After a triumphant inaugural season, Spiegel Haus Melbourne returned to the CBD this month, unveiling its first programming for season two with highlights including Briefs and La Ronde.
Spiegel Haus Creative Director Chris Mitchell says Season One exceeded what he thinks any of the creative collaborators could reasonably have expected from a completely new venue.
“The biggest validation was simply seeing audiences keep coming back. Blanc de Blanc Encore extended multiple times, we welcomed hundreds of thousands of people through the precinct across the season and Spiegel Haus became part of major Melbourne festivals within its first year.
Season Two is about building on that rather than simply repeating it.
There are audience favourites returning, including Briefs and Vaudeville Smash’d, but there are also completely new productions such as La Ronde and a lot more still to come. We’re continuing to expand the music, comedy, theatre and festival programming alongside the circus and cabaret that people already associate with a spiegeltent.”
Mitchell acknowledges that an enormous amount was learnt in the first season. “Now we get to take what worked, improve what didn’t and keep pushing the venue creatively.”
In fact, Season Two is jam-packed full of shows for everyone but, says Mitchell, the strategic planning behind the programme is not as straight forward as some might think.
“There’s no single formula because we’re deliberately programming across a lot of different disciplines.
Obviously quality matters, but I’m also interested in work that suits the intimacy of the spaces and gives audiences a reason to experience something live. A spiegeltent has an incredible relationship between performer and audience, so work with energy, humour, spectacle or audience interaction can really come alive in there.
We also look at the season as a whole. There are established productions audiences already love, international and interstate work, festival programming and opportunities for newer or more experimental ideas.
I don’t want every show to appeal to every person. That’s not particularly interesting. I’d rather have a programme where very different audiences can find something that’s absolutely for them and, hopefully, occasionally stumble across something completely outside what they would normally see.”
Regarding its rather fortuitous genesis, Mitchell explains that Spiegel Haus really came about because he was looking for a venue for another production and couldn’t find what he needed.
“I was looking for something around the 400-seat mark in the CBD and realised there was a real gap between the smaller independent theatres and the much larger commercial venues.
I’ve joked before that it was probably one per cent inspiration and 99 per cent lunacy. I certainly didn’t set out thinking, “I’ll build an entire entertainment precinct.” It grew from the idea of creating the sort of venue I wanted to produce work in — somewhere intimate enough that the audience feels genuinely connected to what’s happening on stage, but large enough to give new work an opportunity to have a proper commercial life.
Then we found Golden Square. I’ve always loved Chinatown. I remember coming into the city and hanging around Chinatown when I was about 11 years old. It’s always had this slightly kooky, mysterious energy to it. Golden Square is almost literally in the middle of Melbourne, and once we found the site the idea became much bigger.
It stopped being about building a theatre and became about creating somewhere people could come for the whole experience: shows, bars, food, music, a rooftop, different performance spaces.. and hopefully discover something they weren’t necessarily planning to see.”
Like many new development, Mitchell says there were certainly challenges along the way.
“There were probably plenty of times when a sensible person would have decided it wasn’t going to come together!
Building a temporary multi-level entertainment precinct on and around a functioning CBD car park is not a straightforward exercise. There were planning requirements, engineering, fire and safety regulations, licensing, infrastructure, artists arriving, shows being programmed and an opening date getting closer whether we were ready or not.
In the final weeks before opening, there were moments where we’d have trades working while rehearsals and production preparations were happening around them. You solve one problem and immediately discover another three.
But that’s also what I love about producing. You’re constantly taking something that only exists as an idea and solving the problems required to make it real.”
For Mitchell the inspiring part was watching all of those individual pieces suddenly become a venue. “Seeing artists walk into the spiegeltent, seeing an audience arrive for the first time and then eventually standing in a full room watching people respond to the work — that’s when all the lunacy starts to make sense.”
As Creative Director Mitchell is most proud that Spiegel Haus has become a genuine home for such a broad range of live performance.
In our first season we had circus, cabaret, comedy, music, burlesque, family shows and festival programming all existing within the same precinct. We became a hub for Midsumma and Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and Blanc de Blanc Encore extended its season multiple times.
But the thing I’m particularly proud of is seeing audiences take a chance on something.
Someone might arrive because they know one particular production and then realise there’s another show upstairs, music happening somewhere else or something completely unexpected on the following week. That’s what I always wanted the venue to encourage.
And seeing artists wanting to come back and producers wanting to bring work into the venue tells me we’ve created something useful for the industry as well as something audiences enjoy.”
So for Mitchell what sets Spiegel Haus apart from other venues?
“I’d probably say it’s not really one venue.
It’s an entertainment precinct sitting right in the middle of Melbourne’s Chinatown, built around the spiegeltent but with multiple performance spaces, bars, food and a rooftop overlooking the city.
There’s obviously the nostalgia and escapism of walking into a traditional spiegeltent — the mirrors, timber, stained glass and intimacy of the room — but then the programming around it can be incredibly contemporary.
You might have a children’s circus show during the afternoon, cabaret in the evening and something completely filthy at 10pm. Then another night it could be jazz, comedy or live music.”
Mitchell says he doesn’t want people to think of Spiegel Haus as somewhere you arrive five minutes before a performance and leave as soon as the curtain comes down. The precinct itself is part of the night.
Firmly established in our great city of Melbourne, I asked Mitchell where he would hope the venue is in ten years.
“Ten years is an eternity in this industry, so I’m always slightly reluctant to pretend I know exactly what Spiegel Haus will look like then.
What I hope doesn’t change is the reason it exists.
Melbourne needs spaces where artists and producers can take risks, particularly at that middle scale where a production has outgrown a tiny independent theatre but isn’t ready — or isn’t designed — for a 1,000-seat commercial venue.
I’d love Spiegel Haus to continue being part of that pathway. A place where a show can develop an audience, have a proper season and potentially go somewhere much bigger afterwards.
If we’re still surprising audiences, supporting new work and contributing something genuinely useful to Melbourne’s live-performance culture in ten years, I’ll be very happy.”
As a creative, Mitchell has always been drawn to things that are a little strange.
“Growing up I loved film and storytelling, particularly things that were bizarre, dark, funny or difficult to put neatly into one category. I think that’s probably followed me into live performance.
I’m interested in work that creates a genuine reaction. It can be hilarious, uncomfortable, spectacular, moving or completely ridiculous, but I want to feel that something is actually happening between the performers and the audience.
That’s the thing live performance can do that nothing on a screen can replicate. Everyone is in the same room, experiencing something that will never happen in exactly the same way again.
I don’t think the scale necessarily matters either. Sometimes the most exciting thing can be an enormous circus act above your head and sometimes it’s one performer with an extraordinary idea.”
With plenty more programming yet to be announced, Spiegel Haus Melbourne will once again be a festival hub for both Midsumma and Melbourne Comedy Festival in 2027, and the number one spot for performance, music and live entertainment in the CBD.
Says Mitchell, “Come in and take a chance on something.
Obviously if there’s a show you already know you want to see, fantastic. But I’d encourage people to look through the programme and pick something they know absolutely nothing about as well.
Have dinner in Chinatown, come up to the rooftop for a drink, see a show and make a night of it.
There are so many ways now to consume entertainment without leaving your house, but there is still nothing quite like sitting in a room full of strangers and collectively experiencing something live.
That’s ultimately why Spiegel Haus exists”
spiegelhausmelb.com
