Athenaeum Theatre

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Athenaeum Theatre 188 Collins Street, Melbourne, VIC - Theatre & Cinema

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In October 1896, the first movie was shown in Australia in the Athenaeum Hall. The Hall became a regular venue for screening films and the premiere of The Story of the Kelly Gang by the Tait brothers, the world’s first dramatic feature film, was at the Athenaeum in 1906.

The theatre in its present form, a proscenium arch theatre with 880 seats on three levels, was created in 1924, designed by Henry Eli White. It was the first venue in Australia to screen talking pictures, presenting The Jazz Singer in February 1929. From the 1920s to the early 1970s, the theatre was mainly used as a cinema. The Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) leased the theatre from 1976 to 1985 when the lease was taken over by various entrepreneurs - Contributed by Greg Lynch -