Ensemble Theatre at Kirribilli turns 60: ‘It was such an adventure’ says actor Lorraine Bayly
KIRRIBILLI’S Ensemble - the little theatre built with the sweat of some of Australia’s biggest stars - celebrates a magnifcent 60 years.
Mosman
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SIXTY years is a long time in show business. The Ensemble theatre is celebrating the landmark anniversary this week, marking the day of the first show back in 1958. It all started out in the basic surrounds of the Cammeray Children’s Library with a selection of Tennessee Williams’s works. The stars of the show were a group of theatricals who had come together under the direction of American actor and teacher Hayes Gordon. They didn’t have a name, they didn’t have a building but what they had was heaps of determination.
“We wanted to work in theatre so we built one,” the grand dame of Australian theatre Lorraine Bayly said.
Bayly was one of the founding members of the Ensemble and she remembers the first production well. The Williams plays were chosen for the simple reason that they wanted something with enough roles for everybody in the acting class. She was in two of the plays: 27 Wagons Full of Cotton and Hello from Bertha.
The next production was a play called The Man held at a hall in Miller St. So many people were turning up they were told it was a fire hazard and this forced the company to look for somewhere else. It proved to be the best move the Ensemble ever made.
“Hayes Gordon found this spot here, this old boatshed,” Bayly said of the theatre’s iconic harbourfront home at Kirribilli. “There was a big hole in the middle and he brought us all down and everybody was saying ‘What? You can’t be serious. We will all fall in the harbour’.
“Anyway, we didn’t. With some encouragement and help and lots and lots of sleepless nights we all just banded together and did what needed to be done. And we’ve stayed here ever since.”
When Bayly said she built the theatre she wasn’t exaggerating. Second hand bricks were sourced as they couldn’t afford new ones and she set herself the tough task of cleaning them. A builder came in and taught her how to lay the bricks properly.
She built the first box office and also helped to build the stage. She remembers mixing up the bitumen and sand and rolling it.
“When anybody comes and does a show here I think they are walking on my stage,” she said.
“It was the most wonderful experience that anyone but particularly an actor could have.
“It was such an adventure.”
Bayly and the theatre have grown up together. As her TV career bloomed she always maintained a link with the Ensemble and returned to the stage many times over the decades.
She feels most proud about the amount of work the theatre has given actors and backstage crew over the years. The list of big names who have appeared is impressive.
Russell Crowe, Jacki Weaver, John Bell, Rachel Ward, Helen Morse, Max Gillies and Kate Raison are just a few of the famous faces who have worked there.
“I feel incredibly privileged to be part of this place as long as I have,” Raison said.
She started working at the Ensemble in the mid 1980s and her first show was called The Marginal Farm.
All her experience prior to that had been in student productions and she had never earned money doing theatre. She has never forgotten the feeling of stepping out on stage for the first time.
“I was terrified but the empowerment it gave me as a performer was extraordinary. Nothing like I had ever experienced before,” she said.
“When you do something that terrifies you but at the same time you are desperate to do and you have an audience that responds to you immediately, it feels like a blanket wrapping around you.
“I just thought ‘I’m in the right place’.”
Raison believes the Ensemble has travelled through the ages with virtually no pretension. It’s an open environment where creativity is not only expected but encouraged.
Artistic director Mark Kilmurry is on the same page. To him it’s always been a theatre that tells stories people want to come and see. And behind all the hard work is a big warm heart that welcomes everyone through the doors.
“It’s got this great friendly atmosphere,” Kilmurry said.
To celebrate the anniversary he is having a lunch with the surviving founding members and there will also be a celebration for the team.
“We will have a bit of a cake and a bit of a gathering ourselves and a toast to Hayes who brought the theatre to us really all those years ago.
“Long may it continue.”
They celebrated their 60th anniversary on Friday.
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