It would be built from interlocking modular pieces with seating, air conditioning, and proper acoustics. The Troubadour at Wembley Park was one example of a pop-up structure, and the audience experience was akin to any permanent main stage, Panter said.

“It’s the real deal, has real air conditioning, real acoustics, and has between 1200 and 1500 seats,” he said.

“After the Riverside is built, that venue can be moved in about three months to another city or town in NSW. In principle, it’s probably a good bridge between Riverside as it currently is and Riverside reborn.”

Parramatta Council recently made a call-out to architects to design a new 1350-1400 seat lyric theatre at Riverside, 760-seat Riverside playhouse theatre, a new 430-seat black-box drama theatre, and state-of-the-art 80 to 90 seat digital studio and cinema.

Panter has flagged his interest in commercially operating Riverside’s lyric theatre, once built.

The cost for a temporary structure would depend on the site and its access to utilities and parking but is likely to start at $30 million. Panter said his organisation would carry the operational risk under any private-public partnership arrangement.

“It’s nothing like the cost of a major new permanent venue,” Panter said. “It’s in [the region] of tens of millions, not hundreds of millions.”

Panter and wife Dame Rosemary Squire set up Trafalgar Entertainment in 2013 and operate a stable of 18 theatres, including Sydney’s Theatre Royal. Since the Theatre Royal’s opening in 2021, Panter has made no secret of the fact he wishes to expand his Sydney presence.

The Theatre Royal site was secured for musical theatre by the former Coalition government at a cost of about $38 million when the site looked to be turned into a food court.

“We’re not going out with a big bell and saying come on state [government], come on federal [government], come on city,” Panter said. “It’s appropriate for us to discuss our thoughts with various government bodies to see what can be applicable. Money doesn’t grow on trees, whether it’s public or private money.”

Foundation Theatres, operator of the Capitol Theatre and Sydney Lyric Theatre, is expected to start work next year on its approved plans to convert The Star’s 4000-seat event centre into a two-level 1550-seat Proscenium arch theatre to host major productions, and a 1000-seat live room for plays, contemporary music, comedy and cabaret performances.

Due for completion by the end of 2025, Foundation’s CEO Graeme Kearns said the venues would satisfy demand for larger theatre spaces in Sydney for the next decade.

But Michael Cassel, producer of hit musicals, & Juliet and Hamilton, believes there is still room in Sydney for a new 1600-seat theatre.

Panter said Parramatta was just one of several places around Sydney that could take a pop-up venue.

“There does seem to me a number of buildings that can be repurposed in Sydney, banks and other commercial buildings that are not doing what they were doing before the pandemic.

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“It’s a worldwide issue: what do you do when people are no longer full-time going to the office? What do you do with those buildings? We think the CBD could take another theatre, and our research backs that up.”

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