Rundle Mall Management Authority wants to boost street theatre performances in Adelaide

RUNDLE Mall could become the street theatre capital of the southern hemisphere - as long as performers can demonstrate how they will avoid animals and birds, falling flat on their faces or bumping into shoppers and verandas.

The Rundle Mall Management Authority wants to boost its street theatre offerings on weekends, particularly when AFL football and major events are on at Adelaide Oval, and to introduce acts on weekday evenings following the success of this year's Fringe in the Mall program.

The authority is calling for tenders to supply "roving street theatre" acts and says applicants must identify how they would mitigate four "most likely" risk scenarios: "Issues with terrain, inquisitive fauna, issues with overhanging structures (and) issues with proximity of onlookers".

The tender documents said the risk assessments were needed to protect performers' safety at work.

The mall authority's chief executive Ian Darbyshire said he wanted to see more acts that maximised audience participation.

"Rather than just thinking we're entertaining people who come, I'd like to think about entertainment that will make people come to the mall, " he said.

"The Fringe in the Mall is fantastic, but why can't Rundle Mall be a place of entertainment all year round?

"I would also like to find entertainment for early evenings so there's a drawcard to break people's habit of going home instead of spending time in the city centre."

Ambitiously aiming to match Adelaide with Barcelona's famous street theatre boulevard, he said: "We could become the Las Ramblas of the southern hemisphere."

Louise Clarke is artistic director of the mall's current street theatre supplier Bamboozled Productions, providing acts such as The Cupcakes - two ladies on stilts dressed in 1950s outfits, singing witty jingles and offering household cleaning tips.

Ms Clarke said she intended to bid for the new contract and assumed "issues with terrain" meant avoiding the ongoing upgrade works, but was "a little confused about inquisitive fauna".

The tender documents say the successful supplier must be able to secure acts that are "unique to Rundle Mall and do not perform regularly in any other shopping precinct".

The first stage of the tender process closes September 17.

TIM WILLIAMS 

CITY MESSENGER SEPTEMBER 10, 2013