HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE

While the first theatre I can remember going to in Perth was a pantomime in the Playhouse Theatre in Pier St (demolished in 2012)and the first ballet I can remember seeing was at the magnificent Edwardian theatre His Majesty's in Hay St.


Alan and Betty were art lovers - music, books, visual arts, theatre, musicals - and shared their love with us. It was expensive to take four people, even when two of them were children, to the theatre so our seats were usually high up in the gods at the Maj. But we did get to see international stars like Margot Fonteyn and local legends like Lucette Aldous and Alan Alder.

The Maj has had various renovations over its life and we have a connection to one of them. Gerald Savage, a friend of the parents, was the builder of our house in Cottesloe but he also was the craftsman who refurbished and remade the ceiling roses and cornices during the 1970s refurbishment. This was the moment when Perth almost lost the theatre to the bulldozer.

It's now the home of the WA Opera and the WA Ballet and I spent time in the studios and the meeting rooms when I was on the Board of the Ballet in the 1980s. Other connections are through Melbourne Theatre Company. We didn't tour often to Perth we did put on productions of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll and The Blue Room in The Maj.

One of the great refurbishments of more recent times has been restoration of the balconies and on a balmy night, on the King St side, surrounded by palm trees, you can almost imagine that you are sitting in the Raffles in Singapore.

For the last 25 years, the Maj has been lucky to have the services on Ivan King, a performer and theatre historian. He's not only preserved but taken every opportunity to share the theatre's stories and memorabilia. So when I saw that he was giving a talk on 24 February I signed up for it. Susan and I had an entertaining time, reminiscing, hearing new stories, seeing photos and posters of shows we'd seen over the last 6o years and festivals we'd been to. It was a great reminder that although Melbourne really is marvellous with all its theatres, there's still a touch of magic in the heart of Perth.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FARWELL TO THE PINK HOUSE

Image
Susan and I decided to say 'goodbye' to 14 Ward Grove, Pascoe Vale South by sharing the moment with friends. Although the house was full of packed boxes, we invited people over to say farewell...and take a momento. We both made bold decisions about art and craft that had been part of our lives for years. For example, I'd had a Gustav Klimt print hanging on various bedroom walls since the 1970s. A tea pot I'd bought from a ceramist in Canberra last century. A Boda vase that I'd been given. There were smaller pieces from ceramic pots to glassware, vases, both antique and modern, knick knacks from all over the world, and even hats. And in contemplating a new home, we needed to leave some space for new acquisitions. This was a clean out where we knew each piece was going to bring pleasure to someone else and so it was much easier to let it go. Debora, Glenda, Jesse, Murray & Loretta Kath, Susan & Julie Gemma, Pam, Dale & David
Read more

PACKING UP

Image
How do you sort out a house you've been in for 24 years? I should confess upfront that Susan and I are not Kondo afficiondos nor did we watch all the episodes of Swedish Death Cleaning series so we had a lot of stuff to sort through. For what seemed like months, I was making twice weekly visits to St Vinnies to drop off everything from clothes to kitchenware. We hired a 12 metre skip and recruited our wonderful neighbour Mike to smash up furntiture that was no good to anyone.  I even threw out Livia, the polystyrene statue that had starred in a production of "Women Beware Women" back in the 1980s. Poor thing. Her head had falled off a number of times only be stuck back on with jewel encrusted gaffer tape.But being outside for nearly twenty years meant that she had lost her charm.  Mike, our helpful neighbour Goodbye to Livia Another cultural challenge was books. Susan is a re-reader of books and I always claim that I'm going to so between us, we had 16 or was it 17 fu...
Read more

CHECKING THE IDEA

Image
In July 2024, on my return from a (wonderful) couple of months in Europe, I called into Perth to check the validity of my spreadsheets. Was it possible to buy a home with all the requirements that Susan and I needed for a home: - a pool - 3 to 4 bedrooms (so Sebastian & our Eastern States friends could come to visit)  - 2 living areas (because we have such different tastes in television) - single story (Susan in particular is over stairs) - close to a good beach...and to Perth friends. I enlisted my real estate researcher friend Stephanie and we drove all over the city looking at suburbs - north as far as Gwelup and south as far as Hamilton Hill. What had looked good on paper was starting to look dodgy because the Perth real estate market took off in 2024. By the end of the year prices had increased by 25% while the Melbourne market had sunk by 5%. What we could afford was looking further and further away from ideal locations. However, traipsing around the town with Stephanie w...
Read more