In a canny strategic move, Belconnen Arts Centre has announced that Christopher Baldock’s company Mockingbird Theatre will become its company in residence.

A well-known director and theatre teacher in Canberra, Baldock is noted for his productions of contemporary modern classics, but he has been keeping a low profile in the last couple of years by concentrating on teaching after parting company with the groups that formed ACT Hub.

In a walk-through, he told CityNews that the company would have regular access to the rehearsal room, which was sufficiently large to hold boutique productions such as the coming French murder-comedy, 8 Women.

While the official season will not commence until 2025, Baldock is already setting up his office in the theatre’s Green Room.

Finances permitting, he said, Mockingbird would be able to do one big blockbuster show in the main theatre each year. He’d like to do Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet for starters.

Belconnen Arts Centre released a statement on Instagram talking up the move, saying: “The Belco Arts’ Rehearsal Room will come to life through a banquet of experiences for the community to engage in live performance, theatre, school holiday programs and workshops.” ⁠

The state-of-the-art Stage 2 main theatre space has created problems for Belco Arts since it opened in 2020 with injudicious artistic choices of unappealing (to the general public, that is) material causing patrons to desert shows.

As well, the exceptionally high costs have meant that few companies can afford to rent it.

But times are changing, and the popular smiths@Belco gigs, the programming of top musicians such as Vince Jones, and now the Mockingbird Theatre announcement, all suggest a theatrical renaissance for the centre.