The Story of the Theatre Royal

Fires. Feuds. Showbusiness. Survival. A theatre built by dreamers, saved by agitators, and loved by generations.

The Story of the Theatre Royal by Ian Bevan is a unique historical book that traces Theatre Royal Sydney’s extraordinary journey through colonial conflicts, depressions, wars, and enigmatic blazes of both talent and flame.

How did cockney showman Barnett Levey fight a government determined to keep theatre out of the colony? Which Oscar Wilde muse arrived in Australia with 250 tonnes of baggage? Who saved Theatre Royal Sydney from the wrecking ball?

How did Robert Helpmann encounter Anna Pavlova? What do Hawke, Grizabella and a bomb scare have in common? And how, exactly, did a goose murder three men?

Dame Nellie Melba. Jack Mundey. Dame Edna. Harry Seidler. They are just some of the extraordinary cast assembled in a drama of ambition, politics, artistry, and scandal. There’s even some bits and bobs about architecture too.

More than the history of a theatre, this text is the story of a city, and the song and dance needed to keep the cultural heart of a nation beating.

• Year of Publication: 1993
• Publisher: Currency Press Pty Ltd
• Period Covered: 1875 to 1993
• Pages: 360
• Packaged in sealed plastic wrap

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ian Bevan graduated in economics from he University of Sydney and served with AIF in New Guinea before becoming a war (and later foreign) correspondent in Europe for the Sydney Morning Herald. In 1954 he became a theatrical agent in London and was overseas representative for the Sydney Theatre Royal and, at various times, for Henry M. Miller. He retired in 1990, and lived partly in the south of France, New Zealand and Sydney, before sadly passing in 2001 on a quiet farmlet in Canterbury, New Zealand. He is the author of Top of the Bill (a history of the London Palladium) and Royal Performance (a history of royal theatregoing), and editor of The Sunburnt Country (a study of aspects of Australia by seventeen leading Australian writers).

ABOUT THE BOOK
This book, printed in a limited edition of 1,250 copies, was designed by Jürgen Lawrenz of Sydney. The decoration on the cover and title page derives from fleurons made in the 18th century and brought into use again by that inveterate restorer of faded beauties, Stanley Morison. The cover is Samarkand; and the paper used for the text is 90 gsm Munken from the Munkedal Mill of Sweden. Tinted vanilla, this fine paper shows the sepia printing to best advantage. Gold foil stamping, binding and printing by Ligare Pty Ltd of Sydney.

NOTE
Due to being printed in 1993, the books may show some signs of aging.