Take Your Bow
The commission work Take Your Bow was created to celebrate the Festival Centre's 40th birthday, which is being commemorated this year.
Below you will find important information on the Centre which may be helpful for you and your students. It includes dates on when it was built, describes the variety of spaces in the building and gives interesting details about objects housed in the Centre, such as the Pipe Organ. Click below to view the units of work relating to this piece. |
Background Information
Adelaide Festival Centre, 2006
In 1960, the Adelaide Festival of the Arts was founded. After the first festival, it was clear that the city needed a large theatre and better facilities for a whole range of performing and visual arts. In 1968 the State Government announced that the Adelaide Festival Centre would be built on the banks of the River Torrens, near Parliament House. Several buildings were demolished to make way for the new centre, including the City Baths, the Advertiser Sound Shell and the Government Printing office.
The Festival Centre was built in three stages. The main building of the Adelaide Festival Centre, the Festival Theatre, started construction in 1970 and was completed in 1973, with a budget of $10 million. It is located near the corner of North Terrace and King William street on the banks of the River Torrens next to Elder Park. In contrast, the Sydney Opera House was also completed in 1973, but with a budget of $102 million. In 2002 there was a major upgrade of the centre costing $15.5 million.
The Festival Centre is built on Karuna land, where for tens of thousands of years Australia’s Aboriginal people held festivals of their own. They chose the site for the same reason as Steele Hall did - it was by the water, on a gentle slope, with an abundance of trees. The Adelaide Festival Centre honours and celebrates Indigenous culture. The Karuna Reconciliation Artwork was installed thanks to the Graham F Smith Peace Trust.
The Festival Theatre is the largest proscenium arch theatre in Adelaide, seating close to 2000 people on two levels. However, it is not the only performing venue within the centre. The Dunstan Playhouse is located in the Drama Centre behind the main building and seats 620 people on two levels. The Space Theatre is a studio theatre with no stage or seating so that it can be used for many different types of performances. The Centre also houses the Artspace Gallery which is above the Drama Centre. These centres were completed in 1974. In the financial year between 2007 and 2008, more than 900,000 people visited the Festival Centre.
The Festival Centre includes the outdoor amphitheatre that looks over Elder Park and the River Torrens. It also includes a structure called the “Sound Shell” that is a fully transportable, covered stage that is used for concerts such as the Symphony under the Stars and Carols by Candlelight. The Festival Centre also houses the Silver Jubilee Organ. It was the world’s first fully transportable concert hail pipe organ. The organ commemorates the Silver Jubilee of the reign of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth 11. It was built in Schwarzach, Vorartberg in 1977 and then disassembled and shipped to Australia. The organ weighs 13,500kg, but only two people are needed to move the organ (with some tractors) and it can be brought onto the stage within 10 minutes.
There are two large curtains on the stage. The stage at the front is made from wool and is fireproof. If there was a fire, there are water pipes directly above the curtain that would drench the curtain with water to help restrain the blaze. The curtain costs approximately $200,000! The Cyclorama is a plain cloth which extends around the stage to give a feeling of infinite space and to give cast and crew space behind the stage to move around.
The term ‘backstage’ doesn’t just refer to what is literally behind the stage, it refers to any area that the audience does not see. There are many backstage areas that you might see if you perform at the Festival of Music:
In the Festival Theatre, seating is divided into three tiers - the Grand Circle, Dress Circle and the Stalls.
The Festival Theatre is called a lyric theatre - this means it is designed to make musical productions sound really good. It does this by having special materials on the walls and ceiling to improve its acoustics. The word ‘acoustics’ describes how sound moves. Have you ever hummed in the shower? It would have sounded great because of the acoustics - the sound of your voice would have bounced around a lot because of all the tiled surfaces. The Festival Theatre has great acoustics because it has 45,000 wooden blocks on the walls to help sound bounce around, even right to the back of the theatre. The celling is actually covered in carpet and blankets to absorb sound so that the acoustics work properly. Even the material of the chairs and carpet is high-tech so that it all works together to improve the acoustics of the space.
BASS stands for Best Available Seating System and this company organises the tickets for not only for the Festival Centre, but also for sports games and other large musical events in Adelaide. There is a BASS box office in the Festival Centre foyer. However, when the ticketing system first opened, it was run out of Dressing Room Seven!
The Festival Centre was built in three stages. The main building of the Adelaide Festival Centre, the Festival Theatre, started construction in 1970 and was completed in 1973, with a budget of $10 million. It is located near the corner of North Terrace and King William street on the banks of the River Torrens next to Elder Park. In contrast, the Sydney Opera House was also completed in 1973, but with a budget of $102 million. In 2002 there was a major upgrade of the centre costing $15.5 million.
The Festival Centre is built on Karuna land, where for tens of thousands of years Australia’s Aboriginal people held festivals of their own. They chose the site for the same reason as Steele Hall did - it was by the water, on a gentle slope, with an abundance of trees. The Adelaide Festival Centre honours and celebrates Indigenous culture. The Karuna Reconciliation Artwork was installed thanks to the Graham F Smith Peace Trust.
The Festival Theatre is the largest proscenium arch theatre in Adelaide, seating close to 2000 people on two levels. However, it is not the only performing venue within the centre. The Dunstan Playhouse is located in the Drama Centre behind the main building and seats 620 people on two levels. The Space Theatre is a studio theatre with no stage or seating so that it can be used for many different types of performances. The Centre also houses the Artspace Gallery which is above the Drama Centre. These centres were completed in 1974. In the financial year between 2007 and 2008, more than 900,000 people visited the Festival Centre.
The Festival Centre includes the outdoor amphitheatre that looks over Elder Park and the River Torrens. It also includes a structure called the “Sound Shell” that is a fully transportable, covered stage that is used for concerts such as the Symphony under the Stars and Carols by Candlelight. The Festival Centre also houses the Silver Jubilee Organ. It was the world’s first fully transportable concert hail pipe organ. The organ commemorates the Silver Jubilee of the reign of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth 11. It was built in Schwarzach, Vorartberg in 1977 and then disassembled and shipped to Australia. The organ weighs 13,500kg, but only two people are needed to move the organ (with some tractors) and it can be brought onto the stage within 10 minutes.
There are two large curtains on the stage. The stage at the front is made from wool and is fireproof. If there was a fire, there are water pipes directly above the curtain that would drench the curtain with water to help restrain the blaze. The curtain costs approximately $200,000! The Cyclorama is a plain cloth which extends around the stage to give a feeling of infinite space and to give cast and crew space behind the stage to move around.
The term ‘backstage’ doesn’t just refer to what is literally behind the stage, it refers to any area that the audience does not see. There are many backstage areas that you might see if you perform at the Festival of Music:
- The Wardrobe Room is where the costumes for performances are made, fitted and cleaned.
- The Rehearsal Room is directly underneath the Festival Theatre stage which allows for the usage of a trap door. The room is surrounded by mirrors so dancers can watch themselves rehearse. It can be used for other tricks on stage - for example, during the production Singing in the Rain, the rehearsal room was turned into a large pool as it rained on the stage! The water rained from pipes above the stage and the water was then collected and brought back to the Rehearsal room.
- The Green Room is where cast and crew can eat before a concert. In Shakespeare’s theatre The Globe, there was a village green out the back where actors gathered before and after the performance.
- The Workshop Area is where the sets are made for the Space Theatre and the Dunstan Playhouse.
- The Orchestra Pit is a moveable area. During the Festival of Music concerts, it is positioned at the front but just underneath the stage.
- The Dressing Rooms are near the Rehearsal Room and it is where cast and crew can get ready for a performance. It has costume racks, a shower, toilet, and mirrors with lights surrounding the frame. All of the dressing rooms are equipped with a PA system so they can hear what is happening on the stage.
- The Wings are the backstage sections to the right (Opposite Prompt) and left (Prompt) of the stage.
In the Festival Theatre, seating is divided into three tiers - the Grand Circle, Dress Circle and the Stalls.
The Festival Theatre is called a lyric theatre - this means it is designed to make musical productions sound really good. It does this by having special materials on the walls and ceiling to improve its acoustics. The word ‘acoustics’ describes how sound moves. Have you ever hummed in the shower? It would have sounded great because of the acoustics - the sound of your voice would have bounced around a lot because of all the tiled surfaces. The Festival Theatre has great acoustics because it has 45,000 wooden blocks on the walls to help sound bounce around, even right to the back of the theatre. The celling is actually covered in carpet and blankets to absorb sound so that the acoustics work properly. Even the material of the chairs and carpet is high-tech so that it all works together to improve the acoustics of the space.
BASS stands for Best Available Seating System and this company organises the tickets for not only for the Festival Centre, but also for sports games and other large musical events in Adelaide. There is a BASS box office in the Festival Centre foyer. However, when the ticketing system first opened, it was run out of Dressing Room Seven!