FROM THE DESK OF Roland Rocchiccioli

I despair when I remember the many theatres I’ve worked, and how many are now gone!

I STARTED out at the National Theatre at the Playhouse, Perth, Western Australia. My first part – amongst others – was as the front-end of Mavis the dancing horse in the pantomime, ‘Goldilocks And The Three Bears At The Circus’, a traditional English script written and directed by the late Edgar Metcalfe. The principal boy was played by an actress – Rosemary Barr as Prince Siegfried. Edgar was Dame Dolly Dishwater, and brilliant he was, too. He came to Australia from British repertory theatre and established a thriving company at the Playhouse. As a boarder, we were taken every month to see a production.

It was strange to be working with those whom I had watched in my schooldays. Sadly, the Playhouse has been demolished, along with my other stamping-ground, the Hole In The Wall Theatre, Newcastle Street, North Perth.

The Capitol was built in 1929 and demolished in 1969. I worked on the last production – the musical, ‘Tenderloin’. Its chandelier now hangs in Melbourne’s Princess Theatre.

I worked at the Metro Theatre, King’s Cross, on the original production of ‘Hair’. The Minerva theatre opened in 1939 as a live entertainment complex. In 1948, it was bought by Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer (MGM), converted into a cinema and given a name change – Metro – in 1952. It was dark when the late impresario, Harry M Miller, gave it a new lease of life with ‘Hair’.

It became a film studio in 1982, and has generated 18 Academy Award nominations, and eight Oscars. It looks like being sold and with no guarantees?

The ornate Victorian Theatre Royal, Castlereagh Street, was magnificent. I saw countless productions, including Dame Judi Dench in the Royal Shakespeare Company productions of ‘A Winter’s Tale’ and ‘Twelfth Night’; Googie Withers in ‘Plaza Suite’; and Russian prima ballerina assoluta, Maya Plisetskaya in ‘Carmen’. I worked there on ‘Sleuth’ with the late Patrick Wymark (he died in Melbourne before the opening night), and John Fraser. The theatre opened December 11th, 1875. It had red velvet chairs and was decorated in white, gold, and grey, with a large glass chandelier. It closed, and was razed in the 1970s to make way for the MLC Centre. A dire tragedy!

The Palace Theatre, Castlereagh Street, was intimate, despite its size. Built in 1896, its interior was Moorish tinged with Gothic. In 1924 the auditorium was rebuilt without columns. The renaissance-style plasterwork was in antique cream, and the fabric wall panels were crimson damask. It was much loved by audiences and performers, alike; however, it was a fire hazard and constantly enveloped in cooking smells from the next-door Adam’s Hotel kitchen. It closed in January, 1970, for a development. I worked there with the late Patrick Macnee in ‘Secretary Bird’; and the late Stuart Wagstaff, and the charming Rosemary Harris (mother of Jennifer Ehle), in ‘Present Laughter’.

The Russell Street Theatre was Melbourne Theatre Company’s home under the artistic direction of the late John Sumner. I was there for five-years. At the back of auditorium was a glass-fronted, sound-proof crying room for parents with babies.

Russell Street became redundant when the MTC moved to the Arts Centre. It has fallen into a total state of disrepair and is lost forever. Wendy Hughes, Helen Morse, Frank Thring, Reg Livermore, Nancye Hayes, Frederick Parslow, John Wood, Leo McKern, and a long list of distinguished Australian actors, performed there.

Both Playbox Theatres: Sydney, Phillip Street, and Melbourne, Exhibition Street, have gone. Harry M Miller’s theatres, they housed a string of plays and musicals, including the original ‘Godspell’ with Colleen Hewitt; the controversial ‘Boys In The Band’ which ended-up in court; and the late Gordon Chater in ‘The Elocution Of Benjamin Franklin’ before it went to London and New York. I spent happy years in both Playbox theatres. It was the Melbourne headquarters of Harry M Miller Attractions, and the first theatre to have a bar!

Her Majesty’s, Brisbane opened on 2 April 1888, was one of my favourites. Directly opposite Coles, Queen Street, which housed one of the country’s best cafeterias. Getting food on tour was problematic. The actors met in the Coles café at lunchtime for their daily fill of meat and four veggies! Despite community protest, and assurances the colonial facade would be preserved as part of the new structure, Her Maj was demolished by the Kern Corporation, 23 October, 1983. Joh Bjelke Petersen was the Premier!

The third Her Majesty’s, Haymarket, Sydney, opened in 1973. It has since been demolished for an apartment block.
Roland can be heard each Monday morning on 3BA at 10.30am. Contact [email protected].