The theatre has been closed during the construction of the new entrances – one at the Festival Plaza side of the building and the other facing towards King William Road.

Adelaide Festival Centre CEO and artistic director Douglas Gautier said both are more accessible and visible from the redeveloped Plaza, which is also set to be officially re-opened in mid-March.

“Having great new entrances out onto King William Road and then the Plaza – which is in some ways how the centre was first envisaged, but better – is really a joy for us, a joy for the artists and, most importantly, it’s going to be a big plus for the public,” said Gautier, adding that the Plaza was previously “pretty much adrift” from the Festival Theatre.

The Festival Drive entrance to the theatre was closed around five years ago when the Plaza redevelopment works began.

The new Festival Plaza entrance to the Festival Theatre. Photo: Peter Barnes

A number of significant artworks have also been in storage since then, including the Kaurna Reconciliation Sculptures – created by a collaborative artistic team and originally dedicated by former premier Mike Rann in 2002 – which have now found a prominent new home in front of the King William Road entrance.

Senior Kaurna man Uncle Mickey Kumatpi O’Brien and First Nations dancers from Tjarutja Dance Theatre Collective will mark the official unveiling of the sculptures at the site tomorrow.

“Kaurna people have always welcomed people to our land,” Uncle Mickey said in a statement. “These sculptures recognise Kaurna people’s connection to this country, and through the art, we share the stories, history, language, beliefs, and laws, which the Kaurna people live by.”

The Kaurna Reconciliation Sculptures welcome visitors to the new King William Road entrance of the Festival Theatre. Photo: Peter Barnes

Other key public artworks that have been reinstated inside and outside the Festival Theatre include Sidney Nolan’s Rainbow Serpent series of drawings, Owen Broughton’s brass sculpture Sundial, and the steel Sculpture No. 2 by Bert Flugelman (who also created The Spheres, colloquially known as the “Malls’ Balls”).

“Those Sid Nolans haven’t been up there for about four or five years and they are fantastic,” Gautier said. “They were taken away for safekeeping while there was work going on and we didn’t want them damaged in any way – they’re priceless, as are the others.”

Sidney Nolan’s Rainbow Serpent work in the theatre’s dress circle. Photo: Peter Barnes

In addition to the new entrances, a number of Festival Theatre backstage facilities – including the orchestra assembly room and dressing rooms – have also been upgraded in the past seven months.

The new entrances open to the public tonight for the first show back in the 2000-seat Festival Theatre: Adelaide Symphony Orchestra’s sold-out John Williams at 90 concert. On Sunday the theatre will host The Stones’ Sticky Fingers, a rock concert featuring Magic Dirt’s Adalita, Grinspoon’s Phil Jamieson, The Cruel Sea’s Tex Perkins and You am I’s Tim Rogers, which has had to be postponed several times due to the pandemic. Local musicians will provide pre-performance outdoor entertainment.

Over the coming seven weekends, the Festival Centre is celebrating the theatre’s reopening with what it describes as “a dramatic light show” that will illuminate the building and a “Welcome Back to Festival Theatre” program of live music performances each Friday, Saturday and Sunday by more than 200 local artists on a stage outside the dress circle foyer. There will also be pop-up bars, food trucks and family activities.

The reopening also comes just in time for the Adelaide Festival, with centrepiece opera The Golden Cockerel to be performed in the Festival Theatre from March 4-9.

Gautier said one of the changes people will notice immediately upon entering the theatre foyers is the expansive new galleries.

“To celebrate that we have a great exhibition there called Bravo Festival Theatre which is both our visual arts and performing arts collection [including costumes, artworks and other objects]. There’s some fantastic things from all the years the Festival Theatre has been operating – bear in mind it turns 50 next year, so it was the first capital city arts centre in the country.”

On the long weekend of March 11-14, the Festival Centre will also launch its new Children’s Artspace gallery, which will exclusively exhibit work by children.

Inside the Festival Theatre. Photo: Peter Barnes

Other upcoming shows in the Festival Theatre include the Adelaide Cabaret Festival Variety Gala in March and Frozen the Musical in May. Gautier said more “big shows” would be announced soon.

“There’s tremendous optimism and appetite (for shows), you can see that… I would say audiences want to see shows again, they want to come here, and it seems as if promotors working on both a local and a national basis are keen to present.”