The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Looking back over 120 years of Perth Theatre.
From boxing kangaroos to a raw teenage, turban-wearing Ewan McGregor – Perth Theatre marks its 120th anniversary. Gayle Ritchie gets a front row seat
Perth Theatre celebrates its 120th anniversary on Sunday but remains rooted in the community and continues to bring people together – even in the midst of the Covid crisis.
Described as a “theatrical gem” when it opened on September 6 1900, the theatre’s hidden doorway led to an elaborate 800-seater auditorium which, designed by William Alexander, astounded Victorian audiences.
With its ornate gold-leaf gilding, rich red walls and plush velvet seats, it was a luxurious venue.
The theatre’s first production – the opera Maritana – went down a storm with local press describing the opening evening as a “brilliant gathering”.
A report stated: “If the interior was beautiful by day, it was absolutely gorgeous by night with the full glare of the gas setting off every hole and corner, every arch featuring to the best possible advantage.
“A theatrical gem of its kind. Much praise to William Alexander of Dundee.”
At one point, the theatre hosted not just famous actors but animals such as elephants, polar bears, lions and tigers.
Digging back into the archives from March 1934, there is a preview of a show titled the Great Continental ZooCircus.
Underneath a picture of a woman with a bear, a caption proclaims: “Miss Evelyn, the only lady bear trainer in the world, and her group of polar bears, will be one of the attractions at Perth Theatre next week, when the Great Continental Zoo-Circus should provide an unusual type of entertainment. “Tigers, lions, trained horses and ponies, a boxing kangaroo, elephants, dancers, wire walkers, trapeze artists and clowns also appear in what should be an attractive programme”.
Throughout its history, a string of star acts have performed at Perth Theatre, including Walter Carr, Alec Guinness, Bessie Love, Una McLean, Donald Sutherland, Donald Pleasance, Kevin Whateley, Rikki Fulton, Roy Kinnear, Karen Dunbar and Liza Goddard.
Crieff’s Ewan McGregor, who was an ambassador of the Transform Perth Theatre project in 2016, also began his acting career at the theatre.
McGregor first took to the stage in Perth aged 16 in 1987, before going on to roles in Trainspotting, Star Wars and Moulin Rouge.
The actor, who had been dogged by lingering bouts of depression, said his life “changed the first day he walked into Perth Theatre” and credits his time there, first as a stagehand, with putting him on the road to stardom.
“It was the best thing that happened to me. It set me on my way,” he said.
“The week I decided to leave school the theatre needed extras for A Passage to India, so I was in. I donned a turban... and shouted: ‘Asiskerjay! Asiskerjay!’ I can’t remember what it means but it involved running around the audience.
“My life went into widescreen. I had a ball and the depression lifted. I stayed after that production and became a member of the stage crew. Occasionally I’d get a few lines to say and that was when I started learning stuff.”
Other actors to have tread Perth’s boards include Jason Connery, Andy Gray, Denis Lawson, Mark Cox, Richard Johnson, John Gregson, Russell Hunter, Stephanie Bidmead, Gordon Jackson, Don Gallagher, Philip Lowrie and Colin McCredie.
Much has changed since the foundation stone of Perth Theatre and Opera House, as it was originally known, was laid along with a time capsule on October 6 1899.
It has been altered cosmetically, with the demolition of a rather grim 1980s extension beginning in 2016, and a huge restoration project to transform the Edwardian auditorium to its former glory being completed with a grand reopening in December 2017.
Artistic director Lu Kemp reckons September 2020 is a “strange time” to be marking an 120th anniversary.
“Part of what is interesting about cultural institutions is that they inevitably reflect the time we live in.
“The Covid-19 crisis has been very hard on the theatre sector as a whole, and on our team.
“This moment, though, does force some necessary reflection and, we hope, change – it gives us the opportunity to look really closely at how we serve the community, and how we can do that better.
“Perth Theatre is rooted in the community. Its history is what makes it so unique – it’s been around longer than many working theatres.
“But theatre isn’t the building, it’s the community that inhabit it and ours is particular to Perthshire – to our landscape and to the different communities that live and work here.”