Mandurah Performing Arts Centre at 20

TWENTY years ago, Mandurah celebrated the biggest event in its history with the opening of a facility set to put Mandurah on the cultural map.

Now, Mandurah Performing Arts Centre is set to pull out all the stops and celebrate its 20th birthday throughout August.

The centre was officially opened by then Premier Richard Court.

Mr Court and the City of Mandurah with then Mayor Keith Holmes and chief executive Stephen Goode were key figures in supporting the development.

The centre was the most sophisticated regional cultural centre in Australia and according to Mr Holmes, represented Mandurah’s coming of age as a City with a strong sense of purpose and identity, confident of its place in WA.

Mr Court said a study of the complex, including the six-screen cinema due to open a few months later, had estimated the economic impact to Mandurah as worth about $17.2 million a year.

The opening was preceded by a magnificent lighting extravaganza and fireworks display watched by hundreds of people lining the boardwalk and foreshore.

Mr Court and his party were met at the sculpted gates by Freeman of the City, the late Dudley Tuckey, and took a short tour of the centre prior to the official opening and concert before 800 invited guests.

No theatre opening is complete without the performance of the traditional ode by a theatrical celebrity.

Mandurah’s ode was delivered by state theatre historian Ivan King before a star-studded concert that included international musican James Morrison, the WA Ballet, Danza Viva, Luis Moreno’s Dance Ensemble, the WA Academy of Performing Arts and the Binjareb Middar Dance Group.

The State Government spent about $50,000 on the opening and invitations for 500 people to be drawn in a raffle.

Thousands took the opportunity of touring the centre or simply wandering around the precinct when the navy band, Drummers Whak and other performers attracted big crowds on to the boardwalk.

Sunday saw the official opening of the centre art gallery and the exhibition Peeled by then Mandurah MLA Roger Nicholls and the launch of Looking Backwards-Looking Forwards, an anthology of WA writings from Mandurah-Murray Arts Council literary competitions since 1987.

The weekend was supported by sell-out John Williamson and James Morrison concerts on the Friday and Saturday nights.

Over the next six months, a jam-packed program of concerts and theatrical productions was scheduled for the 800-seat theatre and the smaller Fish Trap Theatre, including 1960s pop group Freddie and the Dreamers.

Then there were concerts by the WA Symphony Orchestra, the WA Youth Orchestra and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, A Midsummer’s Dream, the Pirates of Penzance, the premier of local playwright Louise Helfgott’s musical The Bridge, Elvis to the Max, Irish singer John McNally, pianist Roman Rudnytski and Legends of Rock.

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