Universal Theatre

Last updated

The Universal Theatre was a theatre at 13 Victoria Street, Fitzroy in Melbourne, Australia which operated from the late 1970s to the late 1990s. [1]

It was established as part of the Universal Workshop in the mid-1970s by colourful barrister John Weller. The Universal Workshop was a former factory containing the theatre, a cinema and studios. [2]

The Universal Theatre opened as a professional venue in May 1979 with Robyn Archer's cabaret A Star is Torn, which played for five weeks. [3] The theatre gained an early reputation for lively alternative performance including theatre, visual theatre, music and comedy. [4]

During the 1980s, the 320-seat theatre and small cinema were converted into a 450-seat main theatre and the 150-seat Universal 2. Long-running productions included Wogs Out of Work and Torch Song Trilogy . [5]

The building was redeveloped into apartments in the mid-2000s.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horror film</span> Film genre

Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opera Australia</span> Principal opera company in Australia

Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent at the Arts Centre Melbourne, where it is accompanied by Orchestra Victoria. In 2004, the company gave 226 performances in its subscription seasons in Sydney and Melbourne, attended by more than 294,000 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">EMI</span> British music recording and publishing company

EMI Group Limited was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 2012, it was the fourth largest business group and record label conglomerate in the music industry, and was one of the "Big Four" record companies. Its labels included EMI Records, Parlophone, Virgin Records, and Capitol Records, which are now owned by other companies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southend-on-Sea</span> City and Borough in Essex, England

Southend-on-Sea, commonly referred to as Southend, is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, 40 miles (64 km) east of central London. It is bordered to the north by Rochford and to the west by Castle Point. It is home to the longest pleasure pier in the world, Southend Pier. London Southend Airport is located north of the city centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malayalam cinema</span> Malayalam-language filmmaking industry of India

Malayalam cinema, is an Indian film industry of Malayalam-language motion pictures. It is based in Kerala, India. The films produced in Malayalam cinema are known for their cinematography and story-driven plots. In 1982, Elippathayam won the Sutherland Trophy at the London Film Festival, and Most Original Imaginative Film of 1982 by the British Film Institute. Rajiv Anchal's Guru (1997), Salim Ahamed's Adaminte Makan Abu (2011) and Lijo Jose Pellissery's Jallikkattu (2019) were Malayalam films sent by India as its official entries for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Academy Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newtown, New South Wales</span> Suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Newtown, a suburb of Sydney's inner west, is located approximately four kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, straddling the local government areas of the City of Sydney and Inner West Council in the state of New South Wales, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chrysalis Records</span> British record label

Chrysalis Records is a British record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ellis-Wright Agency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arts Centre Melbourne</span> Performing arts centre in Victoria, Australia

Arts Centre Melbourne, originally known as the Victorian Arts Centre and briefly called the Arts Centre, is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, located in the central Melbourne suburb of Southbank in Victoria, Australia.

Pseudo Echo are an Australian new wave band that were formed in 1982 by the founding mainstay Brian Canham on vocals, guitar and keyboards. Other original members were Pierre Gigliotti on bass keyboards and bass guitar, and Tony Lugton on keyboards. Later members included Anthony Argiro on drums, James Leigh on keyboards and his brother, Vince Leigh on drums. In the 1980s, Pseudo Echo had Australian top 20 hits with "Listening", "A Beat for You", "Don't Go", "Love an Adventure", "Living in a Dream" and their cover of "Funky Town", which peaked at No. 1 in 1986. In 1987, it reached No. 1 in Canada, No. 1 in New Zealand, No. 6 in the United States, and No. 8 in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regent Theatre (Sydney)</span> Former cinema and entertainment venue in Sydney, Australia

The Regent Theatre was a heritage-listed cinema and entertainment venue in George Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, built in 1928 as a flagship for Hoyts, and was demolished in 1988 by property developer Leon Fink.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roses Theatre</span> Arts centre in Tewkesbury, England

The Roses Theatre is an arts centre located in the centre of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England. Its main auditorium seats 375 and accommodates 35mm film / digital projection as well as live performance. It offers patrons music, theatre, film and dance. The seating layout is based on "the Continental system" avoiding the loss of seats on the axis of the theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Multiplex (movie theater)</span> Movie theater complex

A multiplex is a movie theater complex with multiple screens within a single complex. They are usually housed in a specially designed building. Sometimes, an existing venue undergoes a renovation where the existing auditoriums are split into smaller ones, or more auditoriums are added in an extension or expansion of the building. The largest of these complexes can sit thousands of people and are sometimes referred to as a megaplex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regent Theatre, Melbourne</span> Theatre and cinema in Melbourne, Victoria

The Regent Theatre is an historic former picture palace built in 1929, closed in 1970, and restored and reopened in 1996 as a live theatre in Collins Street, in the city of Melbourne, Australia. It is one of six city theatres collectively known as Melbourne's East End Theatre District. Designed by Charles Ballantyne in an ornately palatial style, with a Gothic style lobby, Louis XVI style auditorium, and the Spanish Baroque style Plaza Ballroom in the basement, it is listed by the National Trust of Australia and is on the Victorian Heritage Register.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canberra Theatre Centre</span> Performing arts venue in Canberra

Canberra Theatre Centre (CTC), also known as the Canberra Theatre, is the Australian Capital Territory’s central performing arts venue and Australia’s first performing arts centre, the first Australian Government initiated performing arts centre to be completed. It opened on 24 June 1965 with a gala performance by the Australian Ballet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aberystwyth Arts Centre</span>

Aberystwyth Arts Centre is an arts centre in Wales, located on Aberystwyth University's Penglais campus. One of the largest in Wales, it comprises a theatre, concert hall, studio and cinema, as well as four gallery spaces and cafés, bars, and shops.

Roadshow Entertainment is an Australian home video, production and distribution company that is a division of Village Roadshow that distributes films in Australia and New Zealand. Their first release was Mad Max. Roadshow Entertainment is an independent video distributor in Australia and New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palace Theatre, Melbourne</span>

The Palace Theatre was an entertainment venue located in Melbourne, Australia. First built for live theatre in 1912, it was also used as a cinema and for live music. It was demolished except for its facade in 2020 after much community opposition, to be replaced by a hotel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luna Leederville</span> Cinema in Perth, Western Australia

Luna Leederville is a cinema complex located at the corner of Oxford and Vincent Streets in Leederville, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia.

Total House is a heritage-listed Brutalist commercial building at 170-190 Russell Street, Melbourne, Australia. It consists of retail premises at street level, a seven-level car park, four storeys of offices atop the car park, and a basement theatre. It was listed on the Victorian Heritage Register on 29 May 2014 on the basis that it was "a landmark of post-World War II modernist design and...one of the earliest and best expressions of Brutalist architecture in Victoria".

References

  1. "A grab-bag of music, theatre". The Age . 17 January 1980. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  2. "RAISING THE ROOF WITH SHINGLES". Australian Financial Review. 24 August 1990. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  3. Perkin, Corrie (14 August 1980). "Torn from home". The Age . Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  4. Radic, Leonard (22 July 1983). "Echoes within 'Echoes' at the Universal". The Age .
  5. Lopez, Elisabeth (22 December 1989). "People are flocking back to the city theatre fringe". The Age . Retrieved 22 November 2020.