History

Vale Frank Van Straten

Theatre Historian Frank Van Straten has died at the age of 87 leaving behind a legacy of spectacular coffee table books, program notes, CD covers and as the pioneer of Australia’s largest collection of performance memorabilia.

Fellow historian Peter Pinne says “I have lost a friend. More importantly the arts industry has lost one of its most important archivists.”

“He will long be remembered for contributions to the theatre in Australia.”

Scouting for Shows

Australian producers have long trod the paths to the West End and Broadway to import plays and musicals for the local market. Impresario J.C.

Hidden World of Musical Society Memories

In the performing arts archives of the Seaborn, Broughton & Walford Foundation, an autograph book provides a glimpse into amateur musicals in the first half of the 20th Century, reports archivist Susan Mills.

Australian Performing Arts Collection Treasures Revealed

Historically significant performing arts costumes and objects, ranging from Kylie Minogue’s gold lame hotpants to Dame Nellie Melba’s La Traviata bodice, will be made available to the public to view in 2023 through a $2.2 million project to upgrade and expand Arts Centre Melbourne’s Australian Performing Arts Collection (APAC). 

Image above: Schematic design drawing by Williams Ross Architects. 

The Make-up Box

Coral Drouyn remembers an icon of show business, and a part of her own family’s history.

Gilbert and Sullivan in Australia

Unpublished

Gilbert and Sullivan theatre programmes track the rise of J.C.

Theatre Treasure

A diary belonging to Australia’s most influential theatre entrepreneur has been recognised by a United Nations organisation for its heritage significance.

In February, the 1909 diary of J.C. Williamson was admitted to the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register alongside past treasures such as Captain Cook’s Endeavour journal and Indigenous art.

Reunion Day – a Play Revived

The cast at the reading of Reunion Day

A play by Peter Yeldham. Playreding at AFTRS Theatre. Entertainment Quarter, Sydney. 26th June 2022

Carol Wimmer reports on the history of this Australian play, banned in the 1960s, and its recent re-discovery