Address | 2 Marian Street Killara Australia |
---|---|
Coordinates | 33°46′00″S151°09′41″E / 33.766757°S 151.161326°E |
Public transit | Killara railway station |
Owner | Ku-ring-gai Municipal Council |
Type | Theatre |
Capacity | 300 |
Construction | |
Built | 1906 |
Opened | 1966 |
Architect | Oliver Harley |
Builder | Mr Gazzard |
Website | |
Marian Street Theatre for Young People |
The Marian Street Theatre is located in the Sydney suburb of Killara. The theatre previously played a significant role in the cultural life of the North Shore and is widely remembered by former patrons and theatre lovers across Sydney. [1]
Built in 1906 as a Soldiers Memorial Hall, it was used as a community hall up until 1966. Hosting dances, parties, lectures, drama performances, Polio vaccines and school breakups. In 1948, the actress Vivien Leigh opened a flower show at Marian Street. In 1966 the building was opened as The Community Theatre, Killara, by the English born actor, Alexander Archdale. [2] [3]
Seating was increased from 311 to 400 in 1980. [4] In the early 1980s, theatre programs credited the "theatre cat" known as "spunky". [5] [6] Often beset by financial difficulties, the theatre has now evolved into the Marian Street Children's Theatre and Drama School (MSTYP - Marian Street Theatre for Young People). For safety reasons, the theatre temporarily closed in 2013 and work is scheduled to begin in mid-2021 on the renovations. Marian Street Theatre for Young People continues to operate externally from the Marian Street Theatre building, while the site is closed.
Artistic directors included Peter Collingwood, Aarne Neeme, John Krummel, Noel Ferrier and Alastair Duncan. Prominent actors who performed at Marian Street include Leonard Teale, Stuart Wagstaff, Ruth Cracknell, Helen Morse, Ron Haddrick, Noel Hodda, Joan Bruce, Anne Haddy and Nancye Hayes. [7] [8]
Richard Roxburgh is an Australian actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of a number of accolades across film, television, and theatre, including several AFI and AACTA Awards, Logie Awards, and Helpmann Awards.
Killara is a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Killara is located 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Ku-ring-gai Council. East Killara is a separate suburb and West Killara is a locality within Killara.
Abbotsleigh is an independent Anglican early learning, primary, secondary day, and boarding school for girls located in Wahroonga, on the Upper North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The school currently educates approximately 1,400 students from Transition (pre-school) to Year 12, including 170 boarders from Year 7 to 12.
Killara High School is a coeducational public secondary school, located on Koola Avenue in East Killara, Sydney. Established in 1968, Killara High School is one of the highest performing comprehensive non-selective public schools in the state. The success of the school in the Higher School Certificate (HSC) and its reputation as a school with an extensive program of curriculum enrichment make the school highly desirable. Activities such as music, art, dance, drama, debating, sport and strong participation in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme are included in the co-curricular program. Enrolment rose 21% from 2002 to a population of 1400 students in 2009. It now has 1580 students (2016). Currently, accepted catchment areas include Roseville, Lindfield, East Lindfield, West Killara, Killara, East Killara, West Gordon and East Gordon.
Helen Elizabeth Archdale was an English-Australian sportswoman and educator. She was the inaugural Test captain of the England women's cricket team in 1934. A qualified barrister and Women's Royal Naval Service veteran, she moved to Australia in 1946 to become principal of The Women's College at the University of Sydney. She later served as headmistress of Abbotsleigh, a private girls' school in Sydney, and was an inaugural member of the Australian Council for the Arts.
Noel Hodda is an Australian actor, writer, dramaturge, director and teacher.
Heather Lee Mitchell is an Australian actress, who has appeared in Australian stage, television, and film productions. She is best known for her leading role in the 1990s television show Spellbinder. More recently, she appeared as Anita in the series Love Me, and as Margaux in the Paramount Plus series Fake. She has a role in the upcoming miniseries The Narrow Road to the Deep North.
Theatre of Australia refers to the history of the live performing arts in Australia: performed, written or produced by Australians.
Michael Howell Blakemore AO OBE was an Australian actor, writer and theatre director who also made a handful of films. A former Associate Director of the National Theatre, in 2000 he became the only individual to win Tony Awards for Best Director of a Play and Musical in the same year for Copenhagen and Kiss Me, Kate.
The National Black Theatre (NBT) was a theatre company run by a small group of Aboriginal people based in the Sydney suburb of Redfern which operated from 1972 to 1977. The original concept for the theatre grew out of political struggles, especially the land rights demonstrations, which at the time were being organised by the Black Moratorium Committee. The centre held workshops in modern dancing, tribal dancing, writing for theatre, karate and photography, and provided a venue for new Aboriginal drama. It also ran drama classes under Brian Syron, whose students included Jack Davis, Freddie Reynolds, Maureen Watson, Lillian Crombie, and Hyllus Maris.
Noel Ferrier AM was an Australian television personality, comedian, stage and film actor, raconteur, and theatrical producer. He had an extensive theatre career which spanned over fifty years.
The Australian Institute of Music – Dramatic Arts (AIMDA), formerly known as the Australian Academy of Dramatic Art (AADA), is a drama school in Sydney. It offers a degree in acting and theatre-making as a department of the Australian Institute of Music (AIM).
St James' Hall, sometimes written as St James's Hall, was a building which stood at 171 Phillip Street, Sydney, near King Street. It figured prominently in the history of small theatre in Australia. Owned by, and on the same parcel of land as St James' Church of England, it was close to tram and bus services and the St James railway station.
Narrabeen Sports High School is a government-funded co-educational comprehensive and specialist secondary day school, with speciality in sports, located on Namona Street and Pittwater Road, in North Narrabeen, in the northern beaches region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
The Mercury Theatre was an Australian theatre company that was co-founded by Peter Finch and existed from 1946 to 1954. It was named after the American Orson Welles' theatre company of the same name.
Alexander Mervyn Archdale was a British actor, manager and theatre producer. He had a very long career in both the theatre and in film, stretching from the 1930s to the 1980s. He spent the latter part of his life and career in Australia.
Ronald "Trader" Faulkner was an Australian actor, raconteur and flamenco dancer, best known for his work in the UK on the stage and television.
May Hollinworth was an Australian theatre producer and director, former radio actress, and founder of the Metropolitan Theatre in Sydney. The daughter of a theatrical producer, she was introduced to the theatre at a young age. She graduated with a science degree, and worked in the chemistry department of the University of Sydney, before being appointed as director of the Sydney University Dramatic Society, a post she held from 1929 until 1943
The London Theatre Studio was a drama and design school in Upper Street, Islington, London, from 1936 to 1939. It was directed by the French actor and director Michel Saint-Denis.
Brendan Higgins is an Australian actor. For his performance in Hunger was nominated for the 1987 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Telefeature (1986–1989). Other screen roles include the film Mary. and a lead role in the ABC TV series Relative Merits.