MTC CATCHUP

It's a truism but it has to be said. Melbourne Theatre Company has been an important part of my life in Melbourne. Not just the 18 years I worked there but the endless shows before and after that time. In fact, my connection to MTC goes back to Perth in the 1960s when I first saw one of their productions. Of course, as a teenager, I didn't even think about the producing company, just about the thrill of seeing Robin Ramsay, then starring in the TV show Bellbird, live on stage as Prince Hal in Shakespeare's Henry IV Part 1 at the Octogan Theatre. So you could say I have had a connection to MTC for 55 years.

Part of my farewell gift from the company was naming a bar after me in the Southbank Theatre which is an impressive form of 'thank you'. But even more impressive is free theatre tickets for life. So I will keep returning to Melbourne for theatre. 

Me & my Bar (c) PK

I was lucky to attend an MTC event in December which gave me a chance to catch up with many of the people I'd worked with. The event was tinged with sadness because it was the retirement party of Kerry Saxby who has to be one of the most innovative people working in the field of stage electrics in the country, a job he did for 40 years before a stroke forced him to stop work. One of the great privileges of working at MTC was seeing the craft and skill of the often unsung heroes of the theatre world - the carpenters, the scenic artists, the props makers, the electricians, the lighting technicians, the costume makers, the milliners, the mechanists. The crafts these people used sometimes had their origins in pre-Christian times but always enhanced century after century by relevant technology. 

Kerry Saxby's farewell - December 2024 (c) MJ

I've been under the stage of Europe's oldest working theatre, the 18th century Manoel Theatre in Malta, and that of the 19th century Kabuki Theatre in Kotohiro, Japan and seen the same revolve mechanism that you'd find under the Playhouse or the Southbank Theatre in Melbourne. Of course, the historic revolves were driven by people whereas it was Kerry's electrical genius that drove the Melbourne ones. 

Kabuki Theatre revolve 1835

I know I'll find interesting theatre in Perth with companies such as Black Swan, the Blue Room, the Last Great Hunt and the work of the students of the WA Academy of Performing Arts but I will miss the sense that I just pop across the Bolte Bridge and see an MTC show whenever I feel like it.

PS Thanks to Pam Kleemann and Mandy Jones for the photos.

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