In the creative realm, less is often more. There’s an exciting new chapter ahead for the Adam Smith Theatre and part of the planning for this has involved considering the name itself. Does ‘theatre’ still fit with its wider remit following Fife Council’s major investment in its redevelopment?

While remaining a place for performance, it is also now a space where creative minds can collaborate, business people think ‘blue sky’, conference delegates get inspired, and café-goers relax.

This multi-faceted approach is not new. When the industrialist Andrew Carnegie performed the official opening of the Adam Smith Halls in 1899, he declared it “suitable for concerts, charades, private theatricals, meetings of philanthropic committees, lectures upon interesting and instructive topics and entertainments of all kinds”. Even from the get-go, ‘Halls’ seemed too restrictive a description.

Change has been a constant throughout its history. In its early years, the Halls became a popular venue for opera and orchestral concerts, boxing tournaments and exhibitions of dance. In 1913, the first of many films was shown.

Responsiveness is a key strand in the venue’s story. The Adam Smith saw active service during two world wars: in the first, housing 300 members of the Highland Cyclist Battalion; and, in the second, becoming home to Polish troops billeted in Fife to bolster coastal defences against invasion.

New possibilities opened up post-war. Perth Theatre began to perform popular weekly plays and strong links were forged with Kirkcaldy’s Amateur Operatic Society and Gilbert and Sullivan Society.

Then when, in 1972, renovations began to mark the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s birth, a new-look venue emerged to cater for the changing needs of the community.

Its first duty as the renamed Adam Smith Centre was to host a top-level economic conference, tackling such lofty themes as ‘Adam Smith as a Social Thinker’ and ‘Adam Smith and the Political Economy of Marxism’.

A stellar cast of economists, gathered from across the world, ensured that the venue lived up to its new name – finding itself at the ‘Centre’ of a global debate informed by the growing oil crisis.

And yet, gradually over time, the ‘Centre’ epithet became a tad too functional for many, who yearned for something, well, a little more theatrical.

And so it became the Adam Smith Theatre – though precisely when it did is hard to pin down. Through the 1980s and 90s, Centre and Theatre were both used and appeared interchangeable.

A common thread runs through all of this. When changing circumstances have prompted a rethink of what we might call it, a change of name has been waiting in the wings.

But through its many guises – Halls, Centre, Theatre – one thing has stayed constant: this much-loved venue has been fondly known by audiences throughout as simply ‘the Adam Smith’. 

This latest chapter therefore will build on this story with The Adam Smith, a name already very familiar to those who’ve nurtured it since its earliest days. 

Cultural hubs such as the Adam Smith are nothing without the people who enliven them. Throughout its many guises, the Adam Smith has remained a place of welcome, warmth and possibilities. And, like the great man from whom the building takes its name, open to new ideas and fresh creative impulses.

Take the poll now live and help choose the ‘tagline’ that will support the new name of The Adam Smith.

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