Theatre in Hickson Road, Walsh Bay, Sydney, opened 13 December 1984, seating 319. Architect: Vivian Fraser.
When maritime freight went to containers many wharves became redundant, including Pier 4/5 at Walsh Bay, a double-decked finger wharf projecting 222 metres into Sydney Harbour. The NSW government gave the upper deck of this fine timber warehouse, built in 1920-22, to the Sydney Theatre Company with $3.7 million to convert it into a home. The resulting complex contains the thrust-stage Wharf Theatre; a versatile studio space, renamed Wharf Theatre 2 in 1994; rehearsal rooms; scenery and costume workshops; administrative offices and a restaurant.
The company schedules the Wharf Theatre year round for smaller-scale productions in its subscription seasons and conducts experimental work in Wharf Theatre 2 and occasionally in its rehearsal rooms. Since 1991 it has also sometimes converted warehouse space on the lower deck into a rough open-stage auditorium, named the Blackfriars Theatre because of Shakespeare performances given there. At the Wharf the company also assembles and rehearses productions for performance in the Drama Theatre at the Sydney Opera House. On the lower deck, Arts Council of NSW has its offices, the Australian Youth Theatre has premises and the Sydney Dance Company has rehearsal and administrative space.
Vivian Fraser’s conversion retained the material and structural qualities of the wharf. It is built of ironbark, a hard timber which is so fire-resistant that fire regulations required only sprinklers and an internal emergency exit tunnel to the street from the restaurant at the farthest end. The Wharf won the Sir John Sulman Award for architecture in 1985 and the Royal Australian Institute of Architects' President's Medal for the best recycled building in Australia in 1984-85.
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