Little Theatre

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Little Theatre

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Venue	Little Theatre
Address	211 Castlereagh Street Sydney NSW 2000 Australia
First Date	22 March 1913
Last Date	1917
Related Venues	Also known as Empire Theatre (1901-1902) 16/03/1901-24/11/1906 Also known as Royal Standard Theatre (1886-1901) 08/05/1886-16/03/1901 Also known as Standard Theatre Also known as The Playhouse 1917-c.1923
Map
Latitude \| Longitude	-33.874909 \| 151.209006
Events	Date Contributor Organisation
	Signaller Tom Skeyhill - The Blind Soldier Poet, 27 July 1916 Hindle Wakes, 22 April 1916 The Second Mrs Tanqueray, 25 March 1916 Are We Downhearted? No!, 30 October 1915 The Manoeuvres of Jane, 16 October 1915 Sydney James and His Royal Strollers, 2 October 1915 Joseph Blascheck with Alyce Austin, 18 September 1915 Charley's Aunt, 31 July 1915 Caste, 24 April 1915 The Man on the Box, 17 April 1915 Liberty Hall, 6 April 1915 His House in Order, 2 November 1914 Lord and Lady Algy, 19 October 1914 Sweet Lavender, 20 July 1914 The Master of Angerstroom and The Grey Parrot, 6 July 1914 The School for Scandal, 1 June 1914 Fanny's First Play, 11 May 1914 The Gay Lord Quex, 6 April 1914 The Great Adventure, 1 April 1914 The Great Adventure, 30 March 1914 David Garrick, 9 March 1914 His House in Order, 24 January 1914 The Warning, 22 November 1913 The Dominoes, 18 October 1913 The Butterlies, 8 September 1913 The Punchinellos, 9 August 1913 The Great Adventure, 21 July 1913 Bobby Burnit, 16 June 1913 Fanny's First Play, 5 May 1913 The Man on the Box, 22 March 1913
	Hugh Buckler Ltd Caste, 24 April 1915 The Man on the Box, 17 April 1915 Liberty Hall, 6 April 1915 His House in Order, 2 November 1914 Lord and Lady Algy, 19 October 1914 Sweet Lavender, 20 July 1914 The Master of Angerstroom and The Grey Parrot, 6 July 1914 The School for Scandal, 1 June 1914 Fanny's First Play, 11 May 1914 The Gay Lord Quex, 6 April 1914 The Great Adventure, 1 April 1914 The Great Adventure, 30 March 1914 David Garrick, 9 March 1914 His House in Order, 24 January 1914 The Great Adventure, 21 July 1913 Bobby Burnit, 16 June 1913 Fanny's First Play, 5 May 1913 The Man on the Box, 22 March 1913 The Little Theatres Ltd Hindle Wakes, 22 April 1916 The Second Mrs Tanqueray, 25 March 1916 Caste, 24 April 1915 The Man on the Box, 17 April 1915 Liberty Hall, 6 April 1915 Lord and Lady Algy, 19 October 1914 Sweet Lavender, 20 July 1914 The Master of Angerstroom and The Grey Parrot, 6 July 1914 The School for Scandal, 1 June 1914 Fanny's First Play, 11 May 1914 The Gay Lord Quex, 6 April 1914 The Great Adventure, 30 March 1914 David Garrick, 9 March 1914 The Great Adventure, 21 July 1913 Fanny's First Play, 5 May 1913 The Man on the Box, 22 March 1913 George Willoughby Limited Charley's Aunt, 31 July 1915 Wilton Welch Company The Warning, 22 November 1913
	Hugh Buckler - Actor, Entrepreneur, Producer His House in Order, 2 November 1914 Lord and Lady Algy, 19 October 1914 Sweet Lavender, 20 July 1914 The Master of Angerstroom and The Grey Parrot, 6 July 1914 The School for Scandal, 1 June 1914 Fanny's First Play, 11 May 1914 The Gay Lord Quex, 6 April 1914 The Great Adventure, 1 April 1914 The Great Adventure, 30 March 1914 David Garrick, 9 March 1914 His House in Order, 24 January 1914 The Great Adventure, 21 July 1913 Bobby Burnit, 16 June 1913 Fanny's First Play, 5 May 1913 The Man on the Box, 22 March 1913 Violet Paget - Actor, Entrepreneur His House in Order, 2 November 1914 Lord and Lady Algy, 19 October 1914 Sweet Lavender, 20 July 1914 The Master of Angerstroom and The Grey Parrot, 6 July 1914 The School for Scandal, 1 June 1914 Fanny's First Play, 11 May 1914 The Gay Lord Quex, 6 April 1914 The Great Adventure, 1 April 1914 The Great Adventure, 30 March 1914 David Garrick, 9 March 1914 His House in Order, 24 January 1914 The Great Adventure, 21 July 1913 Bobby Burnit, 16 June 1913 Fanny's First Play, 5 May 1913 The Man on the Box, 22 March 1913 Kenneth Brampton - Actor The Master of Angerstroom and The Grey Parrot, 6 July 1914 His House in Order, 24 January 1914 The Great Adventure, 21 July 1913 Bobby Burnit, 16 June 1913 Fanny's First Play, 5 May 1913 The Man on the Box, 22 March 1913 Gerald Kay Souper - Actor The Master of Angerstroom and The Grey Parrot, 6 July 1914 His House in Order, 24 January 1914 The Warning, 22 November 1913 The Great Adventure, 21 July 1913 Bobby Burnit, 16 June 1913 The Man on the Box, 22 March 1913 Lilian Lloyd - Actor The Master of Angerstroom and The Grey Parrot, 6 July 1914 His House in Order, 24 January 1914 The Great Adventure, 21 July 1913 Fanny's First Play, 5 May 1913 The Man on the Box, 22 March 1913 Arthur Wing Pinero - Playwright The Second Mrs Tanqueray, 25 March 1916 His House in Order, 2 November 1914 Sweet Lavender, 20 July 1914 The Gay Lord Quex, 6 April 1914 His House in Order, 24 January 1914 Arthur Cornell - Actor The Master of Angerstroom and The Grey Parrot, 6 July 1914 His House in Order, 24 January 1914 The Great Adventure, 21 July 1913 The Man on the Box, 22 March 1913 Tempe Pigott - Actor The Master of Angerstroom and The Grey Parrot, 6 July 1914 His House in Order, 24 January 1914 The Great Adventure, 21 July 1913 The Man on the Box, 22 March 1913 Arnold Bennett - Playwright The Great Adventure, 1 April 1914 The Great Adventure, 30 March 1914 The Great Adventure, 21 July 1913 Alfred Bristowe - Actor The Master of Angerstroom and The Grey Parrot, 6 July 1914 His House in Order, 24 January 1914 The Great Adventure, 21 July 1913 Reynolds Denniston - Actor The Great Adventure, 21 July 1913 Bobby Burnit, 16 June 1913 The Man on the Box, 22 March 1913 Edgar Godfrey - Actor Fanny's First Play, 11 May 1914 The Great Adventure, 21 July 1913 Fanny's First Play, 5 May 1913 Kingston Hewitt - Actor The Master of Angerstroom and The Grey Parrot, 6 July 1914 His House in Order, 24 January 1914 The Great Adventure, 21 July 1913 W R Hunter - Actor His House in Order, 24 January 1914 The Great Adventure, 21 July 1913 The Man on the Box, 22 March 1913 Alfred Scarlett - Actor Fanny's First Play, 11 May 1914 The Great Adventure, 21 July 1913 Fanny's First Play, 5 May 1913 Frederick Ward - Actor, Director The Second Mrs Tanqueray, 25 March 1916 The Manoeuvres of Jane, 16 October 1915 The Warning, 22 November 1913 Charles Lawrence - Actor The Great Adventure, 21 July 1913 The Man on the Box, 22 March 1913 Thomas Robertson - Playwright Caste, 24 April 1915 David Garrick, 9 March 1914 George Bernard Shaw - Playwright Fanny's First Play, 11 May 1914 Fanny's First Play, 5 May 1913 Reginald Wykeham - Actor, Producer David Garrick, 9 March 1914 His House in Order, 24 January 1914 Charles Astley - Actor The Man on the Box, 22 March 1913 Alice Austin - Performer Joseph Blascheck with Alyce Austin, 18 September 1915 Joseph Blascheck - Performer Joseph Blascheck with Alyce Austin, 18 September 1915 R C Carlton - Playwright Lord and Lady Algy, 19 October 1914 Richard Carton - Playwright Liberty Hall, 6 April 1915 Athena Claudius - Actor The Warning, 22 November 1913 Stuart Clyde - Actor The Warning, 22 November 1913 Tom Craven - Actor The Master of Angerstroom and The Grey Parrot, 6 July 1914 Wilson Forbes - Actor The Master of Angerstroom and The Grey Parrot, 6 July 1914 L F Hooke - Tour Manager Signaller Tom Skeyhill - The Blind Soldier Poet, 27 July 1916 Stanley Houghton - Playwright Hindle Wakes, 22 April 1916 Shirley Huxley - Actor The Great Adventure, 21 July 1913 Henry Arthur Jones - Playwright The Manoeuvres of Jane, 16 October 1915 Richard Kean - Actor The Great Adventure, 21 July 1913 Agnes Keogh - Actor The Warning, 22 November 1913 Kathleen Lindgren - Actor His House in Order, 24 January 1914 Louise Lovely - Actor, Playwright The Warning, 22 November 1913 Harold Macgrath - Playwright The Man on the Box, 22 March 1913 John Marsh - Actor The Warning, 22 November 1913 James Martin - Actor The Warning, 22 November 1913 Charles Montague - Actor The Warning, 22 November 1913 Sidney Mullins - Actor The Warning, 22 November 1913 Bobby Pearce - Musician Signaller Tom Skeyhill - The Blind Soldier Poet, 27 July 1916 Robert Pollock - Actor The Warning, 22 November 1913 Eileen Robinson - Actor The Master of Angerstroom and The Grey Parrot, 6 July 1914 Herbert Shaw - Actor The Warning, 22 November 1913 Richard Brinsley Sheridan - Playwright The School for Scandal, 1 June 1914 Dorothy Sidney - Actor The Man on the Box, 22 March 1913 Tom Skeyhill - Presenter Signaller Tom Skeyhill - The Blind Soldier Poet, 27 July 1916 Winchell Smith - Playwright Bobby Burnit, 16 June 1913 Clara Stephenson - Actor The Warning, 22 November 1913 Arthur Styan - Actor The Warning, 22 November 1913 Brandon Thomas - Playwright Charley's Aunt, 31 July 1915 Janet Warden - Actor His House in Order, 24 January 1914 Wilton Welch - Playwright, Producer The Warning, 22 November 1913 Harry Whaite - Scenic Artist The Man on the Box, 22 March 1913
Resources	Article: "The Playhouse" To Go, Everyones, 3, 149, 10 January 1923, 36 Ross Thorne, Royal Standard Theatre, Companion To Theatre In Australia, 1995, 511 Theatre in Castlereagh Street, Sydney, opened 29 April 1886 as Royal Foresters' Hall, seating 906. Architects: Ellis and Slatyer. Renamed Royal Standard Theatre 8 May 1886. Renamed Empire Theatre 16 March 1901; Standard Theatre 24 November 1906; Little Theatre 22 March 1913; Playhouse 1917. Demolished c.1923. After nearly 30 years of melodrama, vaudeville, boxing, seances and two-up games, this modest hall-cum-theatre became significant in 1913, when Hugh Buckler and his wife Violet Paget made it the home of their Little Theatre. This company was the first in Sydney to specialise in literary drama, following the lead of the Royal Court Theatre in London and the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. The theatre began as a hall in a building on the western side of Castlereagh Street, south of Bathurst Street. It was erected by the Ancient Order of Foresters, a lodge and friendly society. There was a lodge room behind the dress circle and there were more rooms above the auditorium. According to the NSW Government Architect, the hall was 29.2 metres long by 11 metres wide. The stage was the same width but only 7.6 metres feet deep with a 6.1 metre-wide proscenium opening. The original lessee, Frank Smith, had a slight slope built into the floor. He also had 308 iron tip-up chairs, upholstered in crimson velvet, put into the front stalls and 220 into the dress circle. The rear stalls, occupying less than half of the floor, were 442 hard tip-up seats. Nine days after the hall opened it was renamed the Royal Standard Theatre for the first stage performance - Alfred Dampier's production of The Phantom Ship, based on the legend of Vanderdecken, the Flying Dutchman. The premiere of For the Term of His Natural Life by Dampier and Thomas Somers followed on 5 June 1886. In 1901 Fullers' from New Zealand leased the theatre, renovated it and reopened it as the Empire Theatre. Their Empire Minstrel and Variety Company played there for nearly a year. From November 1906 it was called the Standard Theatre and occupied by Harry Clay's Vaudeville Company. In 1913 the theatre, renovated, redecorated and re-seated, reopened as the Little Theatre, 'the Home of High-Class Comedy'. Gone was the 'mouldy, mediocre unloveliness' of the auditorium, said the management, which had installed a tea and coffee lounge beneath the stage so that patrons could exchange ideas after matinee performances. A photograph of the Little Theatre in 1913 corresponds to a description published in 1886 - a three-storey building surmounted by the largest carved stone pediment in Sydney. This displayed rich foliage and the arms of the Foresters' lodge. During the First World War the lease passed from Hugh Buckler to Sid James, who again renovated the theatre and reopened it as the Playhouse on 29 September 1917, with The New Sin, a play by Basil Macdonald Hastings. Later J. and N. Tait Ltd. took over the Playhouse. It seems to have ended its days with the final performance of the Aussie Smart Set Diggers on 15 January 1921. Article: Ross Thorne, Royal Standard Theatre, Companion To Theatre In Australia, 1995, 511 Photograph: E G Shaw, 'The Little Theatre', also known as 'The Play House', and Royal Standard Theatre, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, 1921 Websites / Online media: Ailsa McPherson, Royal Standard Theatre, Dictionary of Sydney Websites / Online media: Sydney Architecture - Royal Standard aka Empire / Clay’s Standard / Little Theatre and The Playhouse, Sydney Architecture
Data Set	AusStage
Venue Identifier	15886

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