BATS History

BATS Theatre is an intimate venue located in the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes building at 1 Kent Terrace. The venue itself has had a long and varied life, starting originally in the 1930s as The Savage Club, a dance hall and venue for amateur theatre. From the late 60s until 1975 Unity Theatre was in residence, a society with a tradition of left-wing political affiliations and a penchant for work by obscure European dramatists. Unity had a strong core membership which went on and contributed to the growth and success of Downstage and Circa theatres.

From 1979 to 1988 the theatre was administered by the BATS Incorporated Society. BATS is an acronym for the Bane and Austin Touring Society, (named after Rodney Bane and David Austin, the founding members of BATS). BATS Inc began as a prolific amateur theatre company, producing school tours and shows, achieving a string of main-bill successes. In the early 80's however, commitment waned and BATS Theatre simply became a venue for hire, administered by BATS Inc.

During these years, BATS became the home for Drama School productions and was used by a number of co-operatives. In spite of its shabby cult status, neglect and a lack of funds meant that BATS was deteriorating rapidly.

In 1988, while in his last year of drama school, Simon Bennett became aware of the BATS predicament. After many a drunken night spent with Simon Elson while working on King Lear, together they formulated a proposal to save BATS Theatre. Operating as NOMIS productions (Simon backwards), the two Simon's negotiated a lease from BATS Inc. and from November 1988 until April 1989 they worked organising sponsorship, money, materials, redesigning and rebuilding the foyer, stripping back and redecorating the auditorium, redesigning
the access ways, cleaning up and redecorating backstage and lobbying all the right people for support.

THEIR POLICY FOR BATS WAS
To rekindle the popularity and accessibility of theatre for young people and to provide a venue, a training ground and a way in for young people struggling to forge careers in the difficult world of professional theatre.

THESE AIMS WERE TO BE ACHIEVED BY

• Keeping ticket prices for students on a par with cinema admission and video hire rates.
• Programming the theatre with entertainment value as a priority
• Ensuring a consistently high standard of work
• Keeping the doors open for young theatre practitioners.
• Promoting the theatre along the lines of cheap but good entertainment

BATS Theatre reopened as a professional venue on 1st April 1989 and Simon Bennett quickly discovered that theatre management and directing are mutually exclusive occupations. He resigned from the active management of BATS in May that year to pursue a career in directing, leaving it in the hands of Simon Elson.

Simon ran BATS for a year maintaining its high profile and ensuring a string of successful productions that somehow allowed him to balance the books without substantial external funding. During that year BATS hosted Simon's brain-child The BATS Fringe Fest which grew into today's Fringe NZ festival.

On 16th April 1990, just one year after BATS opened, fire raged through the backstage at 5.15am killing the theatre cat Cyclops who died of smoke inhalation. The fire started through an electrical fault in old wiring and left walls charred damaging dressing rooms and the auditorium. The Visitor by Full of Piranhas dance company was due to open the night of the fire and thousands of dollars worth of tailor-made costumes and props for the show had been destroyed.

On 13th May 1990 a variety concert at the St James Theatre was organised to raise funds to put BATS back on its feet. The concert was called “Got A Light” and included such luminaries as the Topp Twins, Paul Holmes, Lynn of Tawa, The Six Volts, Gary McCormick, When the Cats Been Spayed, Kate Harcourt, Alice Fraser, Te Rakau Hua O Te Wau Tapu, Helen Moulder, Full of Piranhas and many other celebrities and theatre practitioners, all giving their time for free.

Wellington companies came to the rescue too, donating labour and materials for the rebuilding project. Circa and the Depot held benefit shows at Downstage Theatre. The Wellington City Council made the St James available for the concert. It attracted 1100 people and raised $22,000.00. Phoenix the new BATS cat was presented by Fran Wilde.

BATS reopened on 14th June with Ken Duncan's Blue Sky Boys directed by Simon Bennett and starring Timothy Balme and Michael Galvin.

In 1999 BATS took over the lease of the two small spaces on either side of the BATS foyer. Roy’s, the old fish n’ chippy, became home to the BATS office and what was previously Don’s Car Insurance Office was magically transformed into The Pit Bar, as this intimate bar is fondly known.

Since 1991 BATS Theatre has been managed by a growing number of full time staff, with the help of a broad base of contract workers and volunteers. Many ex-BATS staff have gone on to key and creative positions in the Arts industry. And with the help of the New Zealand Arts Council (now known as Creative New Zealand) BATS has introduced other new initiatives, such as STAB - a theatre revolution and the Young and Hungry Festival of New Works.

BATS is currently New Zealand's strongest developmental theatre. It has an annual programme of between 50 to 60 shows with at least 80% of those shows being New Zealand and world premieres.

The fundamental philosophy of BATS has stayed true to its former ambitions. It constantly seeks to build a new young audience for theatre by presenting diverse, relevant and challenging theatre. And it focuses on being accessible for both its audience and incoming theatre companies, giving support to many developing arts practitioners and new New Zealand work.

The theatre space

On approaching BATS you see a charming 1930’s building with marble steps and a pair of old wooden doors. Stepping through the doors you enter into the foyer which houses the ticket booth and ‘The Pit’. Continuing through the second set of double doors and entering the candy bar, you start to appreciate the cosy nature of BATS. This intimacy continues into the auditorium with its steeply raked seating block which allows all 91 audience members an excellent view of the stage. The black box stage has a sprung floor and covers an area of 6.75 metres deep by 8.75 metres wide. The lighting grid is set into the ceiling 4.45 metres above the floor.

The theatre has a small lighting and sound box built into the back wall at the top of the seating block. It has an excellent view of the stage. The dressing rooms with toilet and shower facilities are upstairs behind the stage. BATS is a unique venue in Wellington offering the most intimate of theatre experiences. It is ideally located opposite Downstage Theatre in Courtenay Place, the heart of the city's entertainment precinct.