When the curtain rose on the new Canberra Theatre on June 24, 1965, a crowd of VIPs crammed in to see Minister for the Interior Doug Anthony launch Australia’s first multi-purpose theatre centre, reports HELEN MUSA.

Apart from the razzle-dazzle, there was a gala performance by the Australian Ballet, supported by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, of Act II from Petipa’s Swan Lake and The Display devised by Robert Helpmann. 

Now, in an act of nostalgia mixed with theatrical savvy, the theatre has engaged the flagship ballet company once more to perform in its 60th gala season in late June. 

But with its assertively modern production of Carmen, audiences can forget about fluffy dancers drifting around the stage in tutus.

Billed by CityNews dance reviewer Michelle Potter as a magnificent production that “pulls no punches about sexuality,” Swedish choreographer Johan Inger’s version of Carmen focuses on the violent relationships between men and women.

When I catch up by WhatsApp to Tokyo with Jill Ogai, who plays Carmen, I learn that most of the aggressors are male and there’s a real machismo presence in the chest and arms and a lot of forward aggressive movements, contrasting with the women. 

But Ogai is not about to whitewash the character of Carmen, who is often as aggressive as the men. She’s read the novella on which Bizet’s opera was based and clearly Carmen expects to die young, living her life as she wants.

“There are so many elements to her,” says Ogai. “ You never know who she is. She’s sexy, vulgar and provoking.”

In 1965, of course, ballet was not the only game in town and on August 18, 1965, The Playhouse was officially opened with the production of Romanoff and Juliet by Canberra Rep. Later replaced by a new Playhouse in 1998, that part of the complex also housed an art gallery and a popular restaurant.

From the outset, the theatre effectively replaced Albert Hall as the city’s main civic focal point and that’s just where present-day director Alex Budd would like to see it positioned. 

Budd, entirely raised in Canberra, was taken to see another Swan Lake by his mum when little and has never recovered from realising “what absolute magic you can make on a live stage”.

After school, he wrote to the theatre and was offered a week of work experience in lighting there, eventually landing a casual job at $11.14 an hour. Soon headhunted for the Sydney Dance Company by Graeme Murphy, he worked on productions around the country and in the UK and ended up as executive producer with Opera Australia before coming home to his present job five years ago.

He agrees that the Canberra Theatre is a kind of civic hall, but as he looks towards the construction of the planned lyric theatre facing Bailey’s Corner, he says: “As the city grows, we should have a bigger space… We should end up being in a position to be recognised for our quality alongside the other national cultural institutions. 

“We should be representing the performing arts at the highest possible level while still telling stories about the national capital told by artists from here.

 “Canberra has long been busy exporting its artists and importing its arts, but we need to turn the tide in both directions.”

The Australian Ballet, he says, was chosen for the 60th gala not just because of its role in 1965 but also to show the public that full-productions can be brought here.

One big difference now, he says, is that it’s Canberra Symphony Orchestra that will be playing, not an interstate orchestra. In the early days before Llewellyn Hall went up, there was a sound shell in the theatre for concerts and it also served as a cinema before the 1970s.

Proof that the theatre is still “owned” by the public, he believes, was seen at the recent open day when 5000 Canberrans packed in to see what goes on backstage. 

In the immediate future, the 60th celebrations roll on with several Naidoc Week related shows – the rock ‘n’ roll theatre extravaganza Big Name, No Blankets celebrating Sammy Tjapanangka Butcher of the Warumpi Band, Daniel Riley’s Australian Dance Theatre’s Marrow and Bangarra Dance Theatre’s Illume. 

Budd predicts that love will soon be in the air at the centre, with Bell Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, Opera Australia’s touring La Bohème and Trent Dalton’s Love Stories.

Carmen, The Australian Ballet, Canberra Theatre, June 20-25.