A piece of European history is becoming popular among Australian performance organisations and Merrigong Theatre Company will be the next to embrace it.
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Dutch for “mirror tent”, Spiegeltents originally began popping up in Belgium in the late 19th century as travelling entertainment venues.
Wollongong will borrow one during April and fill it with cabaret, comedy, music, dance and acrobatics.
Like an extravagant big top, the wood and canvas Spiegeltent is decorated with mirrors, stained glass, velvet and brocade. Each piece fits together like a jigsaw without the need for nuts or bolts.
Director of Strut & Fret, Scott Maidment, is instrumental in bringing some of the best tents to Australia and said the atmosphere inside is “something special”.
“It’s a bit of the old circus magic where the circus wasn’t there yesterday but it arrives in town, everybody sees it there, it’s only going to be there for a certain amount of time and then it’ll disappear,” he said.
“The environment and history of these venues that have had so many performances in them, the tents have toured Europe for years [make them unique].”
Maidment has brought out the “Aurora” from the Netherlands via shipping containers, which is currently in Perth before being reconstructed on the Arts Precinct lawns next to the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre.
Around 20 tents still exist today and continue touring Europe and the world. Some are from art deco periods, others Art Nouveau and some more modern.
What is a traditional business, Maidment said there are only a handful of European families who deal in Spiegeltents – each one having a team of specialists also flown over to oversee its painstaking construction from the ground up.
The tents first appeared on Australian soil in the early 2000’s and have “caught on like wildfire”.
“Almost every festival has had a Spiegeltent, it’s grown in popularity and we want to bring that experience to more people so we’re starting to tour it to different regions,” Maidment said.
Wollongong’s inaugural Spiegeltent season runs from April 8 to 30. The full lineup of shows will be announced mid-February.