Annual Report 2002-2003
Her Majesty's Theatre & The Civic Hall
The Her Majesty's Theatre Business Unit manages
and operates the City's two premier performing arts facilities
- Her Majesty's Theatre and The Civic Hall,
and runs the MajesTix ticketing agency.
Highlights of the 2002-2003 year
· Graeme Vendy retired as Chairman in December 2003 and Val
Sarah was elected as his successor in February 2003.
· Peter Morey and Damian Muller were elected as User Group
representatives in November 2002 for a 2-year term commencing
in February 2003.
· Councillor Val Sheil resigned as a member of the Her Majesty's
Theatre Board in September 2002.
· Jeanette Horsley resigned as a member of the Her Majesty's
Theatre Board in November 2002.
· Councillor Stephen Hishon resigned as a Councillor and Her
Majesty's Theatre Board Member in June 2003 to accompany his
wife, Judith Fleming, in her career move to Dubai, in the
United Emirates.
· The structure, role and membership of the Her Majesty's
Theatre Board Working Groups was reviewed in March 2003 to
create the following Working Groups -
Finance & Property;
Programming;
Marketing, Sponsorship & Community Development;
& MAYTE Theatre Youth Group.
· Funding was secured from the State Government - Department
of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development, for a Feasibility
study to investigate the potential of linking Her Majesty's
Theatre and the Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute. Sinclair,
Knight Merz were appointed as the consultants to the project,
with David Miller as Steering Group Chair and Janice Haynes
as Project Manager. The Australian Labor Party made a $3.5million
pre-election promise contribution to this project in October
2002. The Feasibility study commenced in April 2003, and is
anticipated to be completed by October 2003.
· Kath Thorne (MajesTix Box Office Manager), Wendy Hall (Deputy
Director), Peter Freund (Publicist) and Gary Wright (Casual
Usher/Doorperson) were honoured with 10-year service certificates
from the City of Ballarat. Malcolm Matthews (Finance Officer)
was honoured as an employee of the City of Ballarat with over
30 years of service.
· Stuart McKellar was sub-contracted to The Australian Ballet
to provide technical services for the 7 1/2 week tour of Trilogy
in July & August 2002, marking his 17th annual tour with The
Dancers Company.
· A grant of $423,900 was received from the Arts Victoria
Regional Arts Infrastructure fund for Capital Works. $205,000
of this amount is a contribution to the installation of Air-conditioning
in the Theatre Auditorium and will be expended in the 2003-2004
financial year.
· Capital Works projects completed at Her Majesty's Theatre
in 2002-2003 include the replacement of the Fire Panel ($7,840)
and installation of a Security system ($26,494), the replacement
of carpet in the foyer and stairs ($15,300), the purchase
of a Funktion One Sound system for the Auditorium ($153,211)
and a Strand 530 Lighting Console and backup power supply
($71,121). 5 Additional Bytecraft dimmer racks were purchased
(15,852) along with 25 Strand SL Profile lights ($21,610).
A mezzanine storage area was built backstage ($11,492) and
a walkway was built in the Dome ($13,842). Electric winches
were installed on the Auditorium Chandeliers ($7,511). Flat
computer screens were installed in the Box office and the
design work for the Air-conditioning system was commenced.
· After much deliberation the Programming Working group decided
to present the 2003 Theatre season of 20 Theatre productions
in 2 Acts (Act 1 - February to May & Act 2 June - November)
with separate brochures for each act.
· The Best Value process for Her Majesty's Theatre was commenced
in March 2003 with both random community and target audience
sector survey data collected. A review of all aspects of the
Theatre's operations was also conducted, along with a benchmarking
study of comparative Theatres across Australia. The Theatre's
Best Value report is anticipated to be submitted to the Ballarat
City Council in December 2003.
Statistics
Her Majesty's Theatre continued to present a very busy and
varied program with 262 performances and an audience attendance
of 68,918 people.
Her Majesty's Theatre was in use for performances or associated
rehearsals and set-ups for 215 days of the year (representing
58.9% of possible annual utilisation).
29,574 tickets were sold to the to the 27 productions in the
Her Majesty's Theatre Seasons and Daytime Series.
3,716 Season or Series package tickets were sold.
86 tickets were sold Online from the Her Majesty's Theatre
web site www.hermaj.com over the year.
Circus Oz was presented as a featured event of the 2003 Begonia
Festival) in a 6 performance season attended by 3,766 people.
Commercial presenters hired Her Majesty's Theatre
for performances of Foster & Allen, Buddy's Back & Carl Barron,
John Williamson in concert, the ballet Romeo & Juliet performed
by the State Ballet of Ekaterinburg, ABC Big Big Christmas
Show, Melbourne Symphony, Puppetry of the Penis, The Day My
Bum Went Psycho, The Hollow Crown and Lano & Woodley in Glitzy.
Professional productions entrepreneured by Her
Majesty's Theatre were:
Talking Heads (HIT Productions, Vic);
The Taming of the Shrew (Bell Shakespeare Company, NSW);
Trilogy (The Dancers Company of The Australian Ballet);
La Bohème (OzOpera, NSW);
Milo's Wake (La Boite, Qld);
Art (Melbourne Theatre Company, Vic);
Mavis Goes to Timor (Deckchair Theatre Company, WA);
Speaking in Tongues (HIT Productions, Vic);
A Conversation (Ensemble Theatre Company, NSW);
An Evening with the Three Chinese Tenors (3 CT International);
2003 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow;
New Works - Black Grace Dance Company, New Zealand;
The Christian Brothers (Sydney Theatre Company, NSW) and
Last of the Red Hot Lovers (HIT Productions, Vic).
Mavis
Goes To Timor |
Black
Grace |
Christian
Brothers |
Daytime Series productions presented by Her
Majesty's Theatre were
Denis Walter - Through the Years (Promac Productions Australia,
Vic);
Big Band Swing (Style Music, Vic);
Our Gracie (Odyssey Productions, Vic);
HMS Pinafore (Promac Productions Australia, Vic);
Al Jolson - A Musical Tribute (I.D. consolidated, Vic) and
Come Into The Parlour (Helen Noonan & Grant Smith).
Her Majesty's Theatre also presented professional productions
of
Snugglepot & Cuddlepie (Canute Productions, NSW);
Boozers & Wowsers - A Theatrical Pub Crawl;
X-Stacy (Black Swan Theatre Company, W.A.) and
Worry Warts (Monkey Baa Productions, NSW).
Local musical seasons were presented by
Ballarat Lyric Theatre - Les Misérables;
Arts Academy (University of Ballarat) - Kiss Me, Kate and
Ballarat Light Opera Company - Sweeney Todd.
The 2002 Royal South Street Competitions ran over 65 days
with 172 competition sessions at Her Majesty's Theatre from
mid August to early November 2002, with an audience attendance
of 22,258 people.
The Theatre was hired by 15 Competition competitors for pre-competition
rehearsal sessions. 10 Ballet Schools and Calisthenics colleges
presented performances at the Theatre, and there were 5 productions
by local Private and Government schools as well as the Aquinas
Australian Catholic University 2002 Graduation Ceremony and
the 2003 Mars Young Performer of the Year finals.
The Ballarat Theatre Organ Society presented one concert -
Travelling Thru Time in July 2002. 498 people participated
in tours of Her Majesty's Theatre.
MajesTix sold an additional 13,003 tickets to 109 performances
held at a variety of other Ballarat venues, including
Circus Oz;
the Ballarat National Theatre productions of Waiting, Trap
for a Lonely Man, How the Other Half Loves and Say Who You
Are;
Arts Academy (University of Ballarat) productions of Working,
Villain of Flowers, Heidi Chronicles, Women of Troy and The
Night Before the Day After Tomorrow,
and to Ballarat Symphony Orchestra and Ballarat Choral Society
Concerts.
The opening of the University of Ballarat Arts Academy Campus
was held in Alfred Deakin Place on 11 October 2002.
Her Majesty's Theatre provided Technical services for the
2002 Trilogy tour of The Dancers Company (The Australian Ballet)
and for the 2003 Australian Federation Tattoo.
The Civic Hall was closed for public hire on 31 December 2002
pending re-development as a Hotel/Convention Centre. Prior
to its closure The Civic Hall was the venue for 8 events attended
by 4,845 people including performances by Adam Brand and the
Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and the 2002 Eureka Mayoral Ball.
The final Financial results of the Business Unit including
the operations of Her Majesty's Theatre, The Civic Hall and
Capital Works for the 2002-2003 year are: Income = $1,637,369
Expenditure = $2,169,357 Net result = ($531,988) Total value
of tickets sold through the MajesTix Box Office was $1,325,817.60.
Data - Her Majesty's Theatre
Number of Performances or On-stage events held
|
RSSS
Competition Sessions
|
|
 |
|
RSSS
Rehearsals
|
|
|
Commercial
Hires
|
|
|
HMT
Entrepreneured
|
|
|
Local
& Not for Profit Productions
|
|
|
Total
|
|
Data Analysis
· 172 (64%) of all performances in 2002-2003 were Royal
South Street Competitions sessions, with 14 (5%) pre South
Street Competitions rehearsals held;
· the next largest number of performances were the local and
not for profit productions which includes the seasons by Ballarat
Lyric Theatre (Les Misérables), Arts Academy - University
of Ballarat (Kiss Me, Kate) and Ballarat Light Opera Company
(Sweeney Todd) with 47 performances (17%);
· Theatre entrepreneured productions totalled 23 performances
(8%);
· and Commerical hires totalled 17 performances (6%)
· The number of performances at Her Majesty's Theatre in 2002-2003
was an increase of 20 on the 2001-2002 figure (253).
Audience Attendance
|
RSSS
Competition Sessions
|
|
 |
|
RSSS
Rehearsals - participants
|
|
|
Commercial
Hires
|
|
|
HMT
Entrepreneured
|
|
|
Local
& Not for Profit Productions
|
|
|
Total
|
|
Data Analysis
· 22,258 (32%) people attended the 2002 Royal South Street
Competition Sessions, while 957 people participated in the
pre South Street competition rehearsals;
· 27,410 people or 39% of the total audience attended the
local and not for profit productions;
· 10,414 people (15%) attended Theatre entrepreneured productions;
· 8,836 people attended the Commercial productions
· Audiences increased by 7,919 people in 2002-2003 over the
2001-2002 number (61,596)
· Audiences for the 2002 Royal South Street Competitions were
fewer by 2,035 people than the 2001 Competitions.
Days of Theatre Occupancy for
set-ups, rehearsals & performances
|
RSSS
Competition Sessions
|
|
 |
|
RSSS
Rehearsals
|
|
|
Commercial
Hires
|
|
|
HMT
Entrepreneured
|
|
|
Local
& Not for Profit Productions
|
|
|
Total
|
|
Data Analysis
· In total the Theatre was in use for 215 days or 58.9% of
the days of the year.
· With 94 days (45%) the Local & Not for Profit Hirers used
the Theatre over the greatest number of days; the Royal South
Street competition sessions used the Theatre for 65 days (30%),
and for 16 days (7%) of pre-competition rehearsals.
· Her Majesty's Theatre entrepreneured productions occupied
the Theatre for 29 days (13%) and Commercial Hirers used 11
days (5%)
· Her Majesty's Theatre was used for 21 more days in 2002-2003
than it was in 2001-2002 (194 days).
Box Office Takings
|
RSSS
Competition Sessions
|
|
 |
|
RSSS
Rehearsals
|
|
|
Commercial
Hires
|
|
|
HMT
Entrepreneured
|
|
|
Local
& Not for Profit Productions
|
|
|
Total
|
|
Data Analysis
· Tickets to the value of $1,122,047.50 were processed through
the MajesTix Box Office for performances at Her Majesty's
Theatre.
· 40% of the total value of ticket sales was for Local and
Not for Profit productions
· 15% of the total value of ticket sales was for the Royal
South Street Competition Sessions
· 19% of the total value of ticket sales was for productions
entrepreneured by Her Majesty's Theatre
· 26% of the total value of ticket sales was for Commercial
hires
· Tickets are not sold for RSSS pre-competition rehearsal
sessions
· Gross Box Office takings for productions at Her Majesty's
Theatre were $338,715.50 more in worth of tickets in 2002-2003
than in 2001-2002 ($783,332.00).
Combination of All Factors
|
RSSS
Competition Sessions
|
|
 |
|
RSSS
Rehearsals
|
3.48%
|
|
Commercial
Hires
|
|
|
HMT
Entrepreneured
|
|
|
Local
& Not for Profit Productions
|
|
|
Total
|
|
Data Analysis
· This final chart shows the combined result of the 4 previous
charts comprising the factors - Number of Performances, Audience
Attendance, Days of Theatre Occupancy and Box Office takings.
· Essentially the chart indicates that primarily Her Majesty's
Theatre is used for Local and Not for Profit productions and
the Royal South Street Competitions sessions and rehearsals.
· Productions entrepreneured by Her Majesty's Theatre have
a combined factor % of 14% and the Commercial Hire % factor
in 2002-2003 was 12% which is higher than in previous years.
· In 2002-2003 there was a small overall reduction in the
impact of the Royal South Street Competitions (36%) and the
pre-competition Rehearsal sessions (3%) from the 2001-2002
statistics (41% Competitions, 4% RSSS Rehearsals) which is
attributed to the lower audience number and reduction in Theatre
occupancy days.
Averages - Her Majesty's Theatre
|
RSSS
Competition Sessions
|
|
 |
|
RSSS
Rehearsals
|
68
|
|
Commercial
Hires
|
|
|
HMT
Entrepreneured
|
|
|
Local
& Not for Profit Productions
|
|
|
Overall
Average
|
|
|
RSSS
Competition Sessions
|
|
 |
|
RSSS
Rehearsals
|
|
|
Commercial
Hires
|
|
|
HMT
Entrepreneured
|
|
|
Local
& Not for Profit Productions
|
|
|
Total
|
|
|
Month
|
Days
|
 |
|
July
|
24
|
|
August
|
25
|
|
September
|
22
|
|
October
|
28
|
|
November
|
24
|
| December |
21
|
| January |
0
|
| February |
13
|
| March |
10
|
| April |
8
|
| May |
22
|
| June |
8
|
| Total |
205
|
Plus 10 days attributed to 2002-2003
from June 2002 = 215 days.
· Overall Her Majesty's Theatre was busier, had a greater
number of performances and days of occupancy, higher audience
numbers and a larger Box Office turnover in 2002-2003 than
in 2001-2002.
Prepared by Janice Haynes
Director
Her majesty's Theatre
|
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