The Montreal Community Theatre is the only cinema and live theatre in Tumut. Photos: Supplied.
Thirty years have passed since the Montreal Community Theatre committee hosted the variety night that was the catalyst to save Tumut’s historic theatre built in 1929.
The town’s love for the rare and striking building, operating ever since as Tumut’s only cinema and live-performance venue, is as strong as ever. The passion for preserving it has led to the same community committee undertaking substantial upgrades to the premises and equipment in the past five years, including a new state-of-the-art projector system.
“The thing that sticks with me from that night is that every seat in the theatre was full, and we could have sold more seats,” said Hugh Packard, founder of Montreal Community Theatre Incorporated, the group that worked tirelessly to save the building.
”It absolutely demonstrated that the community wanted the theatre. On that one night we raised what we had hoped to generate from the theatre in a year; I was utterly on cloud nine that night.”
The success of the community-led variety night was the evidence Hugh and his committee needed that their plan to turn the theatre back into a profitable business was viable. This led to the three-year undertaking of raising the $250,000 required to buy the theatre, a process that came down to the wire.
“We had done everything we could to raise the funds, and we advertised in the local paper that we had six weeks to come up with the final $40,000 or the deal would fall over, and managed to do it,” Hugh said.
It was a final push in fundraising that was backed dollar for dollar by a local philanthropic organisation, the Blakeney Millar Foundation, and saw the committee make the final purchase of the building in 1998.
Built in 1929 and opened in 1930, the Montreal Community Theatre in Tumut is a rare example of an intact theatre of its era in Australia.
The challenge to save the theatre didn’t end when the committee reached its goal to buy it outright, as the premises came with no heating, cooling, projectors or sound system and had few lights.
“As it had been leased out for the entirety of its life, it was almost like a time capsule,” Hugh said.
”Neither the lessees nor the owner wanted to put money into it, which is why it is now such an important heritage item. They didn’t ’60s-ise it or ’70s-ise it or turn it into anything other than what it was.”
Far from turning it into something it wasn’t, the committee set about restoring the building to exactly what it had been designed to be, and the Snowy Valleys Council, impressed by the support for and viability of the business, joined in by buying the building from the committee and leasing it back to the group for $1 a year. The arrangement, which continues to this day, freed up the community group to focus on running a viable commercial theatre business.
After championing the building for a large part of his lifetime, Hugh stepped down as committee chair a few years ago, deciding that 30 years was likely long enough, but he holds an active place as a committee member and regularly heads up promotions and projects for the theatre.
The theatre retains its original architectural features.
The theatre now screens regular movies, which are supplemented with live performances from an assortment of acts, including tribute shows, musicians, opera, plays and comedy, including a successful run of comedians during the town’s annual autumn celebration, the Falling Leaf Festival.
Notably, Australian personality Anh Do will perform his live show inspired by his book, The Happiest Refugee, in October.
To keep the busy schedule of cinema and the arts rolling, Hugh and the committee have to contend with a volatile combination of heritage and technology. This recently required an overhaul of the cinema projection system, which went into operation this May, replacing the secondhand digital projector purchased when the committee transitioned the cinema from film to digital projection.
“A second-hand projector was the best we could do at the time as it was going to cost us more than what it cost to buy the theatre for a new one, but we knew it had a limited life span,” Hugh said.
”A few months ago, one of the sealed sections failed and they no longer make the parts, so we couldn’t fix it.”
Thankfully, the Blakeney Millar Foundation once again saw the value in the community project and funded a new laser projector that Hugh sees lasting long into the future.
“We now have state-of-the-art sound systems for both live performance and cinema. It took us 30 years to get there, but we finally got there,” Hugh said with a laugh.
The Montreal Community Theatre now offers a place to gather for a drink.
The past few years have also seen the committee reopen the theatre shop, which is in a portion of the building that has been leased out for financial reasons since the venue reopened.
“Because we are in a more solid financial position, we’ve been able to take it back and now for our live performances, like our big comedy show, we’re able to offer guests the experience of grabbing a drink there and gathering before a show,” Hugh said.
“It’s been wonderful; it’s part of what makes community community, being able to have a shared experience at the theatre.”
For more information on movies and live acts, and a more detailed history including how the Montreal Community Theatre got its name, head to its website.
