Adelaide Repertory on stage in 1914 from Elder Conservatorium's Literary Theatre class by Bryceson Treharne
Judith Anderson and Keith Michell were among actors who went onto international stage, film and television careers after their start with Adelaide Repertory Theatre.
Adelaide Repertory Theatre emerged in 1914 – six years after students of piano teacher/compose Bryceson Treharne’s special class at Elder Conservatorium presented their first plays as the Adelaide Literary Theatre in the conservatorium’s north hall.
Treharne’s students had met to read and discuss plays, especially new European modern drama. The students made their debut with W.B. Yeats’ Land of Heart’s Desire and George Bernard Shaw’s The Man of Destiny. Interest and curiosity from most of the audience inspired more productions. Experienced outsiders assisted the students. Curtains were added and candles and acetylene lights, with reflectors, made passable footlights.
More Adelaide amateur players joined the group and more than 500 subscribers each paid five shillings per year for two tickets to each of the year’s productions. A committee was formed. During 1909-10, performances moved between Walkerville and Unley town halls. All seats were one price and it was first in, best dressed, with no reserved seats. Latecomers were left in the street.
After Treharne returned to Europe, the company continued to prosper and, in 1914, changed to Adelaide Repertory Theatre, although first board chairman Ronald Finlayson didn’t like the change: “It seems a pity to exchange an expressive title for one which, without explanation, is obscure”.
A new play was presented every six weeks but World War I and a drought hit subscribers and players. “Love had refused to allow it to die”, Rep secretary Muriel Craigie said. In 1917, an orchestra play between acts as The Rep struggled to keep support. In 1919, Finlayson retired, due to ill health, and was replaced by South Australian-born Sydney Talbot Smith, with a master of arts and bachelor of laws from Cambridge University.
In 1920, the Spanish flu closed all theatres in Adelaide and, by the next year, The Rep came closest to its final curtain. It survived, moving to Unley City Hall in 1922, with Pygmalion an overwhelming success. Still anxious to move to a city central hall. The Rep transferred to Victoria Hall in Gawler Place.
In 1924, the chance arose buy The King’s Theatre in King William Street, Adelaide city, but, despite vigorous fundraising, The Rep had to wait another 40 for its own home. In the 1920s, The Rep strengthened as leader of South Australia’s literary drama scene.
In 1928, The Rep celebrated its 21st year, and was acknowledged by The Advertiser in Adelaide as “the oldest of such institutions in the commonwealth.” G. Crichton wrote of The Rep’s production that year of Chekov’s The Seagul: “Considering the utter misery of conditions under which the players laboured, they acquitted themselves commendably. The stage was pitifully small. It was without depth. The lighting fixtures were execrable. In an adjoining building, a froth-blowers’ chorus was in the process of execution. Rain was falling on the roof with the pent up fervour of a month’s denial.”
In 1930, Adelaide Repertory moved into the new and comfortable Australia Hall in Angas Street, Adelaide city. With the country in the Depression, The Rep presented cheerful plays and responded to the advent of “talkie” films by saying “no mechanical drama can give the degree of pleasure and artistic satisfaction provided by a good play, well acted and carefully produced.” During this time, short plays were presented as a curtain raiser and playwriting competitions were popular.
The 1934 production of Goethe’s Faust had a cast of 60 and 19 sets. The director, Theo Shall, a stage and screen star of Hollywood and European fame, turned on stylish gothic staging, costuming and fine performances. The centenary of South Australia was celebrated in 1936 with a play by Max Afford, Colonel Light the Founder, a romantic tale about William Light.
