Venue: Theatre Royal
Address: 29 Campbell Street, Hobart, 7000
Town: Hobart, AU
Capacity: 698

Theatre Royal is an historic performing arts venue in central Hobart, Tasmania. It is the oldest continually operating theatre in Australia; Noël Coward once called it "a dream of a theatre" and Laurence Olivier launched a national appeal for its reconstruction in the 1940s. In 1834, Peter Degraves, founder of Cascade Brewery, and a group of Hobart citizens purchased dock-side land for the purpose of building a public theatre. Architect John Lee Archer created a provincial Georgian design and the first stone was laid that year. The location was not ideal for future gentry audiences; it was in a rough and foul-smelling area near an abattoir, brothels, factories, and pubs. The architect accommodated the local population by creating an entrance through a neighbouring pub directly into the theatre's pit seating, colloquially known as "the Shades." When a national economic downturn caused most of the original investors to pull out, Degraves stepped in and took complete ownership. The building was completed, using convict labor in part, by the end of 1836. It staged its inaugural performances in March 1837; Thomas Morton's Speed the Plough and the W. Oxberry's The Spoiled Child. In June, the theatre was formally named the "Royal Victoria Theatre" in honor of the coronation of the Queen of the United Kingdom but it became known simply as "The Theatre Royal." During the period of Anne Clarke's tenure as manager (1840-1847), the theatre became renowned as a pioneer theatre institution in Australia for its high quality and Clarke was credited by the press with introducing 'a better class of performer and a superior style of management' and for giving theatre, which was then regarded as somewhat dubious, a better name. Due to the neighbourhood, early performances tended towards cockfights, boxing, and religious meetings. The patrons of the Shades included visiting seamen and workers from the convict-laden Wapping area surrounding the theatre. They became known for their drunke