A change of guard at Company B

The relatively new general manager of Company B, Vicki Middleton, has resigned in order to raise a family in her new home of Australia. This elevates the recently appointed Downstairs B Sharp Theatre director, Brenna Hobson, to General Manager of Company B.

In a year where many theatre directors and actors are making their way from the downstairs B Sharp programme to the upstairs mainstage, this shift would have to be one of the most dramatic ascents up the Belvoir Street stairs seen yet.

It gives the industry a certain sense of relief that there is now two theatre companies in Sydney investing in the new 2.0 wave of theatre creatives and administrators with not only words but actions.

Now that the STC have rolled back their exciting Mead/Cowell Wharf 2 Loud programme from focussing on emerging talent to a more marketable product, it leaves Company B and the Griffin under Artistic Director Nick Marchand in a class apart.

But what will happen to the downstairs theatre programme? Currently Company B Literary Manager Eamon Flack and producer Sam Hawker are care-taking the management role of the theatre since Lyn Wallis' departure to Casula Powerhouse. But it leaves the direction of the theatre a little... how should we say... directionless.

Already I have heard rumblings from independent theatre makers involved in next years B Sharp season that the company is lacking in decision making and focus. A spokesperson for Belvoir has assured Sydney Arts Journo that a decision will be made for B Sharp by the beginning of January.

The appointment of Hobson, who has been around the Belvoir Street theatres for a long while and has diversified her experiences with Bangarra Dance and Jigsaw Theatre, it is for the company a new safe pair of hands.

But of course, with all this movement and change, the question on everyone's lips is how long will Neil Armfield stay at the helm of the company and let a new AD take over?