National Theatre, Melbourne
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| National Theatre | |
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| City | |
| Country | Australia |
| Capacity | 783 |
| Opened | 1935 |
| www.nationaltheatre.org.au | |
The National Theatre is a 783 seat theatre and theatrical arts school located in the Melbourne bayside suburb of St Kilda, on the corner of Barkly and Carlisle Streets.
The original National Theatre was established in 1935 by soprano Gertrude Johnson. After returning from an overseas career that included performing at Convent Garden, Miss Johnson was dismayed at the lack of training and performing opportunities for Australian artists in their own country. To that end, the National Theatre included an Opera School, Drama School and Ballet School.
The National Theatre had previously occupied the Village Theatre in Toorak, destroyed by fire in April 1962, and then the Empress Theatre in Prahran, destroyed by fire in June 1971.
The building now occupied by the National Theatre was built in the Beaux Arts style as a 3000 seat cinema, and opened in 1920 as the Victory Theatre. In 1971 Hoyts offered the company the Victory Theatre for conversion to a live theatre and rehearsal spaces. The current theatre consists of the original Victory dress circle extended with the addition of a sizeable stage and a fly tower. The original stalls were converted into five studios for drama, opera and ballet. One of the studios is itself a theatrette. The theatre opened in its current guise in August 1974, while the schools and administration had moved in in September 1972.
The National Theatre Drama School dates from 1936, while the Ballet School dates from 1939, and is the oldest in Australia. The Ballet school currently conducts Royal Academy of Dance examinations, and has a ballet performance in the middle of the year and in December. The Opera School was merged into the Victorian College of the Arts in 1980.
The current Artistic Director of the National Theatre is Beverly Jane Fry. Other artistic directors have included Kathleen Gorham.
[edit] External Websites
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