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Queen's Theatre, Gilles Arcade, Currie Street
Title : Queen's Theatre, Gilles Arcade, Currie Street Queen's Theatre, Gilles Arcade, Currie Street
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Place Of Creation : [Adelaide]
Publisher : Queen's Theatre
Date of creation : [1841]
Additional Creator : Lazar, John, 1801-1879
Format : Theatre program
Dimensions : 550 x 210 mm
Catalogue record
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Description :

The gentry and public of Adelaide and its vicinity are most respectfully informed that the above elegant theatre being now completed will open for the season on Monday, January 11, 1841....the performance will commence with ... Othello the Moor of Venice...


Originally pink, this silk theatre program for Shakespeare's Othello commemorates the first performance at the Queen's Theatre, the oldest Australian mainland theatre still in existence. Emanuel Solomon named the theatre in honour of the young Queen Victoria in 1841.

The theatre was leased to John Lazar, who with his talented daughter Rachel, turned on a lengthy show on opening night. Shakespeare's tragedy Othello was followed by the 'laughable farce' Our Mary Anne, interspersed with dances by Rachel Lazar. The performance finished at 1.00 the following morning.

The old theatre in Gilles Lane continues to operate today as a venue for events such as the annual Feast Festival.

Subjects
Related names :

Lazar, John, 1801-1879

Queen's Theatre (Adelaide, S. Aust.)

Period : 1836-1851
Further reading :

'$200, 000 to help partly restore oldest theatre,' Advertiser 14 March 1996, p. 5

Fischer, G.L. 'The professional theatre in Adelaide,' Australian letters vol. 2, no. 4 (March 1960), p. 92, 95.

Munz, Hirsch. Jews in South Australia, 1836-1936: an historical outline [Adelaide, Thornquest Press, 1936.]

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