OVER the last 150 years Armidale has grown from a rough and ready colonial outpost to the cosmopolitan city it is today.
It evolved in hiccups as Barbara Albury reveals in the lively and amusing play she has written Armidale-Our Town to be performed in November to celebrate the city’s sesquicentenary of local government.
During the five performances from 22-24 November, the Armidale Town Hall will be converted into a theatre-in-the-round acting space. This gives the audience close contact with the 30 performers who will sing, dance and act out some of the significant, funny and contentious incidents in the city’s evolution.
The production is a fund-raiser for the Armidale Dumaresq Civic Precinct and has the support of the Sesquicentenary Committee of Council, the Armidale and District Historical Society and the Armidale Drama and Musical Society.
Other Sesquicentenary events include the launch of a book on the history of Armidale, a celebratory dinner in the Town Hall, and a photographic exhibition and 3D model of the town as it was in 1867, four years after the proclamation of Armidale as a municipality, in the Armidale Folk Museum.
Ms Albury says the idea for the play came from a project in which she was involved, with the aim of creating the history of the city through textiles, rather like the Bayeux Tapestry.
“The tapestry project was put on hold, but I had lots of historical material from Ian Johnstone, so I thought, why not create a play from it all,” she says.
“It is mostly humorous, with a few serious and sad stories, plus music and songs written by Bob Thompson and Chris Cunningham.”
“The hardest thing was to decide what to put in and what to leave out. I had so much material and selecting from it was a bit of a nightmare,” she says.
“I’ve kept the thread of the major developments from first contact with the local Aboriginal tribes but we are telling it through the people involved to keep it vital and colourful.
“We have assembled a lot of talent with around 30 performers, musicians, designers, writers and technical people involved.”
Rehearsals are now underway for performances on Friday 22 November at 11 am; two more matinees on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 November at 2pm and evening performances on Friday November 22 (Opening Night) and Saturday 23 November at 8pm. Bookings can be made at Carr’s newsXpress in Central Mall or www.armidalecivic.org.au
