By Parker McKenzie
It was a commonly held belief that The 1812 Theatre was founded in 1945. An important historical project has set the record straight, however, discovering the original theatre was founded seven years earlier than previously thought.
Behind the Curtain: The Story of The 1812 Theatre is a deep-dive into the history of the Upper Ferntree Gully theatre, from its origins seven years earlier than first thought, a fire that forced the company to move and the people — both on and off the stage — who have made it what it is today.
1812 Theatre committee member Chris Procter said the inspiration for the book came from his mother, who along with his father was involved in the theatre, asking if anybody had written the history of the place down.
“Obviously there’s a lot about the plays in there and we use the plays as a device for talking about what goes on behind the curtain,” he said.
“We went to the Knox Historical Society because this is a historical piece of information.”
Author of Behind the Curtain and Knox Historical Society member Ray Peace said there was a lot of information to be collected from various sources, not all of which still lived in Victoria.
“The theatre was very cooperative, Chris said to me at the start, make a list of everything you need,” Mr Peace said.
“What you want, you get and if you need to go somewhere you fly and I did. That was brilliant and it worked well.”
Most of the theatre’s records, like the list of stage plays hanging in its hallways, only date back to 1945, leading many people —including Mr Procter — to believe that to be the date of the creation of the theatre.
“We rented all the premises up until we came here, after a big fire at a theatre that was at the old shire hall. That building still exists today, but the theatre moved in the aftermath,” he said.
“A lot of history got burned down that night, not many photographs survived, only the one’s John and Pauline had in their house or were in newspapers at the time.”
John and Pauline Lowe had been members of the theatre since the 1950s and proved to be invaluable sources of information for Mr Peace as he researched.
The Lowe’s were also members when on the morning of 2 June 1972, in the middle of the theatre season, the Lysterfield Progress Hall — home to the theatre at the time — caught fire.
The theatre takes its name from the year of the Battle of Waterloo because its previous home was located on the corner of Wellington and Napoleon Roads, named after the Duke of Wellington and Napoleon Bonaparte, who led the English and French armies respectively during the battle.
Behind the Curtain: The Story of The 1812 Theatre is now available for purchase from The 1812 Theatre.
