers, along with performances for children and rehearsed readings of school texts. It is an important training ground for Australian actors, production managers and light and sound operators, with many members going on to become professionals in all aspects of the Australian theatre, entertainment, film and television industries. Over seven decades the New Theatre has mounted 511 productions. In short, the New Theatre provides challenging theatre at affordable prices for the widest audiences. I am very pleased that the Government has seen fit to support the New Theatre.