Theatrical traditions: stage and screen in Bendigo

W Vincent Kelly
Australia
active 1904 – 1958
Miss Dolly Castles as
Phyllis in Iolanthe
c1906
postcard
Talma & Co.
Melbourne & Sydney
c1895 - c1915
Dolly Castles
c1906
postcard, paint, glitter
Amy Castles
c1906
postcard
Collection Dennis
O’Hoy
the Royal Princess on 23 September
1921.
Well-known local soprano Amy Castles
also performed at the Royal Princess in
the early 20th century. Over the years,
much talent has hailed from Bendigo,
yet few have lived on in collective
memory like Amy Castles. 19 One of
her earliest public performances was in
a Bendigo production of Gilbert and
Sullivan’s Patience in 1898. And at the
age of 19 she performed at Queen’s
Hall, London. 20
At the turn of the century, a career
in the theatre had become more
acceptable for women. Once
associated with loose morals (think
Lola Montez), thanks to pioneering
female performers, such as Dame
Nellie Melba, exploiting musical talent
became a legitimate way of gaining
financial independence and celebrity. 21
Throughout her career, Amy Castles
was often compared to Melba, but
despite being enthusiastically received
by audiences in Australia and overseas,
and energetically promoted by the
press, she never quite achieved the
same success and stopped performing
publically in the 1930s. 22
Deemed to be unsafe by the Board
of Health, in January 1904 the Royal
Princess closed to undergo renovations.
It re-opened in April the following
year and continued with a full and
varied program including motion
pictures until its eventual closure and
demolition in 1963.
THE MASONIC THEATRE
Opening just two months after the
Royal Princess in 1874 and situated just
up the hill on the other side of View
Street, was the Masonic Hall (now
the Capital Theatre). The Golden
and Corinthian Masonic Lodges
had purchased the land at an 1866
Government auction. The foundation
stone was laid on 24 June 1873 and
the striking building completed the
following year. Designed by Vahland 23
and Getzschmann, it was touted at the
time, as ‘... the finest Masonic Hall in
Australia … [with] the advantage of
having been erected on the very best
site of the city, and … seen from every
point for a long distance’. 24
Public access was restricted to the
downstairs ‘Tavern’ (later known
as the ‘Masonic Shades Hotel’) 25
and an upstairs room was used as a
ballroom and concert hall. An array
of entertainment was provided in the
upstairs space, including opera, plays,
lectures, recitals and balls. Later with
the advent of the ‘picture show’, silent
movies were also screened here.
In 1890, a time many saw as the
golden years of live theatre in
Bendigo, the Masons undertook
9