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Canberra Today 23°/26° | Tuesday, March 19, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Arts / Mr Q and the instinctive art of filling seats

Stephen Pike… “I’ve got a bit of a theory that venues worry too much about getting young people in.”  Photo by Nathaniel de Hoog
Stephen Pike… “I’ve got a bit of a theory that venues worry too much about getting young people in.”  Photo by Nathaniel de Hoog

STEPHEN Pike, artistic director and program manager at The Q, Queanbeyan, seems to have more of a clue than most of knowing what works on stage.

“What I go for is gut instinct,” Pike says, pointing to a new play he’s just encountered dealing with Shakespeare’s private life about which he has “a very good feeling”.

“My experience gives me natural instinct,” he tells “CityNews”.

“I try to cover different genres, to appeal to broader audiences, but also I guess I’ve tried to mix it up so I always look for something a little bit edgy and controversial.”

And with the Canberra Theatre, The Street and REP nearby, it’s the question “Where do we fit in?” that keeps him awake at night.

Children’s theatre is to the forefront but Pike cautions: “I’ve got a bit of a theory that venues worry too much about getting young people in.” Schools are now more proactive in drama than they were when he was a child, so students will probably “grow into” theatregoing, but there’s no getting away from it, “the biggest demographic for theatre is always 40-55, it never changes”.

Sure, he’s had some bombs, usually when he’s put his trust into hyped-up marketing material, but he thinks 2017 might be an exceptional year, with a mix of popular pieces such as “Shirley Valentine”, international shows, local plays and even a musical about Julia Gillard.

A mixed passion for singing, animals and the theatre has combined with a natural knack for management to make Pike the ideal programmer.

Once famous for his theatre restaurants, The Bellows, The Hippo and Tarzan’s in suburban Kippax and for his pure tenor voice in roles such as Jean Valjean in “Les Miserables”, Pike has also been a keen tennis-player, raced pigeons, worked in the zoology department at the ANU, opened a pet shop in Kippax and worked in his family’s boarding kennel business at Hall.

“Mum said I sang before I talked,” Pike always tells people. He’d moved to Canberra with his family at age nine, sung in church until his voice was identified by influential singing teacher Max Constance, who wanted him to audition for the Vienna Boys’ Choir.

Readers can imagine what the teachers and kids at his primary school thought of that, so he confined his singing to the shower for some years until he took lessons with top professional teacher Lois Bogg. He’d never been to the theatre until he was over 20.

By chance, Charles Oliver, “hairdresser to the stars” and president of Tempo Theatre, heard him sing, got him into the chorus for “Calamity Jane” and Pike was hooked, moving up the ladder into solo numbers and eventually scoring the central role of Claude in “Hair”.

Many starring roles followed for him, which he combined with directing cabaret shows, starring in stage musicals, running businesses in Kippax and Jamison and even a stint managing Canberra REP. He was also a CAT Awards judge for 15 years.

“Thirty years in the business has given me a natural instinct,” Pike says, and one of his gut feelings is that “while Canberra is a beautiful city, it is still a big country town – and Queanbeyan is a big country town,” so when it comes to controversial programming, he hastens slowly.

Despite initial hostility to The Q in 2008 from some quarters in Queanbeyan, he has seen most of its “enemies” turn into staunch supporters and the venue has become part of the town’s landscape.

“There are a few people who haven’t heard of The Q,” he says.

 

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Helen Musa

Helen Musa

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