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41-658: In July 1914 a two-storey building opposite the Middle Park railway station was advertised for sale by auction "suitable for picture theatre or other form of public entertainment". The building, known as the Middle Park Hall , was part of the insolvent estate of one Edward Hocken Watts, and had two shops on the Armstrong Street frontage. The hall continued to be used for a variety of functions — dances, public meetings, and perhaps occasional film showings. It

82-658: A Children's Theatre in association with the Little Theatre. Mitchell appeared in many radio plays — She was a keen golfer, loved walking with her dog "Robert the Bruce", attended ballet, and had a large library. She was a close associate of Betty Pounder. On 24 November 1926 Mitchell announced her engagement to Laurie Abrahams of "Newington," Burke Rd, East Malvern. No record of a subsequent marriage has been found. On 22 August 1941 she married Pilot-Officer John Robert Dunlop Henderson (8 October 1915 – 11 April 1943). He

123-617: A first step towards her ultimate role as director. She played Beverley Nichols ' Avalanche in November and John Hastings Turner 's The Spot on the Sun ( Ada Reeve 's farewell production) in March 1935 with Dot Rankin, who was to accompany Reeve to London, By November 1935 she was president of the Little Theatre social committee. Valentine Katayev 's Squaring the Circle was performed at

164-612: A play which revived Sir Dallas Brooks ' interest in little theatre In April 1951 she directed Peter Ustinov 's Blow Your Own Trumpet In May she directed R. F. Delderfield 's comedy All Over the Town , and in August Guy Bolton 's Larger Than Life , based on Somerset Maugham 's novel, Theatre . In 1946 Mitchell produced Richard of Bordeaux for the girls of Toorak College , Frankston. In 1947 she produced Dorothy L. Sayers ' passion play The Just Vengeance at

205-697: A play, followed on 6 September. John Patrick 's The Willow and I ran from Boxing Day 1947 and in May 1948 Constance Cox 's Vanity Fair , an adaptation of Thackeray's novel, which failed to please one critic. Another Australian premiere was her production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons in August. Noël Coward's Hay Fever followed in October, and was well received. June Brunel (Mrs Helmut Newton) and Diana Bell were especially praised. In 1948 Melbourne Little Theatre, under director Brett Randall, jointly with

246-659: A professional theatre with a topical revue , Outrageous Fortune , produced by Barbara Angell and Jon Finlayson , with Judy Jack , David Sale and Rhonda Finlayson . The Studio Theatre Repertory Company adopted the Arrow Theatre as their home, presenting Sartre 's Vicious Circle in July 1963, and Two for the Seesaw in January 1964. Lorna Forbes (Australian) Lorna Forbes (1 February 1890 – 26 May 1976)

287-678: A younger brother. In 1910, she married a musician named Frederick Charles Chute Chapman and they had a son. In 1916 she joined the British actor Allan Wilkie who led George Marlow 's new Grand Shakespearean Company. They first performed The Merchant of Venice in Sydney. She continued with Wilkie in 1920 when he formed the Allan Wilkie Shakespearean Company of thirty players who for eight years toured Australia giving around 14000 performances. His leading lady

328-471: Is almost certain this building, at No.3 Armstrong Street, is the "Middle Park picture theatre" refurbished by Sydney Blacker Turnbull (a professional engineer) and his volunteers. The Melbourne Repertory Club, under the direction of Sydney Turnbull and Lorna Forbes , repurposed the old picture theatre at 1–3 Armstrong Street using volunteer labour. In March 1945 they opened the hall as a little theatre , naming it Melbourne Repertory Theatre . The freehold of

369-804: The Central Hall, Little Collins Street in September. In June 1935 she was a "dashing Romeo" in a pioneering all-female professional production of Romeo and Juliet under Miss Dunn at the Garrick Theatre . They staged The Merchant of Venice a year later, and Othello (as Iago) in August 1939. She was a member of a five-woman cast playing Ernest Vajda 's Fata Morgana at the Carrick in October 1936. In November she appeared in Maxim Gorki 's Lower Depths for Dolia Ribush , fresh from

410-647: The Melbourne Little Theatre , founded by Brett Randall and Hal Percy in 1931, which had just moved into the old St Chad's church in Martin Street, South Yarra . Her first part was the "Italian Lady" in From Morn to Midnight , an adaptation of Georg Kaiser 's Von morgens bis mitternachts . Inquest followed, then in June she conducted a reading of The First Mrs Fraser , arguably

451-599: The Melbourne Town Hall for the Methodist Young People's Department in conjunction with the denomination's annual conference. The cast of 40 was bolstered by several professionals, who played anonymously. She produced, for the same organisation, Laurence Housman 's, Francis of Assisi (with Brian James in the name part, and music composed by Dorian Le Gallienne ) on 1–2 March 1948. She produced Leonid Andreyev 's He Who Gets Slapped for

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492-936: The Moscow Arts Theatre , at the Garrick. In January 1937 she played The Children's Hour , and in February The Vinegar Tree ; in June she was acclaimed as Rosalind in As You Like It with Gertrude Johnson 's newly formed National Theatre Movement (NTM), all at the Princess . In February 1940 she was in the cast of Giving the Bride Away at the Princess, starring Charles Norman , written by Gerald Kirby and " Margot Neville ", an Australasian premiere. This show's season

533-532: The little theatre movement in Melbourne . Mitchell was the eldest daughter of (James) Herbert Mitchell (1886–1971) and Annie Maud May Mitchell, née Hallihan (c. 1888 – 23 May 1914), who had a home, "Aurilla", Princes St, Prahran, Victoria , later of Burnley, Victoria . As a child, Mitchell studied elocution with Miss Louie Dunn, who encouraged her to enter the South Street and other contests in

574-636: The Christmas season she starred in, and co-produced with Randall, Emlyn Williams ' The Wind of Heaven . Her next production, in June 1945, was George Bernard Shaw's The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles , an "intellectual fantasy", again totally successful. An Australian play with a Chinese theme, Enduring as the Camphor Tree by Russell John Oakes followed in October, hailed by "Parable" as "Australia's first great play". So popular

615-529: The College of Adult Education (CAE) founded Everyman Theatres Pty Ltd, a professional company to bring theatre to Victorian country centres. Their first production was Benn Levy 's Springtime for Henry . Mitchell appears not to have any substantial involvement with this company. She did however, in May 1951, direct their production of Miles Malleson 's version of Molière 's comedy, The Miser its first Australian production. In July 1949 Mitchell produced

656-548: The Garrick rather than the club's theatre, as was Ernest Vadja's Fata Morgana , but a report of their playing Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour may have been mistaken. She played the Honorable Reader in S. I. Hsiung 's Lady Precious Stream at the Garrick in July 1936. On Caulfield Cup night 1938 the company staged James Bridie 's comedy Storm in a Teacup as a testimonial benefit for their director Brett Randall . A season of five plays by five producers

697-627: The Honor of Larratania , Edith Susan Boyd 's Three Roses , followed by 'Op o' Me Thumb by Frederick Fenn and Richard Pryce and The Man in the Bowler Hat by A. A. Milne . In April 1941 they played another John Hastings Turner 's comedy The Scarlet Lady , while Mitchell produced Sidney Rusk's one-act two-hander Fog as a companion-piece. In February 1943 she played in Robert Morley 's comedy Short Story , produced by Randall at

738-450: The Little Theatre, then served as his stage manager for Rodney Ackland 's Dance With No Music , Henry Allan having been posted overseas with the RAAF . She produced the Little Theatre's first Christmas comedy, Frank Harvey 's Saloon Bar , Randall playing a key character, but was back in the director's chair for Lionel Hall 's She Passed Through Lorraine in March 1943. In April she had

779-899: The Melbourne University Dramatic Club's 1948 Commencement Play at the Union Theatre, In March 1949 she was guest adjudicator for the Tasmanian Drama Festival, where nine groups, from across the state, competed for the Catherine Duncan Cup. She was on the examinations board of the Melbourne University Rehabilitation drama course and a member of the Australian Dramatic Art and Education Guild council. In April 1951 she

820-486: The building was owned by a St Kilda woman who, as a condition of a generous lease, stipulated that it could only be used for "live drama of the spoken word". The Club's first production in their new home was Sheridan 's School For Scandal , directed by the former Shakespeatean actor Lorna Forbes. Others to use the stage included the Australian Repertory Players , whose first production there

861-658: The chief part in Samson Raphaelson 's comedy, Skylark In June she produced Marguerite Steen 's French for Love , starring Eva Schwarcz, later involved in a very public custody case. In December she produced Reginald Berkeley 's comedy The World's End , set in a Dartmoor hotel. In April 1944 she returned to acting, in a highly praised The Day Is Gone by W. Chetham-Strode , then produced Drawing Room by Thomas Browne. In June 1944 Randall and Mitchell were among those non-professional actors castigated by Actors' Equity in continuing to work while their strike

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902-795: The early 1920s. By 1928 she was a member of the Theatre Association, appearing in Godfrey Cass 's production of Ma Pettengill , an Australian premiere. In 1929 she won the Governor's gold medal first prize at the South Street Society 's recitation competitions. By 1930 she was a committee member of the Proscenium Club, whose rooms were in Nicholas Building , Swanston Street. In 1931 she

943-648: The lead. Apart from Brunel, critic Frank Doherty found little to praise in either production. No more was heard from the Arrow Associate Company. The next productions at the Arrow Theatre were N. C. Hunter 's Waters of the Moon , directed by Irene Mitchell , followed by several performances by the Melbourne Little Theatre — Elizabeth Addyman 's The Secret Tent , an Australian premiere. In 1956 John Edmund and Letty Craydon leased

984-583: The much larger Princess Theatre . Without Thring, management of the theatre fell to the Arrow Associate Company, led by Harry Gordon and Frank Gatliff. Their first production was Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street , a fruity melodrama dating from 1842, produced by Moira Carleton and starring Carleton and Douglas Kelly, supported by Gatlff and Noel Ferrier. Their next production was titled Playbill : two pieces by Terence Rattigan : Harlequinade and The Browning Version with June Brunel in

1025-630: The onset of the Great Depression and the emergence of the " talkies ". She and Alexander Marsh went to Tasmania with their own troupe where they performed farces and melodramas. In 1945 theatre enthusiast Sydney Turnbull leased the Arrow Theatre and installed over two hundred tip-up seats using volunteer labour. She and Turnbull created what was called the Melbourne Repertory Theatre. The first production

1066-496: The opening of Ring Round the Moon , at which Lady Brooks was a prominent guest. Thring closed his theatre in September 1953, citing "niggardly" support for Australian artists from Melbourne theatregoers. Critic Frank Doherty concurred. The last productions under Thring's direction were The Critic and Oedipus Rex . Among the 18 productions that took place in 18 months, one was notable as wholly Australian — The Square Ring by Ralph W. Peterson , which production went on to

1107-722: The stage show An Aboriginal Moomba: Out of the Dark with an all-Aboriginal cast. also touring regional cities. She has been credited with giving the name to the annual Melbourne festival . She was declared "Queen of Moomba" by Jacob Chirnside, an elder of the Elondalli nation from Queensland, and with Harold Blair , one of the stars of the show. In November 1951 she produced Christopher Fry 's A Phoenix Too Frequent and Oscar Wilde 's Salome , with June Brunel and Frank Thring as Herod at Thring's Arrow Theatre (previously Melbourne Repertory Theatre). In 1939 she established

1148-522: The theatre from Thring. It was redecorated in 1957 and became known as the "New Arrow", and home of Peter Watkins' Theaterfreunde, a Jewish theatre group founded in 1951, and of Young Theatre, founded 1955, whose membership was mostly children, and whose president was W. V. Aughterson, assistant professor of education at Melbourne University. It was redecorated again in 1960 and saw its first play by an English-speaking Jewish company Intent to Murder by Leslie Sands . In June 1962 Arrow Theatre reopened as

1189-717: The verse play Happy as Larry by Donagh Macdonagh , followed in October by William Douglas Home 's Now Barabbas , another Australian premiere . Her New Year's production for 1950 was a "hiss the villain" melodrama — Henning Nelms 's Only an Orphan Girl , after which she left for London on a working holiday aboard the Ranchi . She had been sponsored by the British Council to attend an actors' and producers' course, "London and Stratford-on-Avon". On her return in December 1950 she produced Douglas Stewart 's Shipwreck ,

1230-591: Was Euripides ' Alcestis , with an all-female cast directed by Maie Hoban in November 1945. In October 1945 the Repertory Club played Ray Lawler 's Hal's Belles , with Frank Thring , in a professional debut, playing a modern-day reincarnation of Henry VIII . The Club and the Melbourne Repertory Theatre folded in December 1949, following the prolonged illness of its founder, Sydney Turnbull. His wife, Lorna Turnbull (the Lorna Forbes mentioned above

1271-598: Was School for Scandal which Forbes directed and starred in. In 1961 the new musical play, The Sound of Music , was staged in Melbourne, and Forbes took a minor role. Forbes died a widow in East Camberwell in 1976. Her only son had joined the RAF , and he died in 1942. Irene Mitchell Irene Gladys Mitchell MBE (24 November 1905 – 1995) was an Australian actress and theatre director, prominent in

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1312-644: Was a different person) kept the movement going with considerable assistance from volunteers, but their final production was J. B. Priestley 's I Have Been Here Before in December 1949. In 1951 Frank Thring took over the lease, and had the building refurbished and redecorated by Frances Mary Burke , a well-known interior designer. In November 1951 Thring played Herod in Irene Mitchell 's production of Oscar Wilde 's Salome . He would play that part again, his London debut in 1954. His mother, Olive Thring, attended every first night until 18 February 1953,

1353-604: Was an Australian actress. She toured Australia with Allan Wilkie 's company playing Shakespearean roles. In 1945 she co-founded the Melbourne Repertory Theatre . Forbes was born in North Melbourne in 1890. Her mother was Ada Emily Windson (born Lawrence) and her father was Wilson Duff-Forbes. She was a fourth generation actress. Both of her parents were actors born in Australia, and she had

1394-583: Was appointed State adjudicator at the Commonwealth Jubilee Drama Competition, a festival organised at the instigation of Sydney's British Drama League. The contest took her to Yallourn , Sale , and eight other Victorian country groups and ten from Melbourne, in order to select two semi-finalists. Meanwhile, she also adjudicated at a drama contest staged by the Country Women's Association . In 1951 she directed

1435-472: Was extended due to popular demand, and Just Married , for which Mitchell had also been engaged, had to be postponed. Stepping Out followed, then the company toured the other capital cities with Giving the Bride Away , Just Married , Charley's Aunt and Stepping Out . In April 1942 she again played Rosalind in the NTM production of As You Like It . Alongside her other commitments, in 1934 Mitchell joined

1476-472: Was his wife Miss (Frediswyde) Hunter-Watts. Forbes was able to play roles including Cleopatra, but she was generally overshadowed by the company's leading lady. Wilkie maintained a varied Shakespearean programme and no play was performed on consecutive nights. She formed the Lorna Forbes School of Drama in Melbourne in 1924, and six years later Wilkie disbanded his troupe in October 1930 at

1517-654: Was in the cast of Ashfield Players' The Best People by David Gray and Avery Hopwood , and Bulldog Drummond for the Old Wesley Collegians' Dramatic Society and in 1932 had the name part in the Proscenium players' The Last of Mrs. Cheyney . In 1933 she was in Gregan McMahon 's production of Shaw 's The Apple Cart . Other plays with the Proscenium Club were Cecil Finn Tucker 's The Optimist in June 1934, Noël Coward 's Hay Fever at

1558-459: Was not surprised at a workmanlike presentation nor for John Van Druten 's Old Acquaintance , produced by Randall and directed by Mitchell in December. In February she produced A. J. Cronin 's three-act Jupiter Laughs , starring Wilma Harrison, a professional actor looking gain experience. Her next production was Clare Boothe 's The Women , a play with twelve scenes and cast of thirty-nine women — again, "Parable" notes, without blemish. For

1599-477: Was on. In July she played in Randall's production of Lillian Hellman 's The Little Foxes , which ran for three weeks; players included Sydney Conabere . Then in August they presented a second play by Australian Alan Burke , Woman Bites Dog , again produced by Randall with stage direction by Mitchell. She produced J. B. Priestley 's Eden End in October, and "Gregory Parable", critic for The Advocate ,

1640-651: Was staged in November 1938 as "A Play Bill". Mitchell's contribution was The Last Mrs Fraser , by Virginia Saffold Booth. The understudy had to take her part in Lavender Ladies in April 1939, but she was back on stage in Passers By that December. On 3 August 1940 director Randall revived an earlier hit, The Rescue Party , by Phyllis Morris . A season of five short plays began on 14 December 1940: Lithuania by Rupert Brooke , F. Keith Manzie 's For

1681-609: Was the production that the usual three-week season was extended by two weeks, and a charity performance for the Brotherhood of St Laurence . Sumner Locke Elliott 's The Invisible Circus followed on Boxing Day, 26 December 1946. Jan de Hartog 's Skipper Next to God , with an all-male cast, followed in April, then on 28 June the Little Theatre's 120th production, Karel Čapek 's The Macropulos Secret opened. Exercise Bowler , written by an anonymous cooperative "T. Atkinson", and depicting two groups fighting over production of

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