The acoustics are being fixed! The acoustics are being fixed!
My face greeted me in The Aucklander yesterday, sitting on the steps of the Aotea Centre. Joanna Davies asked me my thoughts as a regular theatre-goer about a budgetted do-up of the ASB Theatre, that until now hasn’t recieved much media attention (and I previously didn’t know about!).
Auckland Council plans an $11.9 million refurbishment, which will include new seats, carpets and acoustic surfaces.
Heating, air conditioning and ventilation will also be upgraded and energy-efficient theatre lights will be installed.
The funding was written into budgets in the former Auckland City Council’s long-term community plan, which carries over to the new council budgets.
And here’s a little bit of what I had to say:
“I think the acoustics have put people off using the venue in the past, but it has the advantage of being a huge space with great sight lines. New seating and carpet will definitely help but, if they can fix the acoustics, it will become a really great venue.”
The upgrade is scheduled to start in November 2011 through March 2012, with a little bit more in Christmas 2012.
The venue really is in dire need of a do-up, and those acoustics HAVE to be fixed, so this is welcome. Although as this post explored, there are a lot of venues looking for money! I wonder though how The EDGE’s proposed convention centre bid might impact things, which proposed to turn the ASB Theatre into the main convention space, and transfer ballet and Opera etc into a refurbished Saint James.
Leave a Reply