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Hayman Theatre

Fri, 7 July 2006, 03:13 pm
Gordon the Optom14 posts in thread
 

If one invites the fire services in and then ask them 'what is required to make the theatre complex fireproof' then the answer will be much different to the response should the question be 'are the safety measures sufficient?'

Note to Staff 7 July 2006

by the Vice Chancellor of Curtin University

Hayman Theatre

Most of you will have seen the media coverage over the past few weeks regarding Hayman Theatre. It is apparent from the articles that there is misunderstanding surrounding the reasons why the University made the decision not to use the Theatre for public performances.

As advised in my Note to Staff of 12 April, the University was advised by external fire safety consultants that the Theatre did not meet the fire safety standards for public performance venues. The University did not consider it had any choice but to discontinue the use of the Theatre for public performances considering the risk to students, staff and the public in case of fire. This was the only reason the University chose this course of action.

The productions planned for this year have been relocated to other venues in the metropolitan area to enable them to continue.

The estimated cost to upgrade the Theatre to meet the relevant fire safety standards for public performance venues is approximately $1.2m and the University is currently considering whether to proceed with this expenditure.

It should be noted that if the University chooses to proceed with the upgrade, the work will not be completed before late 2007. Hayman productions in 2007 will therefore still need to be held in alternate venues during this time.

I will continue to provide regular updates to staff on this matter.

Thread (14 posts)

Gordon the OptomFri, 7 July 2006, 03:13 pm
 

If one invites the fire services in and then ask them 'what is required to make the theatre complex fireproof' then the answer will be much different to the response should the question be 'are the safety measures sufficient?'

Note to Staff 7 July 2006

by the Vice Chancellor of Curtin University

Hayman Theatre

Most of you will have seen the media coverage over the past few weeks regarding Hayman Theatre. It is apparent from the articles that there is misunderstanding surrounding the reasons why the University made the decision not to use the Theatre for public performances.

As advised in my Note to Staff of 12 April, the University was advised by external fire safety consultants that the Theatre did not meet the fire safety standards for public performance venues. The University did not consider it had any choice but to discontinue the use of the Theatre for public performances considering the risk to students, staff and the public in case of fire. This was the only reason the University chose this course of action.

The productions planned for this year have been relocated to other venues in the metropolitan area to enable them to continue.

The estimated cost to upgrade the Theatre to meet the relevant fire safety standards for public performance venues is approximately $1.2m and the University is currently considering whether to proceed with this expenditure.

It should be noted that if the University chooses to proceed with the upgrade, the work will not be completed before late 2007. Hayman productions in 2007 will therefore still need to be held in alternate venues during this time.

I will continue to provide regular updates to staff on this matter.

LabrugFri, 7 July 2006, 03:17 pm

Please edit your fonts

Nuff said.

Dixi

Jeff Watkins
Perth based Actor/Performer
Fight/Sword Choreographer

http://au.geocities.com/labrug

NaFri, 7 July 2006, 04:12 pm

Whoa!

I agree. That was painful. The Prompt Copy Networking emerging theatre professionals www.thepromptcopy.com Sticky Apple Legs http://stickyapplelegs.artsblogs.com
CrispianFri, 7 July 2006, 06:59 pm

My god...

That's all you saw?

'Edit your font'?

All that energy you spent to type a response and thats all you could see?

How about the fact that a cultural asset is being destroyed in WA?

Is this site so boring that we need font police?




Crispy.

NaFri, 7 July 2006, 11:26 pm

Um, in my instance, I

Um, in my instance, I completely couldn't be bothered reading the post because of the fonts... It's not about being 'font police', it's about making the post easier to read so that people do become interested in what you are writing about. Same thing applies to all the posts on the site that are written in caps, and those people who don't use punctuation, and those people who don't know where their enter button is. I simply don't read those posts because they're choice of formatting is so bad that I don't have patience for it. I spend about 12-14 hours a day on the internet/computer. I'm very interested in reading about our industry, but there's only so much time in the day to read everything. Also, I am already very aware of the issue, and while I'm interested in it, as a Melbourne person (and one who has no experience of the Hayman outside of what is mentioned on this site) don't feel as passionately involved in the issue as many other people out there in WA who have been involved with the venue and its staff and history. I have read numerous posts on this already, and do feel that it is a travesty... The Prompt Copy Networking emerging theatre professionals www.thepromptcopy.com Sticky Apple Legs http://stickyapplelegs.artsblogs.com
LabrugSat, 8 July 2006, 04:43 pm

To make a point

I am as concerned as any other ex-student at Hayman and if you have read other posts on this site you would have seen that. I think this is an important message and needs to be read - EASILY. On this occasion, the font IN PARTICULAR gave me a headache and the message was lost. Before you jump down someones throat, consider the alternatives. Yes all I saw was the font. It ruined the message! With the browser set-up I was using at the time, the text overlapped itself and was completely unreadable.

Happy now?

Nuff said.

Dixi

Jeff Watkins
Perth based Actor/Performer
Fight/Sword Choreographer

http://au.geocities.com/labrug

crgwllmsSun, 9 July 2006, 08:49 pm

Typeset Upset

But you might want to consider this next time: The font looks completely fine to me. (Slightly larger type than standard, and to be honest I quite like the way it stands out from the quoted text.) So your comment now looks out of place and rather unwarranted. I don't know whether this is because the original author took your advice, and edited the font as you asked, or whether the trouble you saw simply doesn't appear on my browser (Safari)...but either way, for the rest of posterity anyone who reads this will see you making a big complaint about nothing.... Cheers, Craig ~<8>-/====\---------
LogosSun, 9 July 2006, 10:16 pm

Logos

I agree, I feel a bit like I'm being shouted at but it's quite intelligible on my browser. Life's too short to stuff a mushroom www.tonymoore.id.au
NaMon, 10 July 2006, 08:48 am

The message has been edited

The message has been edited I believe - it was larger before. The Prompt Copy Networking emerging theatre professionals www.thepromptcopy.com Sticky Apple Legs http://stickyapplelegs.artsblogs.com
LabrugMon, 10 July 2006, 08:51 am

My Friend

Respect to you and all. It would appear that the font may have been adjusted as I can now read it quite clearly. All that said, how can you say that I am making a complaint about nothing when I am not alone in my statements?

Given my original posting was a slight knee-jerk reaction to what I read, I felt it wasn't so much a complaint as a little helpful advice. I feel that both yourself and Crisp. have pounced on something that simply wasn't there, and before we lose the focus all together, my CONCERNS were that if I was having a hard time reading it, then so would others. The message is an important one and I would rather think that more people would read it without being turned away by something as basic as a font setting.

Large text is not for everyone Craig, and I want as many to read this posting as possible and not be turn-off for any reason.

Hayman Theatre needs all the support it can get. Let's get the message out to as many as possible.

Dixi

Jeff Watkins
Perth based Actor/Performer
Fight/Sword Choreographer

http://au.geocities.com/labrug

Grant MalcolmMon, 10 July 2006, 01:26 pm

Mea culpa

I'll accept responsibility on two counts for some of the issues above. Firstly, the original post used the Heading 1 style for the quoted text. This style, as defined in the site's stylehseet, actually seeks to reduce the linespacing or gap following headings using Heading 1 so that regular paragraphs appear immediately below the heading without a large gap between. This usually works fine as long as Heading 1 is used for text that only spans a single line - if the text flows over two or more lines it ends up writing over itself. Gordon wasnt to know this would be an issue, as it isn't apparent in the editor. Secondly, I dived in when I saw the problem and edit the message so that the quote used a different style that doesn't have quite the same problem. It would be nice to have a real web designer look at these problems as part of a new theme... but there are one or two other things to look at first. All this aside, it really does appear to me from the quote above that the University isn't trying to keep the venue open. I should have thought if they wanted to keep the venue open they would have asked the second question "are the safety measures sufficient" rather than "what is required to make the theatre complex fireproof". There's clearly more at stake here than the venue/course. I wonder whether Curtin is running out of space on its Bentley Campus? The Hayman is a pretty central location. What's planned to replace the venue? Cheers Grant
NaMon, 10 July 2006, 01:30 pm

WYISWG

Does Drupal come with a WYISWG editor or an add-on for this type of editor? I know that would help in creating nice looking posts... The Prompt Copy Networking emerging theatre professionals www.thepromptcopy.com Sticky Apple Legs http://stickyapplelegs.artsblogs.com
Grant MalcolmTue, 11 July 2006, 08:47 am

What You See...

Na wrote:

> Does Drupal come with a WYISWG editor or an add-on for
> this type of editor?

Look for the enable rich-text link to the bottom left of most text area fields.

The editor currently offers what-you-see-isn't-quite-what-you-get; a product of my lousy stylesheet I suspect. Back to the need for a _real_ designer.

Cheers
Grant

NaTue, 11 July 2006, 11:51 am

Ahh, of course... So

Ahh, of course... So obvious, I can't believe I missed it!

Much better!

The Prompt Copy Networking emerging theatre professionals www.thepromptcopy.com Sticky Apple Legs http://stickyapplelegs.artsblogs.com

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