Okay, the one speed bump on a wonderful journey. We huffed and puffed and worked for a couple of hours to find the "Center Stage Theatre" which nobody had heard of and which nobody could find. We finally found a phone number but was a machine with no information. We finally found the Theatre, it was in Spring Hill. The Mamet play was being performed by a Theatre Company of another name, hence the confusion, AT the Center Stage Theatre.
After hustling across Brisbane on foot, using my phone to conduct internet searches for Mamet and Center Stage Theatre, we discovered that Mamet is almost as popular as the name Center Stage Theatre.
From Santa Barbara to Baltimore to San Francisco, Mamet's Speed the Plow was produced by Center Stage Theatre production companies but nothing came up for Brisbane.
With minutes to spare, we stood at St. Paul's Terrace and waited for the opportunity to dash through the speeding traffic to Quarry Street, a dark road on a hill just a few streets from Fortitude Valley!
We made it across the street and came across a large crowd (several dozen) of people lined up in a gravel parking lot with 8' chain link fencing. It turned out to be a food bank, passing out sustenance to the needy. I was so thirsty, I was tempted to get in line for a beverage, but we were late. We continued down the steep hill on the dark sidewalk which was now filling up with men, all overflow from the men's mental facility that used the sidewalk as part of their "recreational and social" amenitites. They were a friendly bunch!
We continued, hopeful that a theatrical bounty awaited us!
Two thirds of the way down the hill, a hill so steep that I had already sworn that we would not be returning via that route, we looked across the street and noticed a sign over the 12' wall of shrubbery that was visible only to peds standing directly across the street.
Center Stage Theatre
It was on the roof of a dimly lit cinder block building set back behind the dark shrub wall and accessible by walking down a gravel driveway.
We stepped in to find ourselves part of a 12 person audience for a Starlight Theatre Co-Op production of Mamet AT the Center Stage Theatre.
We were so frustrated at this point, having worked so hard to find a theatrical production put on by people who went to the time of promoting the event in MX but neglected to 1) use their name 2) post a phone number 3) list a phone number that either had information or went to the cell phone of somebody with the company instead of the shell theatre 4) post their website 5) treat the audience (all 12 in a theatre that sat 150) with a wee bit of respect.
We were pleased with ourselves for prevailing, for finding the theatre that did not want to be found, that we savored the moment. That being done, we left, too frustrated by the experience to be in the right frame of mind to sit for hours in an empty "Squandered Opportunity Theatre" production of Mamet. We continued on...
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5:02
ABC Stateline: Brisbane's Painted Traffic Signal Boxesby UrbanSmartProjects560 views
Should have gone to Brisbane Arts Theatre. They have a website, phone numbers, on-line booking, street parking and conveniently located between 2 pubs - 210 Petrie Terrace, Brisbane
VonAlexi 2 years ago