Garrick Theatre (Sydney)

The Garrick Theatre was a theatre and music hall at 79–83 Castlereagh Street in Sydney from 1890 to 1929. The theatre was renamed the Tivoli Theatre in 1893 and operated as a popular vaudeville venue. It was destroyed by fire in 1899 and rebuilt. The theatre closed in 1929.

Garrick Theatre, later Tivoli Theatre
Address79–83 Castlereagh Street
Sydney
Australia
Coordinates33.87015°S 151.20945°E / -33.87015; 151.20945
Construction
Opened1890
Closed1929
Rebuilt1900
Years active1890–1929

Location

The location of the Garrick Theatre on Castlereagh Street in Sydney had a history of use for entertainment venues including a circus (Olympic Circus 1851–1852), a theatre (including the Royal Marionette Theatre of Australia, and the Royal Albert Theatre, 1852–1854), a dance hall (Scandinavian Hall)[1] a variety house (Victoria Hall 1880s) and finally as the Academy of Music.[2] In 1887 the Colonial Architect forced the closure of the venue[2][3] and three years later in 1890 it was demolished to make way for the Garrick Theatre.[2]

History

Garrick Theatre
Garrick Theatre on Castlereagh Street looking north, Sydney, New South Wales, ca. 1890

The Garrick Theatre was designed by the architect E. Weitzel,[4][5] built by Messrs. Brown and Tapson[5] and the principal decorators were Messrs. H. H. Groth, Jun., and Co. and the ceiling murals were painted by Lorenzini.[5] The building was in the Federation Free Classical architectural style.[6]

The auditorium of the theatre was 45 ft x 55 ft and could seat approximately 1,000 people in the stalls, orchestra chairs, dress circle, family circle, and private boxes.[5]

The Garrick Theatre opened on 22 December 1890.[7]

Tivoli Theatre

In February 1893 Harry Rickards, the vaudeville showman, took over the lease of the Garrick Theatre renaming it the Tivoli Theatre.[7][8][9][10] He made some changes to the building, raising the orchestra pit and installing another sliding roof and opened on 18 February 1893.[2]

The building was destroyed by fire in 1899.[11][12] It was rebuilt after the fire with a new building behind the remaining facade of the former theatre[8] and reopened on 12 April 1900.[13] The new building was larger and could seat 1,200 people.[8] A collection of the Tivoli Theatre programs from 1893 to 1912 is held in the collections of the State Library of New South Wales.[14]

Following Rickards death the Tivoli Theatre continued to operate until J. C. Williamson's closed it down in 1929.[15][16]

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See also

References
  1. "REMINISCENCES OF THE STAGE". The Referee (1583). 2 May 1917. p. 14. Retrieved 3 February 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. "OLYMPIC CIRCUS – ROYAL MARIONETTE THEATRE OF AUSTRALIA (aka MARIONETTE THEATRE OF AUSTRALIA) – SCANDANAVIAN HALL – VICTORIA HALL – ACADEMY OF MUSIC – GARRICK THEATRE – TIVOLI THEATRE (Sydney)". Sydney Theatre History. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
  3. "ACADEMY OF MUSIC". The Sydney Morning Herald (15, 483). 9 November 1887. p. 4. Retrieved 3 February 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. Thorne, Ross; University of Sydney. Architectural Research Foundation, Theatre buildings in Australia to 1905: from the time of the First Settlement to arrival of cinema, ISBN 978-0-9500853-0-2
  5. "GARRICK". The Sydney Morning Herald (16, 456). 20 December 1890. p. 10. Retrieved 2 February 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. "Sydney Architecture Images – Demolished- TIVOLI THEATRE [1]". www.sydneyarchitecture.com. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
  7. "Theatres / Venues: New South Wales". Australian Variety Theatre Archive. 9 April 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
  8. "Harry Rickards's Tivoli". dictionaryofsydney.org. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
  9. Tivoli souvenir : comprising: The history of the Tivoli; The life story of Harry Rickards, and biographical sketches of artists who had appeared at the Tivoli, Tivoli Theatre?, 1913, retrieved 2 February 2017
  10. Anderson, Gae (2009), Tivoli king : life of Harry Rickards vaudeville showman, Allambie Press, ISBN 978-0-646-50980-8
  11. "THE TIVOLI THEATRE FIRE". Goulburn Evening Penny Post. 14 September 1899. p. 4. Retrieved 2 February 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. "THE TIVOLI THEATRE FIRE". The Sydney Morning Herald (19, 189). 13 September 1899. p. 5. Retrieved 2 February 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. "THE OLD GARRICK". The Sydney Morning Herald (31, 639). 27 May 1939. p. 13. Retrieved 2 February 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. Tivoli Theatre (Sydney, N.S.W.) (1893), [Tivoli programmes], retrieved 2 February 2017
  15. Parsons, Philip; Chance, Victoria (1997), Concise companion to theatre in Australia (Revised and abridged from "Companion to theatre in Australia" ed.), Currency Press, ISBN 978-0-86819-499-8
  16. Irvin, Eric (1985), Dictionary of the Australian theatre 1788-1914, Hale & Iremonger, ISBN 978-0-86806-127-6
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