Annual Report 2020 Contents Vision Statement 3 History 4 Chair’s Report 5 Artistic Director’s Report 7 General Manager’s Report 10 Achievements 13 2020 Program 14 Emily Loves to Bounce The Lighthouse Me & My Shadow I Wish… Spark 2020 Activities 22 2020 Company, Artists and Associates 24 2020 Performance Statistics 26 Financial Report 27 History of Productions 1972 – 2020 41 Schools Attending Patch in 2020 42 Acknowledgements 44 Patch Theatre acknowledges the traditional owners of Country throughout Australia upon whose land the company creates and performs, and pays its respect to their Elders past, present and future. All images credit to Matt Byrne with Emily Loves to Bounce images courtesy of The A.S.K. Vision Statement Patch Theatre creates world-class theatre that celebrates big ideas – ideas that explore some of the world’s inexplicable questions from a child’s point of view. Our works explore the way that children see the world, acknowledging the relevance of their thinking with stories that promote imagination, wonder and discovery. Patch Theatre is dedicated to the creation, presentation and touring of high-quality theatre experiences for children, now extended to four to ten year olds and their families. 3 History Adelaide-based Patch Theatre is Australia’s flagship theatre company making professional theatre for 4-10 year olds. The company has performed 110 new works to more than 1.85 million children and their families since its inception. For many, seeing a Patch production is a family tradition with parents bringing their children and now their grand-children to see its work, providing the company with a long term, loyal audience base. The company was founded in 1972 by Morna Jones, a pioneer in Australian children’s television and theatre who believed that quality arts experiences were an essential part of childhood learning and development. Morna’s “Little Patch Theatre” provided enriching performing arts experiences for children and young people in South Australia. Following Morna’s death in 1982, Artistic Director Christine Anketell developed a relationship with the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust that saw the realisation of large-scale adaptions of children’s literature and the early genesis of Patch Theatre’s national profile. ZOOOM Throughout the 1990s and 2000s and under the leadership of Artistic Director Dave Brown, the company evolved into a highly regarded national and international touring company with a newly crafted, world-class repertoire of diverse, vibrant and challenging devised theatre for its young audiences. In 2015 Dave Brown stepped down as Artistic Director after two decades and handed the creative reigns to Artistic Director Naomi Edwards who devised and directed two new works for the company, Yo Diddle Diddle in 2017 and Can You Hear Colour? in 2018 which premiered at Adelaide Festival. In 2019 Geoff Cobham began a very successful journey as Artistic Director creating a reimagined style of design-rich theatrical experiences. Patch has since focussed on expanding family audiences with promenade, installation style works - 2020’s Ruby Award winning The Lighthouse, while it continues to make highly acclaimed in-theatre productions - 2019’s ZOOOM. 4 Chair’s Report I expect that almost every annual report for the 2020 year will begin with words such as ‘2020 was a year like no other’. And so it was for Patch Theatre – its creative and management teams, artists, technical contractors and its precious young audiences. Nevertheless some good luck and much good management played their part in Patch completing another successful year both creatively and financially. The China tour of Emily Loves to Bounce was completed just before it became unsafe for the company to remain overseas. Sold- out shows and critical acclaim confirmed our high standing in the international market for theatre for young people, while at home The Lighthouse managed to complete all of its sold-out season just days before live theatre was suspended. The Lighthouse, a Me & My Shadow light-inspired, totally magical installation work, is the product of Patch’s commitment to develop and make work that will engage young people and their families and allow them to discover and expand their own creativity. Patch Artistic Director Geoff Cobham brought together an extraordinary team to deliver The Lighthouse, which now looks set for a long and geographically wide international life. Programmed with the support of commissioning partner, Adelaide Festival, The Lighthouse was also honoured with a Ruby Award for ‘Best work or event within a festival’. And then the lockdown came. Much of the year’s planning could not be realised, so new and clever ways had to be found to keep Patch alive. The talent within the company was well matched to creating a series of educational activities for parents to use at home, at the same time employing local artists whose livelihood had disappeared, literally overnight. For a time, the emphasis switched to creative development and management housekeeping (all those important but not urgent tasks), fostering external relationships and continuing the preparation for the 10th anniversary presentation of Me & My Shadow. This opening was also a happy and greatly valued collaboration with the Adelaide Festival Centre team in successfully getting through the uncharted territory of a COVID safe opening night. The remainder of the year saw the creative development of new works including a new partnership with the amazingly talented members of South Australian company Gravity & Other Myths. 5 Chair’s Report continued And so in simple numbers Patch in 2020 delivered 233 performances to 15,633 people in collaboration with 66 artists. In all these activities our small and talented team of Geoff Cobham, Teena Munn, Penny Camens, Michelle ‘Maddog’ Delaney, Mirella Innocente and Nicole McKenzie were ever flexible, resourceful and successful. Of course at this time we were more grateful than ever for the public and private support given to the company. We acknowledge that Patch could not give young people and their families the very best of creative experiences The Hon. Steven Marshall MP, Premier of without the support of the State Government South Australia speaking at Me & My Shadow through the Department for Education and the Department of the Premier and Cabinet via Arts SA; and the Federal Government through the Australia Council, the Major Festivals Initiative and the RISE Fund grant program. And I wish to thank The Hon. John Gardner MP, Minister for Education and The Hon. Steven Marshall MP, Premier of South Australia, for their personal enthusiasm for our company. We also enjoyed the generous support of the James and Diana Ramsay Foundation in support for new work and in building the creative and management capacity of our company; and the John T Reid Charitable Trusts for the creative development of new in-schools program Spark. Private foundations such as these are invaluable in sustaining arts organisations of all shapes and sizes. Patch is proud to be a beneficiary. Our private donors so often provide that last little bit of money needed to fully realise an idea – we are grateful to them all as well as to Hither & Yon Wines which has continued to help us celebrate our successes. As always I wish to record my personal gratitude to each member of the Patch Theatre Board. Between them they have a formidable bank of skills, and individually they give generously of their time and wisdom. Janet Worth Chair 6 Artistic Director’s Report Premiering The Lighthouse at the 2020 Adelaide Festival was a dream come true. This work of scale was made possible with the exceptional support of Adelaide Festival, three other co-commissioning partners, funding from the Major Festivals Initiative and a Commissioning Grant from Arts SA. I cannot tell you how thrilled, and somewhat relieved, I was that the show was a hit with all age groups. Making a piece of this scale involves a lot of fear. However, by surrounding myself with talented experienced artists, I was able to stay confident and trust my instincts. I knew that if we created spaces that we found were full of wonder, then we would be okay. In the many late nights in the Queen’s Theatre, as we built and tested things, we would stand with our jaws ajar as the magic of light worked its wonder. None of us tired of seeing the laser images emerge on the glow floor, or of seeing how light played upon the six metre high bubble column. We held our nerve and kept experimenting, embracing fabulous accidents and improving on successes right up until the moment the first audience joined us. I am very grateful for the work and support of the stellar team that made The Lighthouse the success that it has become. The Lighthouse 7 Artistic Director’s Report continued Once we open a show I usually do not attend every performance, but with The Lighthouse I literally could not stay away. I was at nearly all of the 165 shows. I would sneak around backstage watching the audiences’ faces as they played amongst the light….it made me beam like a Cheshire cat to see them all enjoying light as I do. I often met with the audience afterwards and they would tell me the story of their journey through The Lighthouse, each one was unique, a true sign of good art. Winning the Ruby Award for Best work or event within a festival at the end of the year, was of course, the icing on the cake. Then the world became something from a 1980’s science fiction film with the arrival of COVID-19. It has been such a confronting and humbling time. We are all very thankful to live in Adelaide, and have support from our State and Federal Governments with some additional funding.