The Comedy Theatre is a 1003-seat theatre in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

East End Theatre District The East End Theatre District is a precinct within the Melbourne central business district, and is bounded by Spring Street, Flinders Street, Swanston Street and Lonsdale Street. The district is home to seven major theatres, including the Princ ...

. It was built in 1928, and was designed in the Spanish style, with a Florentine-style exterior and wrought-iron balconies. It is located at 240

Exhibition Street Exhibition Street is a major street in the central business district of Melbourne, Australia. The street is named after the International Exhibition held at the Royal Exhibition Building in 1880, and was previously known as Stephen Street fro ...

, and diagonally opposite

Her Majesty's Theatre Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Haymarket, London, Haymarket in the City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, ...

. It typically hosts commercial seasons of plays and smaller-scale musicals, as well as comedy and other entertainment events.

History

The site at the corner of Lonsdale and Stephen streets was from June 1842 to October 1854 an entertainment venue, " Rowe's American Circus", where G. B. W. Lewis gained his foothold in Australia. In December 1854 it was licensed as the "Royal Victoria Theatre", then demolished, to be replaced by a prefabricated iron building imported from

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England for

George Coppin George Selth Coppin (8 April 1819 – 14 March 1906) was a comic actor, a theatrical entrepreneur, a politician and a philanthropist, active in Australia.Sally O'Neill,Coppin, George Selth (1819–1906), '' Australian Dictionary of Biography'', ...

. Tentatively named "New Theatre", it was christened on 11 June 1855 as "Coppin's Olympic Theatre", and held its first theatrical performance on 30 July. One of Melbourne's earliest play-houses, it was the venue of some of G. V. Brooke's greatest triumphs, but the "Iron Pot", as it came to be known, was hot in summer and cold in winter and was soon displaced by architecturally superior theatres, and was abandoned in 1894. Opened on 28 April 1928, the Comedy Theatre was built and operated for fifty years by J. C. Williamson's. Paul Dainty purchased the theatre in 1978 for $800,000. Since 1996 the theatre has been owned and operated by Marriner Group.

Previous productions

Previous notable productions and performers at the Comedy Theatre include:

Gallery

File:ComedyTheatreMelbournefresco1.JPG, Fresco File:ComedyTheatreMelbournefresco2.JPG, Fresco detail File:ComedyTheatreMelbournefresco3.JPG, Fresco detail File:ComedyTheatreMelbournewindows.JPG, Windows File:Comedy Theatre in December 2012.jpg, Theatre in December 2012

References

External links

*
Comedy Theatre, Melbourne
Victorian Heritage Database {{Melbourne landmarks Theatres in Melbourne Buildings and structures in Melbourne City Centre 1928 establishments in Australia Theatres completed in 1928