Australian culture and communities have long been enriched by theatre companies built on the passion, time, and talents of unpaid theatre-makers. Informed by interviews with over 70 Victorian theatre companies, Dr Cheryl Threadgold OAM examines this rich, dynamic, and sometimes underappreciated creative world of amateur theatre – a vital, longstanding training ground for singers, actors, orators, and every kind of entertainer.
Cheryl traces amateur theatre from the opening of the first theatre in the Victorian Colony in 1842 through to the modern era. Her research is underpinned by a respectful acknowledgment of the thousands of years of First Peoples’ cultural performance, which precedes European colonisation.
Her book, ‘In the Name of Theatre: The History, Culture and Voices of Amateur Theatre in Victoria’, based on her PhD thesis through Swinburne University of Technology, won the 2020 Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) Collaborative Victorian Community History Award.
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Image: Liardet, Wilbrahem F E 1875, ‘The Eagle Tavern and Theatre Royal’, Accession no: H2002.127. Pictures collection, State Library, Victoria.
