Adelaide's Theatres and Festivals - Keith Conlon visits the Adelaide City region of South Australia

The Festival of Arts and the Fringe - they really shake us up and take us over the edge. I reckon the self-proclaimed founder of our city, Colonel William Light, who is buried in Light Square, would approve of Adelaide being stamped as the Arts City of Australia.

But when we hold the Festival and Fringe we need every venue we can get so we went in search of a few of the best. We didn't have to go far from Light Square. At the end of Playhouse Lane off Grenfell Street, is the Queens Theatre - the oldest theatre on mainland Australia.

The walls went up in 1840 and it shows it - no plush seats and fancy facilities here - but that's part of the charm.

Jo Peoples, keeper of our Performing Arts Collection showed us around and began with a painting of the old theatre on display near the front door. "The painting was done in 1859 by a bloke called John Musgrove," said Jo. "He was an actor but there was an actor's strike so he had a bit of spare time so he came down here and ran up a painting."

Jo told us the Queens has had a few incarnations. It was used as the Supreme Court in the 1840s and a sales ring and horse bazaar later. A sign of those times lingers on the facade.

But it's best known as the Queens and the good news is that when it comes to a Festival or Fringe it becomes another venue. "It's perfect because it's a warehouse space," said Jo. "It is inter-changeable - you can do what you like in there. You can have proscenium theatre, theatre in the round, bring your own chairs - put what you like in there."

That's OK - but if you are going to hold a world class Festival of Arts you need a little more - in fact a lot more.

And that was the challenge in 1960 when Adelaide dared to judge itself mature enough for what was described as an adventure of the mind and spirit. As Professor John Bishop, founder and first Artistic Director of the Festival pointed out… "Organising a festival is no joke…"

This self-proclaimed 'Athens of the South' needed a focus for the big event. The idea of an Adelaide Festival Centre was born…

"The 1960 Festival was such a success that they needed a better venue," explained Jo. "They started talking about festival theatres, festival halls, drama theatres etc for future festivals."

But of course there was controversy. A number of sites were considered including Carclew and Government House. "It wasn't until the then Premier, Steele Hall went to London and saw the Festival Hall on the Thames he thought that's it - on the Torrens. "

Construction began in 1970 and debate raged. Some reckoned it was ugly - like a squatting black elephant. Its defenders said we'll paint it white. One taxi driver quipped "So it'll look like a white elephant squatting by the Torrens!"

It was opened in June 1973 and has been the focus of the Festival ever since. It's still considered one of the best theatres in Australia.

The Festival has been good for tourism and for Adelaide's sense of class but it's always guaranteed to start an argument. Enter another theatre along the Torrens - the University of Adelaide's Union Hall. As students at 'O' week get their bearings around campus they do so in the shadow of a hall that played a vital role in Adelaide's Festival and especially the Fringe.

"The first Adelaide Festival Committee knocked back Patrick White's play, The Ham Funeral," Jo told us. "In came the University Theatre Guild and said 'we'll do that' and they did it very successfully and premiered subsequently three of Patrick White's plays."

So the Fringe goes back to the 1960s and it now offers more than 500 performances and combined with the Festival of Arts - March in Adelaide is an arts extravaganza.

So from the Festival Centre to every other venue you can think of - they all come alive. Even the tranquil Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden below Government House is transformed. Up go the marquees and in come some of the world's best authors for Writers Week. And the best thing about it is sessions are free.

The Festival runs until the 19th, as does the madness of the Fringe.

Check our their websites for the myriad of attractions.

Festival of Arts 3-19 March

Adelaide Fringe 24 Feb - 19 March

Published 3rd March 2006