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Balmoral
Regent

THEATRE
In many home cinemas the
intention is to recreate the
ambience of the picture palace,
but few achieve the detail
and authenticity of the
Regent in the Adelaide
suburb of Balmoral.
Its creator, John Thiele
recalls the inspiration and
effort behind the
achievement.

I remember clearly the day I read
the headline in The Advertiser, ‘Big
City Project Embraces 38 Shops, Two
Theatres’. That was on Wednesday 7th
December 1966. It sounded the death
knell for Adelaide's grand Regent
Theatre. I had spent many enchanted
hours in that theatre, and it was the
inspiration behind the home theatre I
would later build.
In an effort to obtain some
souvenirs of the theatre, I gained
permission to salvage some samples of
the plaster work from the demolition
site. I carefully stored them away with
a hope that some day, I could repair and
display the plaster pieces as a memento
of the theatre which had come to mean
so much to me.
The first step taken in that direction
came in 1980 when I purchased a house
which had the luxury of both a carport
and a garage. This offered the prospect
of converting the garage into some kind
of little theatre. My love of the old
Regent had never diminished, so
naturally I wanted to try to capture
some of the atmosphere of that theatre
in the one I was planning for the
garage. As the plans began to evolve,
and I had decided I wanted to include
an arched proscenium, a domed ceiling,
and a small foyer, it became evident I
would need a larger garage. This finally
came to fruition in 1987, and the first
real step was taken towards achieving
my dream. Little did I realise then how
much the project would grow, and just
Top and centre: Collecting marble slabs from the Regent Adelaide, June 1997.
how long it was going to take to
Above: Finishing work on the marble staircase in the foyer, September 1992
complete it.

22 2004 CINEMARECORD