IN a scaled-down season launch today (March 21) at the Canberra Theatre, director Alex Budd announced a whopping 18 shows for 2021.

Before that, on Friday Budd had assembled a select group of reporters to brief them on the works to be presented, on the side reflecting on the huge amount of development going on in downtown Canberra, which had made the theatre centre “smack bang in the middle of the city”. Behind-the-scenes, he said, negotiations were proceeding for a new Canberra Theatre, something that was becoming increasingly necessary.

Praising his staff, who had used the down-time last year to reassess priorities for the theatre’s future, he explained that with attendances presently capped at 75 per cent, they’d need to sell every seat.

To be sure, many of the works on the list were shows such as “ American Psycho, The Musical” and shake & stir theatre co’s “Animal Farm” and “Fantastic Mr Fox”, and Bell Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, all of which had been slated for 2020 but postponed or cancelled because of COVID-19.

But there are new shows, too… a concert of favourite songs and arias by baritone matinee idol Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Guy Noble; Sydney Theatre Company’s “The 7 Stages of Grieving” with Elaine Crombie and “White Pearl”, the satire on Pan-Asian relations and racism.

And there’d be a world premiere, the toe-tappingly funny new Australian musical, “The Dismissal”, set to be staged here shortly before November 11.

“Think ‘Keating’ [the musical] on steroids,” Budd said. “This has got Canberra in its bones.”

Of most interest to Canberra theatre practitioners who have long charged that the flagship theatre centre ignored local talent, was the announcement of a new residency program to be called “New Territory”, which will support the development of three new works by Canberra artists and include artist wages, funded use of a performance space, and mentoring from top Australian artists and theatre staff. Expressions of interest for artists will open in the coming weeks.

“We’ve got no idea what it’s going to bring,” Budd said.

“It will be open to everyone… I believe in this so greatly, it provides pathways for young performers and students to stay here, and shows commitment to new work… Canberra will be known as an innovative and intelligent community.”

Newly announced this week were the Adelaide Festival sensation, “A German Life”, featuring Robyn Nevin as Joseph Goebbels’s secretary, Brunhilde Pomsel, and the Ensemble Theatre production “The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race” by former Canberran Melanie Tait, set in Robertson, NSW, the spud capital of Australia.

Returning favourites with Canberra audiences, we heard, would be Sydney Dance Company’s “Impermanence” in June and Bangarra’s “ SandSong: Stories from the Great Sandy Desert” in July.

In development, Budd said, was the latest part of “You’re Safe ‘Til 2024”, a six-year project about planetary transformation in which Canberrans David Finnigan and musician Reuben Ingall create six new shows looking at a different aspect of the massive changes taking place on our planet.

Further dispelling any impression that the centre was lukewarm about Canberra talent, Budd talked up QL2 Dance’s new work “Rebel” and Canberra Youth Theatre’s two shows, “Little Girls Alone in the Woods” and “Two Twenty Somethings Decide Never to Get Stressed About Anything Ever Again. Ever.“

As well, “School Drama”, a professional learning program that had empowered more than  30,000 teachers and students around the country to improve teaching and learning outcomes in drama and literacy would again be co-presented with Sydney Theatre Company.

“The Dismissal”, “White Pearl” and “The 7 Stages of Grieving” are on pre-sale to Canberra Theatre Centre subscribers, and on general sale from Thursday, March 25. Tickets to all other 2021 productions are on sale now. Book at canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 6275 2700.