Gillian Winter

Theatre in assembly rooms at corner of Argyle and Liverpool Streets, Hobart. Opened as Theatre Royal, seating 500, on 29 May 1834. Renamed Albert Theatre 1842. Used until late 1840s.

The main theatrical venue in Hobart between the first season at the Freemason’s Tavern in 1834 and the opening of the New Theatre Royal in 1837, was the Argyle Assembly Rooms. John Mezger, a successful businessman, built the Argyle Rooms alongside his Bird in Hand Hotel. His first tenant was the entrepreneur and musician J. P. Deane; who began giving musical soirees in February 1834. These ended with short pantomime pieces, which proved successful, and Deane fitted up the assembly rooms as the Theatre Royal. It opened with Henry Melville's play The Bushrangers. The theatre had fine acoustics, a splendid chandalier and, a report said, 'abundant stage room and a division of the audience ... of all classes'.

The actor-manager Samson Cameron leased the theatre late in 1834 and altered the seating. Another actor-manager, John Meredith altered it again in 1836. 'Instead of a continuous line of seats, there are now stage boxes, pit, back pit and above these there are the boxes and private boxes', the Colonial Times reported on 5 April 1836. The theatre could not withstand the competition of the New Theatre Royal, which opened in March 1837, but it was an alternative during the 1840s.

Anne Clarke called it the Albert Theatre in 1842, when she launched her company from England. Luigi Dalle Case’s company performed in it in 1843. A newspaper called it 'a neat little theatre' in1848 but it was probably too small for the increasingly complex scenery and machinery required for new plays and the greater realism demanded by later playgoers

Theatre on comer of Harrington and Davey Streets, Hobart, opened 24 December 1833. Used until 1835

Samson Cameron fitted up a large room in the Freemason's Tavern, where the Freemason's Hotel now stands, to stage the first professional theatrical production in Tasmania. The theatre had a gallery, pit seats on a rake, a proscenium, and a dais 450-600 mm high for a small stage which, it was said, ‘admits two or three good scenes'. The Colonial Times said 'a more respectable assembly was never collected in Hobart Town' for the opening. The theatre held an audience of 150 but the first-comers spread themselves on the benches because of the heat of the night and some ticket holders were among the hundreds who failed to gain admission to see The Stranger by August von Kotzebue. Cameron's season ran until May 1834, with twice-weekly productions, and he returned to the theatre for another season in December 1835.  

Theatre in Campbell Street, opened as New Theatre Royal or New Theatre, 6 March 1837. Designed by Peter Degraves. Seated 500-600 on two levels. Later called Royal Victoria Theatre for a time. Auditorium rebuilt as three tiers seating about 800, 1856. Architects: W. Coote and E. B. Andrews. Renamed Theatre Royal. Major alterations in 1890. Interior rebuilt to design of William Pitt jnr 1911-12. Damaged by fire 18 June 1984. Reopened 6 March 1987 with auditorium restored to 1911 design.

The Theatre Royal in Hobart stands on the oldest theatre site in Australia. A theatre has stood there since 1837 and the present structure contains fragments of the original theatre. This grew out of enthusiasm for the first public theatrical season in Hobart, presented by Samson Cameron in December 1833. Next month Henry Degraves sought shareholders to build a theatre designed by his father Peter Degraves, a brewer and entrepreneur. Building was slow after the foundation stone was laid on 4 November 1834, because of tardiness in paying for completed work. The exterior of the theatre measured about 30 metres long by 15 metres wide. The width has not changed over 150 years, although the length has. The two-storeyed exterior looked almost like a house, with three bays of Georgian multipaned windows defined by modest pilasters. The auditorium was on two levels, possibly similar to a small Georgian theatre in the English provinces. 

The New Theatre Royal was temporarily fitted up on 17 January 1837 for a farewell to the Administrator of Van Diemen's Land. On 6 March it was still not quite finished but Cameron presented Thomas Morton's comedy Speed the Plough and The Spoiled Child. Cameron was a poor manager and James Belmore, John Meredith and J. Moses came in to share the management until the first season closed on 31 July 1837. Meredith and D. P. Grove were the managers from 25 September 1837 to March 1838. From April 1840 to February 1841 the theatre, then known as the Royal Victoria Theatre, was controlled largely by Anne Clarke. She returned from England in February 1842 with actors, dancers and singers and by July 1842 she had resumed control of the theatre. Anne Clarke and her husband held the lease until 1846, after which various companies leased the theatre from Degraves. He died in 1853 and the theatre was sold to Richard Lewis, a local merchant, who leased it to John Davies and F. B. Watson from 1853 to 1856. In 1856 a new three-tier auditorium was squeezed into the old envelope, and some public space was added in a lower extension to the front. The improvements also included gas lighting. The building was now called the Theatre Royal and Davies was the sole lessee. The tragedian G. V. Brooke was a notable performer in the 1850s, when stock companies had generally given way to touring companies playing a limited repertoire for a short period.

Some minor changes to entrances and removal of boxes at the rear of the pit increased the capacity in 1862. In 1882 the stage was extended rearwards by 4-6 metres to produce a total depth of 16.8 metres. C. J. and David Barclay and C. E. Davies, son of John Davies, bought the Theatre Royal in 1889 and carried out major alterations in 1890. The stage was fitted with a new floor and traps, and with a new roof to produce a fly tower. The auditorium was modified to improve sight lines and comfort. The Theatre Royal housed many public events, including political rallies, religious gatherings, boxing matches, film screenings and the first Hobart demonstration of Edison's phonograph in November 1890. It has been a popular venue for amateur theatre since the 1890s, when the Hobart Operatic Society regularly performed there.

The last major alteration to the auditorium and front of house was made in 1911-12. The architect William Pitt Jnr gutted the interior, raised the walls and spanned them with a new roof, and constructed a new Edwardian-style, three-tier auditorium complete with dome. The renovations also included electric lighting and decoration in Louis XV style picked out in gold and silver. There was no substantial financial benefit, however, because of the First World War and a change in shipping routes that excluded Tasmania from the Australasian theatrical circuit. Nevertheless, the theatre thereafter saw notable artists, including Noel Coward, Harry Lauder and Allan Wilkie. It also provided an initial base for the Hobart Repertory Theatre Society.

C. E. Davies owned the theatre until his death in 1921. It had a private owner until the Theatre Royal Company, formed by a few local shareholders, bought it in 1923. This company still owned the theatre in 1948, when Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, heading the Old Vic Theatre Company, performed in it. With their support the theatre was saved from demolition for road works and a car park. The state government set up the National Theatre and Fine Arts Society to buy and control the theatre in 1949, and gave it financial help to redecorate the dilapidated building extensively for a proposed royal tour in 1952.

The Tasmanian Theatre Company was established as a resident in 1971 but by 1977 it functioned as entrepreneur rather than producer. Declining financial success resulted in a government inquiry which set up the Tasmanian Theatre Trust in 1984. The trust's initial problems were compounded on 18 June 1984, when fire destroyed the stage, except for its 1837 stone side walls, and heat, smoke and water damaged the auditorium. The Tasmanian government decided that the theatre was an important inheritance and rebuilt the stage to present-day standards and restored the auditorium to the 1911 design. The Theatre Royal was officially reopened on 6 March 1987, 150 years to the day after its original opening, and Speed the Plough, the inaugural play, was performed again. That year the trust was replaced by the Theatre Royal Management Board under the direction of John Unicomb. There are more modern venues in Hobart but the Theatre Royal has strong sentimental appeal for audiences. The development of Backstage, at the rear of the main theatre, for intimate and alternative theatrical fare has introduced the Theatre Royal to yet another generation of theatregoers.

Theatre at corner of Cameron and St John Streets, Launceston (Tas.), opened 1834. Attached to London Inn. Also known as Olympic Theatre. Closed 1874.