The Palais is hoping to increase its patron cap to attract bigger shows to the region and its calling on the community for support.
Under its planning permit, the theatre is only allowed to welcome 350 attendees, but owner Anthony Tripolino said he was hoping to have that expanded.
“A greater capacity leads to bigger and better shows,” he said.
“At the moment, people are either turning us away or we’re turning them away because of the fact we can’t facilitate [the crowds].
“There’s been some major acts not only in the theatre or live performance world, but also in the sporting world, that have that have turned away from this venue because we just can’t accommodate them.”
Mr Tripolino said he hoped to see the venue’s conditions expanded to allow “as many people as possible” based on the facilities.
“If you can have more people, then you start attracting shows and events that would normally bypass Victoria and even sometimes Australia as a whole because they can’t get a venue of that space.
“The reality of it is there’s a venue shortage, and obviously the more bums you can get on seats, the better the offering.”
The theatre is currently undergoing works to improve the stage and other facilities and Mr Tripolino said the Palais’ planning team would then put in an application to the City of Greater Geelong to amend its planning permit.
To support the push, the Palais has created an online petition to gather community support for the move, which had already received more than 900 signatures.
“The primary reason for starting the petition is we will be submitting a planning application to council and if the history of this place repeats itself, there is every bit of a chance that it will go to a council meeting,” Mr Tripolino said.
“And if it goes to a council meeting, well then a petition is a very strong document, because it’s the voice of the people who the council represent.”
The Tripolino family bought the theatre in 1997 and Mr Tripolino said he felt an obligation to ensure it was providing for the community.
“I will be genuinely happy when I overhear a conversation from people who are from Melbourne saying, ‘hey, I’m going to Geelong to the Palais to watch this’, or ‘I’m going to Geelong to do this’, instead of hearing people locally going, ‘I’m going to Melbourne to see this’,” he said.
“The highway is a two-way highway. We want to endeavor to bring people to the region. And then you bring more dollars into the local economy, more jobs, more everything.
“[But it also] needs to be acknowledged that the overarching premise for this building is to nurture the arts of Geelong.
“There’s a lot of nostalgia that’s attached to this building … [and] we want to make sure we’re paying homage to the best possible way we can.”
The petition can be viewed at: bit.ly/3oCzXS5.
