Resource | Text: Article | |
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Title | THE THEATRE ROYAL EIGHTY YEARS OF THE DRAMA | |
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Source | The Argus, Argus Office, Melbourne, Vic, 1848 | |
Item URL | ||
Page | 10 | |
Date Issued | 4 November 1933 | |
Language | English | |
Citation | THE THEATRE ROYAL EIGHTY YEARS OF THE DRAMA, The Argus, 4 November 1933, 10 | |
Exhibitions | ||
Resource Identifier | 65630 |
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The news of the impending demolition of the Theatre Royal must have come as a shock to all old Melbourne playgoers. With a history stretching right back to the days of the diggings the theatre has been associated in its time with every class of theatrical production. It has housed a circus, it has been used as a stadium for wrestling matches; and within its walls more than one fervent evangelist has preached to crowded congregations.
Its first projector was John Black, who had amassed wealth by carting goods to the goldfields at a time when fabulous prices were being paid for the transport of supplies over unmade roads. Mr Black began the erection of the first Theatre Royal in 1854. By Christmas time he had the front portion so far completed that he was able to arrange for a series of popular concerts in the long entrance hall, or vestibule, leading to the theatre proper. The opening of the theatre was delayed until July 16, 1855, when Sheridan's "School for Scandal" was played to a crowded house, with Mrs Poole and Mr G H Rogers, "the Australian comedian," in the leading roles. An added attraction was the illumination of the building by gas, then a novelty in Melbourne, from a plant installed at the theatre itself. The press was enthusiastic in praise of the new undertaking. But even at the outset Black, notwithstanding his initial resources, found himself in financial difficulties and although he presented to the public grand opera with such "stars" as the favourite Catherine Hayes and Madame Carandini, following this by the dubious attractions of the notorious Lola Montes, and even producing the Royal's first pantomime, he was unable to retain control of the theatre and before the middle of 1856 it had passed into other hands.
No name is more conspicuously associated with the early history of the Melbourne stage than that of George Selth Coppin. Making his first appearance before the public here at the old Queen's Theatre in June, 1845, he had prospered and had returned to Great Britain to seek fresh attractions for Australian theatre-goers. Early in 1855 he returned with an eminent tragedian, Gustavus Vaughan Brooke, bringing also the materials for an iron theatre, which he proceeded to erect in Exhibition street. When it became evident that the more eligible and centrally situated Theatre Royal would be on the market he and Brooke entered into partnership, and on June 9, 1856, the Royal was opened under the new management with "She Stoops to Conquer." For about two and a half years Brooke and Coppin carried on together. Then In February, 1859, they dissolved partnership and Brooke became sole manager of the Royal. In after years the Brooke era was looked back upon as "the golden time of the Victorian drama" - using the term “Victorian" with a more limited connotation than it has today, but, however great he may have been as an actor, Brooke was a poor financier. In December, 1860, he was glad to grasp the helping hand held out by Coppin to extricate him from his difficulties, and on May 23 following he bade farewell to the Melbourne public, whom he was destined never to face again. In January, 1866, setting out on another voyage to Australia, he was drowned in the English Channel in the wreck of the steamship London.
Lyster's Opera
Important episodes in the history of the Royal during the 'sixties were the advent of the opera company controlled by William Saurín Lyster in 1861 and the three years reign as manager of Barry Sullivan the Shakespearian actor from 1863 to 1866. Lyster arrived at a time when there was some enthusiasm for vocal music in Melbourne and he had no trouble in supplementing his chorus with volunteers from the ranks of the Musical Union. Sullivan renovated and improved the theatre reducing the number of seats in the dress circle so as to provide room for the most expansive of crinolines and he reduced the charge for admittance to pit and gallery respectively to the popular prices of 1/ and 6d. A description of the first theatre building in these balmy days speaks of the stage with its gilt pilasters of open columns and panelled proscenium surmounted by the Royal Arms, the three tiers of boxes in white and gold and the grand celling with its dancing muses. The Royal play bills of the sixties announced many interpreters of Shakespeare such as Clarence Holt and William Hoskins, Walter Montgomery and Bandmann, the German actor. In the earlier part of the decade we find Sir William and Lady Don and in the latter Eloise Juno a young Scottish actress from Edinburgh destined to become well known to the Melbourne public. Toward the end of this period the management of the Royal passed into the hands of a firm the names of whose members are even now almost household words. George Coppin was at its head and with him were H R Harwood Richard Stewart the father of Nellie and John Hennings the scenic artist. The stage manager was J R Greville well known as comedian and fisherman. Under these auspices Mr and Mrs Charles Matthews were appearing in comedy in 1870 but in the following year the partners seem to have separated leaving Mr Coppin as sole lessee and manager. The last play which he produced in the old Theatre Royal was entitled “The Streets of New York.” It included a realistic fire scene, a bad omen apparently for about midnight between March 19 and 20, 1872 a real fire broke out in the building and completely gutted it, although the Bourke street frontage on which stood the Cafe de Paris at one lime tenanted by the famous firm of Spiers and Pond was untouched. This fire was the culmination of a series of theatrical disasters. The Olympic - disused for some time as a theatre and converted into Turkish baths - had been burnt down in 1866, the Varieties had gone in 1870 and the Duke of Edinburgh (or Haymarket) Theatre In 1871 and two of these buildings still remained in ruins, although the first Opera House was rising on the site of the Varieties. The destruction of the Royal was a severe blow to Mr Coppin but he enlisted the aid of his former partners and in three months he had completed arrangements for rebuilding. The contract price is stated to have been £18,000. On June 15, 1872 a foundation stone was laid with the usual bottle containing relics in its cavity. The souvenirs on this occasion included autographs of members of the theatrical profession and a Chinese lottery ticket. One wonders whether any traces of them will be found when the building Is pulled down. In five months the new Royal was ready for occupation. The Bourke street front had been rebuilt raising it to the present three stories. The auditorium in which probably some of the materials of the old theatre were used was provided with three galleries and its decoration owed a good deal to the capable hands of John Hennings. The stage had the remarkable depth of 110ft Wednesday November 5 1872 was the opening night - rather a hurried opening it is true to catch the Cup season, for Mr Coppin had to apologise to his audience for the incompleteness of some of the interior arrangements; but everything was soon going and a note-worthy first appearance before the end of the year was that of Harry Rickards, the man who was destined to play an important part in building up the vaudeville business in Australia. Other important newcomers to Melbourne about this time were Mr and Mrs J C Williamson who appeared at the Royal on August 1, 1874, and laid the foundations of their theatrical fortunes by the instant success of the comedy "Struck Oil," which they had brought from San Francisco. Shakespearian traditions were well maintained in the 'seventies by Alfred Dampier, George Rignold - "handsome George" and Mrs Scott Siddons. A somewhat exceptional appearance in 1876 was that of Eduardo Majeroni, an Italian opera singer, who had studied English and who blossomed out as a tragedian. Mr and Miss Lingard were playing in drama in 1879. In the following year Louise Pomeroy was appearing with William Hoskins, and in 1881 we find the name of Grattan Riggs, a favourite Irish comedian.
The First Night of "Patience."
In 1882 Mr Coppin decided to retire from the management of the Royal, and the lease was taken over by Williamson, Garner, and Musgrove, a new firm composed of three theatrical producers. On July 1, 1882, they opened with Gilbert and Sullivan's “Patience." "So great a gathering," savs "The Argus" describing that first night, "was never yet seen in any Melbourne theatre." October, 1883, saw the first production of "The Silver King," with George S Titheradge as Wilfred Denver, and on April 1, 1884, John F Sheridan made his first bow to Melbourne as the Widow O'Brien in "Fun on the Bristol." Geneviève Ward as Lady Macbeth, and Wybert Reeve in "comedy drama" belonging to this period, nor must one forget to mention such important first productions as "Iolanthe," on May 9, 1885, with Mr and Mrs Robert Brough in the cast, and "The Mikado," on February 20, 1886, with Howard Vernon as Koko and Nellie Stewart as Yum Yum. In 1887 came Martin Simonsen's Italian Opera Company, in 1888 Charles Warner as Coupeau in "Drink", and later in the same year, Carrie Swain in "Uncle Tom's Cabin," with a "river of real water" on the stage.
These were the booming times of the 'eighties, but in 1891 there were changes. Messrs Williamson and Garner - Musgrove having previously dropped out - dissolved partnership in July, and the Royal was taken over by the Australian Theatrical Management Company, with Mr George Coppin again at the head of affairs. In November Walter Bentley made his first appearance in "Rob Roy," supported by Eloise Juno and Anne Beaumont. In the middle of 1892 Bland Holt was producing "A Run of Luck," and the history of the theatre for the next few years is largely linked with his name. The son of Clarence Holt, the Shakespearian actor of a generation earlier, he had first won favour with Melbourne audiences in the pantomimes of the 'seventies. Then he formed a company of his own touring Australia and New Zealand. Ultimately he succeeded Mr Coppin, who had passed the Biblical limit of three score and ten, as lessee of the Royal. Now he, in his turn, is enjoying a green old age among us, with Mrs Holt, who shared his popularity in those days when, turning the stage into a racecourse, he hung his back cloth right out in Little Bourke street, and had real horses and jockeys galloping up the ramp and out again into the lane at the side,
In 1904, when William Anderson was sub-lessee of the Royal, it was decided to remodel the inside of the theatre and remove one of the galleries. The last performance under old conditions was given on September 3, 1904.