Theatre Royal Hobart

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.