Bud full of praise for The Factory

By Jim Mynard
TOP Australian actor Charles Tingwell has warned Casey’s performing arts groups to hang on to their new performing arts rehearsal centre at Cranbourne.
Mr Tingwell, popularly known as Bud, said that once commercial producers became aware of the centre they would be after it.
He spoke of the difficulty that even commercial performing artists had in finding rehearsal space.
“We’ve even used private homes,” he said.
Mr Tingwell, with Casey mayor Kevin Bradford, officially opened the new centre as The Factory last Saturday.
He was greeted with sustained applause and said it was a terrific honour for him to be at the opening.
“This is a fantastic complex,” he said.
“People forget about the rehearsal aspect of performing, yet it is the most important part of our trade.
“Many of us also agree that it is the best time for us.
“When we produced The Castle we had to keep the filming time short because of budget constraints.
“The only way we could do that was to spend more time rehearsing.
“The problem we had was finding somewhere to rehearse.
“Even the ABC at times has trouble finding a place for rehearsals; we’ve even used the boardroom.
“This centre is so good that you could find the commercial companies asking to use it.
“But hang on to it.
“Congratulations to the people who put this together.
“It is wonderful to see this large area set aside just for rehearsals.”
Cr Bradford confirmed the council’s support for the arts and said $2.3 million had been allocated for the centre to accommodate the area’s vibrant performing arts community.
He said The Factory was an Australian first because it provided dedicated space for groups to prepare productions.
“Yvonne van der Horst suggested the official name from her entry in a competition held last year,” Cr Bradford said.
“The name reflects a place in which people manufacture or create a product and also that this was the former site of the SperryNew Holland factory.
“The factory offers three large rehearsal rooms and four practice rooms, all with sprung timber flooring, suitable for dance, music and theatre rehearsals.
“It also has a workshop for set construction.”