Updated April 07, 2017 10:44:05

Photo: Barry Humphries, pictured in character as Dame Edna, is among those helping to raise $3 million. (Supplied: Adelaide Festival Centre website)

Theatre lovers are being targeted in a fundraising push for a major upgrade of Her Majesty's Theatre in Adelaide's CBD, 100 years after it was opened.

Adelaide Festival Centre has released long-awaited plans for a $35-million upgrade, which would lift capacity by 500 to 1,500 seats and provide a new foyer, lifts, bars, galleries and an improved orchestra pit and technical facilities.

But despite the majority of funding being secured by the South Australian Government, the centre is short $3 million and is looking to private donors, including wealthy art lovers, to fill the gap.

Centre chief executive Douglas Gautier said a fundraising scheme had already attracted $250,000 but traditional supporters willing to grant big money were be key to hitting the target.

"We'll be going to some high network individuals to see if we can get some really large numbers there to sit alongside the public, the public giving," he said.

An online page for Her Majesty's, or "the Dame", said it was the last remaining theatre on the "famous national Tivoli vaudeville circuit".

"When she opened in 1913 she was regarded as the finest theatre in Australia," it said.

"They [the people] know that it's the last Maj, the last Tivoli theatre in the country and it's full of history of the city."

A number of well-known personalities are helping to raise money, including Patron for Her Majesty's Campaign Barry Humphries, whose character, Dane Edna, is the official face of the campaign.

Other ambassadors include Australian actor Geoffrey Rush, entertainers Rhonda Burchmore, Todd McKenney and David Campbell, and singers Kate Ceberano and Greta Bradman.

Photo: Concept art of a completed upgrade of Her Majesty's Theatre on Grote Street. (Supplied: Adelaide Festival Centre)

Mr Gautier said the public helped fund The Festival Centre building on the banks of the River Torrens in 1973 — a facility that is currently undergoing a major upgrade as well.

He said he could see people coming out to support the renovation, which they hope to complete by 2020.

"Already there's evidence that the Adelaide public and some high network individuals really have taken the whole project to heart and can see what it can do for the city," Mr Gautier said.

The upgrade was originally estimated to cost $62 million, but in 2014 the theatre was able to buy the building next door, which dramatically reduced its cost.

Topics: theatre, arts-and-entertainment, states-and-territories, government-and-politics, adelaide-5000, sa

First posted April 07, 2017 10:19:12