The National Theatre is a historic former theatre in

Launceston, Tasmania Launceston () is a city in the north of Tasmania, Australia, at the confluence of the North Esk River, North Esk and South Esk River, South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River, Tasmania, Tamar River (kanamaluka). As of 2021, the Launc ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

History

Located on the corner of Charles Street and Paterson Street, the National Theatre was formally opened on 25 September 1915 by Mayor Alderman Percy Hart, whose wife Margaret raised the curtain for a production of ''

The Silence of Dean Maitland ''The Silence of Dean Maitland'' is an 1886 novel by Maxwell Gray (the pen name of Mary Gleed Tuttiett). Set in a fictionalized Isle of Wight, particularly around Calbourne, it concerns an ambitious clergyman who accidentally kills the fathe ...

'' staged by the

George Marlow Dramatic Company George Marlow (24 September 1876 – 21 May 1939) (born Joseph Marks) was an Australian theatrical entrepreneur born in London of Jewish extraction, noted for bringing melodrama and pantomime to Sydney audiences in the early 1900s. His name has ...

. The National was used for theatre productions, films, ballet, opera, and sporting events such as boxing and wrestling. Early theatrical performances and amusements included

Harry Lauder Sir Henry Lauder (; 4 August 1870 – 26 February 1950)Russell, Dave"Lauder, Sir Henry (1870–1950)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, online edition, January 2011, accessed 27 April 2014 was a S ...

Roy Rene Roy Rene (pron. ''reen''; born Henry van der Sluys, 15 February 189122 November 1954) was an Australian comedian and vaudevillian. As the bawdy character Mo McCackie, Rene was one of the most well-known and successful Australian comedians of th ...

and

Annette Kellerman Annette Marie Sarah Kellermann (6 July 1886 – 6 November 1975) was an Australian professional swimmer, vaudeville star, film actress, and writer, usually spelt with a single final n as Annette Kellerman. Kellermann was one of the first wome ...

. Classical music and operatic productions included

Eileen Joyce Eileen Alannah Joyce CMG (1908–1991) was an Australian pianist whose career spanned more than 30 years. She lived in England in her adult years. Her recordings made her popular in the 1930s and 1940s, particularly during World War II. At h ...

Ignaz Friedman Ignaz Friedman (born Salomon Izaak Freudmann; ; ; February 13, 1882January 26, 1948) was a Polish pianist and composer. Critics (e.g. Harold Schonberg) and colleagues (e.g. Sergei Rachmaninoff) alike placed him among the supreme piano virtuosi ...

, Essie Ackland,

Rudolf Pekárek Rudolf Pekárek (24 February 190026 October 1974) was a Czech-Australian conductor. Background In 1934 he founded the Prague Symphony Orchestra, giving work to many unemployed musicians. It was known as the FOK Orchestra (Film – Opera – Konze ...

, John Brownlee, Peter Dawson and brothers

Jascha Spivakovsky Jascha Spivakovsky (18 August 1896 – 23 March 1970) was a Russian Empire-born Australian piano virtuoso of the 20th century. He was hailed as a child prodigy in Odessa but almost murdered by Imperial Guards during the 1905 Pogrom. He fled to ...

and Tossy Spivakovsky. In 1934, the National was remodelled to address safety and accessibility issues, which saw the stage dropped to ground level, the stalls lowered and the Charles Street entrance stairs removed. The auditorium was updated with Australian-made Raycophone sound technology, and the National reopened as a talkie with '' The Head of the Family'' and ''

Fashions of 1934 ''Fashions of 1934'' is a 1934 American pre-Code musical comedy film directed by William Dieterle with musical numbers created and directed by Busby Berkeley. The screenplay by F. Hugh Herbert and Carl Erickson was based on the story ''The Fas ...

''.

Broadway theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, American and British English spelling differences), many of the List of ...

and Hollywood actor

Mona Barrie Mona Barrie (born Mona Barlee Smith; 18 December 1905 – 27 June 1964) was an English-born actress, active on stage in Australia before establishing a career in the US, and in Hollywood films. Career Born Mona Barlee Smith in London to comedi ...

appeared in theatrical performances at the National in the 1940s whilst contracted to

J. C. Williamson's J. C. Williamson's, formerly Williamson, Garner, & Musgrove and Williamson and Musgrove, was an Australian theatrical management company and theatre owner. With its beginnings in the theatrical productions of J. C. Williamson and his p ...

. Throughout the 1940s several

ballet companies A ballet company is a type of dance troupe that performs classical ballet, neoclassical ballet, and/or contemporary ballet in the European tradition, plus managerial and support staff. Most major ballet companies employ dancers on a year-round b ...

and personalities visited the theatre including the

Borovansky Ballet The Australian Ballet (TAB) is the largest classical ballet company in Australia. It was founded by J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1962, with the English-born dancer, teacher, repetiteur and ...

Bodenwieser Ballet Gertrud Bodenwieser (3 February 1890 – 10 November 1959), also known as "Gertrude", was a dancer, choreographer, dance teacher and pioneer of expressive dance. Early life The daughter of Theodore and Maria Bondi, a wealthy Jewish couple, ...

and acclaimed Russian ballerina

Tamara Tchinarova Tamara Tchinarova ( tr. Chinarova, ), also known as Tamara Finch, (18 July 1919 – 31 August 2017) was a Romanian-born émigré Russian and French ballerina who contributed significantly to the development of Australian dance companies and was ...

Purchase by the Launceston City Council

Following the Second World War, the theatre fell into financial hardship and after several years of closure was purchased by the

Launceston City Council Launceston City Council (or City of Launceston) is a Local government in Australia, local government body in Tasmania, located in the city and surrounds of Launceston, Tasmania, Launceston in the north of the state. The Launceston local gove ...

(LCC) for

£A The pound (Currency symbol, sign: £, £A for distinction) was the currency of Australia from 1910 until 14 February 1966, when it was replaced by the Australian dollar. Like other £sd currencies, it was subdivided into 20 Shilling (Australian ...

17,000. Although the LCC proposed the theatre be renamed the ''Margaret McIntyre Memorial Theatre'' after Margaret McIntyre, the first female elected to the

Parliament of Tasmania The Parliament of Tasmania is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Tasmania. It follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system and consists of the governor of Tasmania (as representative of the King), the Legislative Counci ...

, this never eventuated. The theatre continued to be used to host international theatrical performances, live music, amusements, as well as amateur theatre productions. In 1951, the stage was damaged in a fire caused by experimentation with

flash powder Flash powder is a pyrotechnic composition, a mixture of an oxidizer and a metallic fuel, which burns quickly (deflagrates) and produces a loud noise, regardless of confinement in some formulations. It is widely used in theatrical and display pyro ...

, causing over £A6,000 worth of damage. Following the refurbishment of Hobart's Theatre Royal in 1954, Minister for Health

Reg Turnbull Reginald John David "Spot" Turnbull (21 February 1908 – 17 July 2006) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly from 1946 to 1961 (1946–1959 for the Labor Party, 1959–1961 as an Independent), then ...

requested the LCC approach Premier

Robert Cosgrove Sir Robert Cosgrove (28 December 1884 – 25 August 1969) was an Australian politician who was the 30th and longest-serving Premier of Tasmania. He held office for over 18 years, serving from 1939 to 1947 and from 1948 to 1958. His invol ...

for a grant to restore the National Theatre. In 1958, South African actor Morry Barling suddenly died onstage. The theatre remained active throughout the 1960s, largely hosting performances by the Tasmanian Ballet Company.

Closure

Due to ongoing costs, the LCC decided to sell the theatre in 1969, although events continued into the next year. The

Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust The Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust (AETT) is an Australian theatre and performing arts company based in Sydney established in 1954. It is today especially known for its music scholarship program. History The Australian Elizabethan Theatre ...

premiered

Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (born Ermanno Wolf) (January 12, 1876 – January 21, 1948) was an Italian composer and teacher. He is best known for his comic operas such as ''Il segreto di Susanna'' (1909). A number of his works were based on plays by ...

's comedic opera ''School for Fathers'', Welsh

dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. Ben Jonson coined the term "playwri ...

Emlyn Williams George Emlyn Williams, CBE (26 November 1905 – 25 September 1987) was a Welsh writer, dramatist and actor. Early life Williams was born into a Welsh-speaking, working class family at 1 Jones Terrace, Pen-y-ffordd, Ffynnongroyw, Flintshi ...

performed his one-man show on the life of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

and world-renowned pianist

Winifred Atwell Una Winifred Atwell (27 February or 27 April 1910 or 1914There is some uncertainty over her date and year of birth. Many sources suggest 27 February 1914, but there is a strong suggestion that her birthday was 27 April. Most sources give her ye ...

gave the final performance at the theatre on 14 November 1970. The building was sold to the printing company Foot & Playsted.

Contemporary use

The National Theatre has been greatly preserved by Foot & Playsted, who use the auditorium for storage. Since

MONA FOMA Mona Foma, stylised as MONA FOMA (an acronym for Museum of Old and New Art: Festival of Music and Art, often further shortened to MOFO) was an annual music and arts festival held in Tasmania, Australia, curated by Violent Femmes member Brian Ri ...

festivities expanded to include Launceston in 2018, the National Theatre has been used for arts events by

Quandamooka The Quandamooka people are Aboriginal Australians who live around Moreton Bay in Southeastern Queensland. They are composed of three distinct tribes, the Nunukul, the Goenpul and the Ngugi, and they live primarily on Moreton and North Str ...

artist

Megan Cope Megan Cope (born 1982) is an Australian Aboriginal artist from the Quandamooka people of Stradbroke Island/Minjerribah. She is known for her sculptural installations, video art and paintings, in which she explores themes such as identity and ...

and visual artist

Thomas Demand Thomas Cyrill Demand (born 1964) is a German sculptor and photographer. He currently lives and works in Berlin and Los Angeles, and teaches at the University of Fine Arts, Hamburg. He makes photographs of three-dimensional models that look like ...

. In 2022 the National Theatre was featured in programming by Open House Launceston.

References

{{Cinematic and theatrical buildings in Tasmania 1915 establishments in Australia Cinemas in Launceston City of Launceston Former theatres in Tasmania History of Tasmania Theatres completed in 1915 Former cinemas in Australia Italianate architecture in Australia Art Nouveau architecture in Australia

History

Purchase by the Launceston City Council

Closure

Contemporary use

See also

References