Rudman's city: Civic glories left to waste away in the dark

By BRIAN RUDMAN

If the Auckland Museum is looking for a really secure place to store its valuable little pre-Columbian gold frog, perhaps it should try the Civic Theatre. Because if there's a harder place to get into, I haven't heard about it.

Anyone who has been out and about showing visitors the sights over the summer months will know what I mean. Noses pressed against the outside of the double-glass entry doors is the closest most got.

That was certainly the fate of my visitor from Sydney. As it was for Lord of the Rings star Sir Ian McKellen, Metropolitan Opera of New York director Barbara Caruso and British-based New Zealand actor Bruce Purchase when they tried to have a look around last month.

For a city with precious few man-made marvels, this official closed-door policy when it comes to showing off the Civic is certainly not the stuff of tourism awards.

As theatre managers in what has reportedly been a lean year, The Edge is understandably keen to keep costs down. The Civic, though, is something of a show in its own right, a theatrical cathedral which locals and tourists are keen to wander through and wonder at.

Having spent $42 million of ratepayers' money lovingly restoring a unique relic of cinematic history - one of the world's few remaining atmospheric theatres - city councillors now let it waste away in the dark.

For a city hunting the tourist dollar, it's odd behaviour.

Veteran Friend of the Civic and former manager Eric Kearney says that to see through the Civic now, you have to come up with a party of at least 40 people and pay $12.50 a head. And provide a tour guide on top of that.

Most visitors, of course, don't have 39 other people they can drag along with them to make up the numbers. So unless their stay in Auckland coincides with a show they want to see, they'll just have to imagine the twinkling skies in the auditorium and the fantastical mock oriental decor.

Anywhere else in the world, the proud owners of such a fine showpiece would provide tours, and adequately promote them.

Experience suggests that Civic tours would be very popular. In the two years before restoration began, Friends of the Civic conducted regular weekend "last-look" tours through the rundown old theatre. Despite being at 9 am on Saturdays and Sundays, they were very popular, Mr Kearney says. For $10 a head, he and other volunteers would escort parties through.

Mr Kearney says the Friends have offered to revive the service, but have been turned down.

For Edge chief executive Greg Innes, it's all about cost. Regular guided tours would be "unbelievably expensive." He says providing lighting and sufficient security would cost $1000 to $1500 an hour. His preference is for the present open days or half-days three or four times a year. He says the last open day attracted only a couple of thousand people.

He throws the ball back into the councillors' court. The Edge hasn't been funded to keep the Civic open regularly. This differs from the Town Hall and Aotea Centre. The city annually pays $175,000 to keep these two venues open to public view. Open except for the auditoriums.

Mr Innes can't recall the figure, but says the cost to keep the Civic similarly open would be substantial. He is happy to negotiate one-off visits with groups, particularly service groups.

As for Sir Ian McKellen and his friends, Mr Innes says he would proudly show them around for free.

He fears Sir Ian might have called the wrong person at the wrong time. "Sounds likes he was in over Christmas and, like the rest of New Zealand, our people need a few days off."

He makes a special case for Sir Ian. Just as special a case can be made for the unique Civic.

It should be a tourist attraction every bit as popular, in its way, as One Tree Hill or Mt Eden. The city wouldn't dream of closing them to sightseers for reasons of cost.