Treading the boards: A survey of theatre buildings in Brisbane 1847-1998

Brisbane's first recorded performance space was an open-air amphitheatre in South Brisbane, probably in the vicinity of Russell Street. In 1847 Mr George Croft presented a program of dazzling feats of balance, with assistance from two comic sidekicks. The show was a hit, and the public flocked to see this novel entertainment. But, like many an entrepreneur since, Croft misjudged his audience's taste, and a vulgar song to introduce his wife a month later put an end to the audience and the show. Croft's belongings were sold off to pay his debts. Although the venture was a failure, popular entertainment continued, whether in private homes, in public houses or in church halls. The new Brisbane School of Arts, which opened in 185 l, included a hall for lectures and debates. This hall also proved useful for visiting performers presenting less edifying entertainments. In the 1860s a number of hotels also included a large room suitable for informal entertainments. These music halls, or concert halls as they were sometimes called, flourished throughout the city, and Mr GB Mason saw an opportunity. Mason, a music and dance teacher, had taken over the Royal Hotel, and decided to risk a more ambitious performance space. In 1865, in Elizabeth Street, he opened Mason's Concert Hall. Although called a concert hall it was equipped to present plays as well as concerts, and was Brisbane's first purpose built theatre. Mason was not financially successful, and by the end of the year the building had changed hands, but it was a beginning. The theatre became progressively the Victoria Theatre, the Queensland Theatre, and then was rebuilt in 1880 as the Theatre Royal. This metamorphosis was not uncommon. The Albert Hall in Adelaide Street became the Academy of Music and then the Gaiety. Centennial Hall, also in Adelaide Street, went through numerous changes of identity, from a roller skating rink to concert hall to cinema to vaudeville house to dance hall to theatre. The 1880s were a prosperous time, and culminated in the building of Her Majesty's in the city and the Princess Theatre at Woolloongabba. Of all the nineteenth century playhouses, only the Princess has survived. Early this century the open-air theatre made a big come-back. For a while it seemed to suit the climate in Brisbane. The Cremorne, the Bohemia, the Palace Gardens joined a number of open-air cinemas as popular venues. But the summers can be wet, and by the 1920s these theatres had all been l'oofed or had disappeared. While touring companies for many years provided most of the theatrical activity in Brisbane, by the 1920s and 1930s a vigorous local theatre scene was developing. Amongst these new groups were the Brisbane Repertory Theatre Society, Twelfth Night Theatre, and the Brisbane Amateur Theatre, later the Brisbane Arts Theatre. The next wave of theatre building in the 1960s and 1970s was to accommodate these and other Brisbane-based groups, resulting in La Boite, Arts Theatre, Twelfth Night Theatre, Basil Jones Theatre and the Suncorp Theatre. The most recently built theatres have returned to the South Bank area where Croft's amphitheatre briefly flourished. The various spaces that make up the Performing Arts Complex have been joined by the Conservatorium, the South Bank Piazza, and the new IMAX cinema which adds the latest entertainment technology to the mix. These notes on theatres past and present of the Brisbane city area give an idea of the richness and diversity of the performing arts in Brisbane over the last century and a half. Restrictions of space and time have meant that this survey has concentrated on live venues in the central Brisbane area, with a few notable exceptions. Of course no such work can be definitive but this survey is a beginning.

Christopher Smith Curator, Queensland Performing Arts Museum, November 1998

Material published courtesy of QPAC Museum