Friday Night at the Theatre Royale
Image source Taj Kempe
Artist: Marina Lommerse, Michael Phillips
Asset Type: Mural
Year of Work: 2020
Location: 64 Forrest Street
Provenance: Shire of Collie
Description: “This ode to the much-loved Theatre Royal alludes to leisure pastimes in the past and future of Collie. The mural is located on the site of the former theatre site which opened in 1928 and was demolished in the 1970s.
From Collie residents, we found a well of fond memories about the grandeur of the space and the shenanigans that took place.
‘If those seats could talk,’ one resident commented in passing while we were painting. ‘On Friday nights we would go to the pictures in the Theatre Royal. With the curved staircase and red velvet curtains, it was a grand place.’
The depiction of the audience, dressed in costumes of the era, was prompted by the quote, ‘We always sat downstairs and considered the upstairs gallery somewhere for only the hob-knobs – whoever they might have been in Collie.’
On the screen, a travelogue of a bushwalker enjoying the Collie great outdoors is showing. Dorothy, a character from The Wizard of Oz, a movie of the era, is the bushwalker. The movie marquee references a long-standing Collie shoe store, Well’s Boot Palace, where Dorothy purchased her ruby bushwalking shoes. Dorothy no longer lives in Kansas – she’s moved to Collie Trail Town for the great outdoors life!
Visit the mural, bring your vintage hats and pose as one of the hob-knobs in the upstairs gallery. But don’t throw any jaffa balls or Mr. King, the renowned, long-standing usher will be on your case!” Marina Lommerse and Michael Phillips
The mural was researched, conceived, developed and then painted through a collaborative process facilitated by Michael and Marina.
Local stories and archival research: Yvonne Hammond, Gloria Mathews, Margaret Bates, Tom Reardon, Tania Roberts, Alison Melvin, Nola Green
Mural Studio artist team: Camilo Idarraga, Jack Holmes, Joy Marshall, Robyn Duncan
Collie community collaborator: Thamarat Phoka