Was your ancestor a player?
Did someone in your family tread the boards, either professionally or as an amateur? Theatre historian Leann Richards looks at the history of the art since European settlement, and where the best collections of records can be found
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esearching ancestors who performed in the theatre can be a frustrating experience. It is either a feast or a famine. Material from 1788 to 1860 is difficult to find. However, from the 1870s, the amount of material is almost overwhelming. Most research relies on newspapers, theatrical programs and ephemera. Due to this, successful discoveries require a great deal of perseverance and a large dose of luck. When the English colony of Australia was established in the late 18th century, opinions towards theatre were imported with it. These attitudes were moralistic. Theatre was seen as a corrupting activity followed by indecent people who were one step away from criminality. This view did not bode well for the development of an Australian theatre tradition when the settlement consisted mainly of convicted criminals. Performances in the early years were limited and strictly monitored. Fortunately the names of some early performers of the 18th century were printed in
newspapers and playbills. The Mitchell Library in Sydney (see www.sl.nsw.gov.au) has a series of these playbills from 1800, which detail the names of Australia’s pioneering actors.
The debut of theatre It wasn’t until the 1830s that theatre in Australia really began. It was subject to harsh licencing laws and harsher moral judgments. These resulted in theatre activity being sporadic and subject to closure due to immoral themes or lack of funds. Two of the earliest theatres were the Theatre Royals in Sydney and Hobart. The Mitchell Library in Sydney has some records of the former, while the State Library of Tasmania (see www.linc.tas.gov.au) has a collection of posters of the latter. These records detail some of the names of our earliest acting heroes. Theatre in Victoria didn’t really begin until the 1840s. The arrival of George Coppin heralded the era of the actor/manager that reached a peak two
Inside History | Jan-Feb 2012 |
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