Waikato Times: Waikato Regional Theatre hosts debut performance - of sorts

Originally published in the Waikato Times, with video, Saturday 18 May 2024.

By Mike Mather.

The new Waikato Regional Theatre might still be taking shape, but it has already hosted its first on-stage performance.

Well, kind of. The Waikato Times was this week granted an exclusive look inside the under-construction $80 million facility, soon to be the jewel in the crown of Hamilton’s entertainment precinct.

During this visitation, the Times bore witness to some impromptu on-stage acting courtesy of Paris Eyeington, a local thespian who just happens to be deeply involved in the years-long project.

The simplest way of describing Eyeington’s role is as rigger for Waikato firm Rigger Brothers, one of numerous companies involved in the construction project led by Fosters Construction.

The show must go on - and so too must the construction work at the Waikato Regional Theatre for rigger Paris Eyeington. Photo: KELLY HODEL / WAIKATO TIMES.

“I’m part of the structural steel crew, so everything steel, basically,” he explains

“It’s a lot of work with the crane ... A crane will lower a steel beam in and we will bolt it into place, maybe drill it into a wall.”

The work site is one of numerous theatre projects Eyeington has been involved with.

Since 2016 he has performed in 14 musicals and two plays, as well as being a member of the tech team for four other shows.

He has played Igor in Hamilton Musical Theatre's production of Young Frankenstein and just last month took to the stage in the role of Sydney Chaplin - brother of the famous Charlie - in Chaplin the Musical at the Meteor Theatre.

Eyeington is also vice chief mech for Deller Productions, the theatre company that staged Chaplin.

A literal man of steel, Paris Eyeington ensures the numerous beams that form part of the theatre’s superstructure are firmly bolted into place. Photo: KELLY HODEL / WAIKATO TIMES.

It was an interesting experience helping construct a new theatre from the ground up, he said. The project is the only new theatre that has been built in New Zealand for many years and Eyeington was relishing the prospect of one day appearing in a production on the very stage he helped produce.

The former Hillcrest High student said he was working in a McDonald’s restaurant when “my brother’s boss got in touch with my current boss”, at Rigger Brothers, who offered him a job.

“I just fell into it. I had been thinking of getting into light fabrication metalwork, but it has worked out really well.

“It’s a great job. It leaves me plenty of time after work to pursue my hobbies.”

Speaking of which, when is the next time the people of Hamilton can expect to see him treading the boards?

It might not be immediately recognisable, but this is the stage of the Waikato Regional Theatre, as seen from the main balcony of the auditorium. Photo: KELLY HODEL / WAIKATO TIMES.

“That’s a good question. The show I have just auditioned for, a production of American Idiot, the Green Day musical, has just fallen over.

“There’s a couple of big musical productions that are still just being whispered about that are going to be staged next year - so sometime in 2025 is the answer to that question.”

Eyeington is not the only worker of a theatrical persuasion working on the project. Quantity surveyor Kolitha Jayatunge also happens to be the the musical director of the city’s famed Cantando Choir, the conductor for the Cathedral Singers of St Peter’s Cathedral, and a regular chorister and soloist at the St Peter’s Cathedral Cantata Vespers and for the Baroque chamber group Vox Baroque.

With each passing day more and more of the theatre superstructure rises up from ground level. Photo: MARK TAYLOR / WAIKATO TIMES.

“We really are proud of Paris, he is a fantastic talent on stage and within our company,“ Rigger Brothers site operations co-ordinator Wendy Lucas said.

“On any given day Paris can be leading a team installing structural steel, marking out ready for installation, or providing quality assurance for completed steel with our [robotic laser-equipped calibration device] Trimble RI Total Station. Paris has also started detailing for us and others on small projects.”

She and Rigger Brothers site lead Cody Bell and their respective partners had attended one of the Chaplin performances and were as impressed by the quality of the production as they were by Eyeington’s handiwork in his day job.

The construction of the regional theatre’s superstructure is now in full swing, and regular passers-by are seeing almost daily changes to the skyline as the building rapidly takes shape.

Paris Eyeington is often on the receiving end of the steel beams that are hoisted in by the pair of cranes that loom over the construction site. Photo: KELLY HODEL / WAIKATO TIMES.

From later this year there will be a long period of time in which it will appear the build will have ground to a halt - but the inside of the building will be the scene of furious activity as the fit-out and finer details are put into place.

Opening night for the Waikato Regional Theatre will be sometime in 2025, about a year later then originally envisaged, thanks largely to a tight market for materials and other factors.

The budget for the project remains on track, with about $2m of the overall cost still needing to be sourced.

A big portion of of that sum is anticipated to come from the “Take a Seat” initiative - part of the Share the Stage fundraising campaign organised by philanthropic organisation Momentum Waikato.

The scheme involves the sale of plaques for $1500 each, which will be permanently affixed to about 670 chairs in the theatre’s 1300-seat auditorium.

Many of the plaques are being bought by local families and individuals keen to leave their mark on the new facility. For businesses and other entities with a little more spending power there is also a business collective support programme, wherein donations of $10,000 or more can be made.

The naming rights to the theatre for a decade are also up for grabs for $2m.