Theatre gets a spruce-up

One of the oldest buildings in Oamaru could have one of the town's freshest faces when the Victorian Heritage Celebrations begin in November, the Oamaru Repertory Society president Bob Avis says.

It was hoped repair work on the frontage of the 1870s-era Star and Garter hotel on Itchen St would be complete before the society's next production, Alice ... the Panto, by Archie Wilson, opens on November 11, during the Victorian Heritage Celebrations, he said.

The society, which was incorporated in 1957 and has owned the building since 1963, wanted to refresh the building's appearance, to help showcase the town to visitors.

''We don't want to have a shabby building among all these nice ones,'' Mr Avis said.

''We want to be the same as everybody else in the sense of being a nice-looking place for the tourists to come and say `Wow, what a lovely building!'''If we can contribute towards our town, that must benefit us.''

Four wooden window frames at street level had been replaced in recent months and the scaffolding for the repair work went up a week ago, but planning began in 2010 to refresh the historic precinct landmark.

''We were just about ready to send out quotes for the work and then the Christchurch earthquake happened - so the whole thing suddenly was on hold,'' Mr Avis said.

The current work was not to meet earthquake standards, however.

It would simply repair weather damage that had happened since the building's front received its last work - more than two decades ago the building got one coat of paint.

The Oamaru stone building, which has been a band hall, a Masons dance hall, and even a brothel over the years, was converted by members of the society from its 1950s' use as a shirt factory and opened as a theatre in 1967.

The volunteer-run amateur theatre society typically stages three productions a year in what is now a 100-seat theatre.

The roughly $64,000 ''face-lift'' received grants from the James Westwood Christie Trust, the Otago Community Trust and the Lions Foundation.

The society put in $25,000 of its own money and raised $16,000 through raffles.

hamish.maclean@odt.co.nz

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