MT LAWLEY’S iconic Astor Theatre has undergone quite a renaissance in recent months and it seems the revival is only set to get more exciting.
Last year, the grand old dame gracing Beaufort Street re-opened as a multi-purpose performance venue, with its feast of cinema and live music delighting Perth’s arts aficionados.
Next month, it will build on that diversity when it plays host to the 2010 Perth International Arts Festival’s inaugural Astor Season, a specially curated program combining contemporary live music and edgy indie film.
Running across five nights from February 11 to 26, it will feature four distinctly different shows.
These shows vary from Last Hope, in which three live artists – including Australian songstress Holly Throsby – bring to life 16 original surf-inspired short films, to 13 Most Beautiful…Songs For Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests, in which New York indie songwriters Dean & Britta perform songs complementing pop icon Warhol’s famous four-minute black-and-white ‘screen tests’.
PIAF contemporary culture program manager Danni Colgan was handed the task of curating the Astor Season.
Colgan started her career in Adelaide and Perth (she worked with PIAF in 2003) before moving to the UK, where she programmed and produced aspects of the London Jazz Festival, London Film Festival and as well as the London International Festival of Theatre.
“I saw quite a lot of this film and music work while I was away and loved that cross art-form approach to live performance, which gives you a bit more than your standard gig,” she said.
“You lose yourself in the cinema and forget if you’re watching musicians or getting swept away in beautiful imagery.
“It’s sensory overload.”
Colgan said it was also exciting to be a part of the Astor’s re-birth as an arts space.
“Coming back and seeing the Astor stop being a cinema full-time and turned into a (performance) venue, it just felt perfect as it is such a beautiful, art deco building,” she said.
“This program still harks back to its days as a cinema by using amazing footage but brings music to it, so that’s a perfect complement to the venue.”
She hopes the season will be embraced by PIAF punters, paving the way for future growth.
“Each show can stand alone, but then as a season, it’s quite a dynamic program and nice for us to put out there and see how we can grow it in the future.”