Woodville Town Hall will host a series of live music events in collaboration with Adelaide’s beloved Thebarton Theatre as it undergoes renovations.

Thebbie Sounds is a series of gigs that will be held at Woodville Town Hall between May 19 2023 until July 2025, when Thebarton Theatre renovations are set for completion.

The line-up already includes classics like Normie Rowe and The Master Apprentices, An Evening With Vika & Linda and Southern Sons featuring Jack Jones, with many other events yet to be announced.

Anna Thomas, who works in business development and programming at Woodville Town Hall, is excited about the program.

“There is quite a number of acts I can’t mention yet that are coming that I’m extremely excited for,” she says.

Thebarton Theatre co-director Bob Lott says Woodville Town Hall is the “little brother” of Thebbie, as they were designed by the same architects Kaberry and Chard.

The series of events will allow loyal Thebarton Theatre lovers to not only enjoy the music they love, but the similar architecture and features of the venue.

“In the foyers, you’ll see the same tiles, you’ll see the same woodwork for the ticket-selling booths, you’ll see so many things, the shaping of the woodwork around the walls where the people can put their drinks and so on,” Bob says.

“It’s all almost identical in materials and in style to Thebbie.”

Anna is excited by the attention these events will bring to the town hall which holds many other events including weddings, concerts and religious celebrations.

“This is also an opportunity to get [Woodville Town Hall] a little bit more on the map. For people to realise that there are some amazing things that happen there,” she says.

Woodville Town Hall is hosting many other events this year, including The Dollop podcast and Marcia Hines.

All profits from Thebbie Sounds will go directly back into Weslo Holdings who manage the venue which will help keep the staff employed through the dark period for the Thebarton Theatre.

“We’ve got a group of excellent professional staff who’ve been with us for a long time and they’ve got to be paid or they’ve got to go. We would not see them go under any circumstance,” Bob says.

An artist’s impression of the proposed Thebarton Theatre upgrade. This picture: JPE Design Studio/City of West Torrens.

The renovations on the Thebarton Theatre are a result of an $8 million redevelopment package funded by the state government and council.

Bob says “not a lot” has been completed in terms of renovations on the theatre but that much of what needs to be done is provisional renovations to do with water, power and sewerage.

While Bob says he is grateful for the funding, these provisional renovations do not leave much in the budget for bigger projects they had hoped to be able to undertake. Despite this, he is still positive these larger renovations will happen in the future.

“One day we will have a tower on the stage, a fly tower they’re called, which means that material and furniture and flats and curtains and so on can be flown in from above the stage,” he says.

The first concert of the ‘Thebbie Sounds’ kicks off with Normie Rowe & The Master Apprentices next Sunday 19 May.

To find out more or book tickets visit the Thebbie Sounds website.

This picture: Samuel Graves.