Actors hit the road as ‘visiting theatre’ concept takes off

Taking live theatre to retirement villages is proving a big winner for Sunshine Coast’s Independent Theatre (The Indee).

During the COVID 19 Lockdown the theatre laid plans to re-emerge as a ‘visiting theatre’ and concentrate on staging its comedies actually in the various Sunshine Coast retirement villages.

‘On stage at Bellflower’. Photo courtesy Phil Hustler.

This has been enthusiastically welcomed and so far performances have been staged at IRT, Meridan Plains and Bellflower Retirement Resort, Sippy Downs (with a re-booking already in place for May). In the immediate future The Indee will be taking its live comedies to Hibiscus Chancellor Park, Allora Gardens, Maroochydore and Peregian Springs Country Club.

While The Indee has some young players its mainstream comprises mature-aged senior actors with a wealth of experience. Many of them have been acting since their pre-teens and have appeared in Indee productions upwards of the past three decades as well as with other Coast community theatres.

Theatre spokesperson, Carol Burls, said the comedies were mostly multi-award winners from The Indee catalogue.

“The present aim of The Independent Theatre Inc is to further develop the retirement village circuit concept, by providing first-class comedies for its actors and by bringing live performance within arm’s reach of audiences,” she said.

For further information, call The Indee, 0468 322 268.