Nimrod Theatre records

fonds

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Nonmusical Sound Recordings, Musical Sound Recordings, Moving Images

152420

The Nimrod Theatre Company, a professional theatre group founded in 1970 by actor and director John Bell and entrepreneur Ken Horler, is seen as one of the key companies in establishing and promoting the emerging Australian theatre of the early 1970s. The company was dedicated to Australian work and to finding new and Australian ways of presenting the classics in an, on occasion, aggressively nationalistic style.

The company initially established its theatre in Nimrod Street, Kings Cross in inner Sydney in a small, austere building, more than one hundred years old, which had previously been a stables, a taxi garage and a gymnasium. They organised the renovation of the site through volunteer labour, donations and considerable support from Ken Horler.

After three years occupancy, the Nimrod Company moved to the theatre now called the Belvoir Street Theatre. The Nimrod Theatre was renamed The Loft and was, for a short period, rented to alternative theatre groups. In late 1975 writer Bob Ellis then bought the building, and renamed it the Stables Theatre. When Ellis put the site up for sale in 1985, demolition was threatened but the building was finally purchased by a philanthropic trust, the Seaborn, Broughton and Walford Foundation. Under the new ownership, the theatre was modified and The Griffin Theatre Company, which had been established at the building in 1980, remained the occupier of the theatre.

The Nimrod Theatre Company felt they needed a larger site than the Nimrod Street building and in the early 1970s accepted an offer from a developer for a rent free fifteen year lease on a two storey, former food factory in Surry Hills. Architect Vivian Fraser created an award winning design for its conversion to the Nimrod Theatre, which opened in June 1974. There is a main theatre upstairs, with a layout that is reminiscent of the original Nimrod theatre. For a decade this building stood alone on semi-cleared land. The developer's plans for an office block on the site did not eventuate and in 1982 the company finally purchased the building and one metre of land around it for one dollar. In 1984, however, the Nimrod Company faced economic pressures and division and tensions generated by its perceived move from being an alternative to a mainstream company. The Company was facing insolvency and it was decided to sell the building. The Nimrod Theatre Company moved to the Seymour Centre but this change did not resolve the difficulties and the company folded in 1987.

After considerable activity around the future of the theatre building, in June 1984 the site was bought by a syndicate of supporters calling themselves the Belvoir Street Theatre Ltd. The venue is now operated as the Belvoir Street Theatre.

References:

P. Parsons (ed.) with Victoria Chance, Companion to Theatre in Australia (Sydney, Currency Press in association with Cambridge University Press, 1995)

SERIES 01:
Nimrod Theatre papers, ca 1970-ca 1989
MLMSS 9252

SERIES 02 PART 01:
Nimrod Theatre pictorial material. Photographs
PXA 896 ; PXD 844 ; ON 236 ; R 912

SERIES 02 PART 02:
Nimrod Theatre : pictorial material. Plans of stage settings
PXD 1110

SERIES 03:
Nimrod Theatre colour transparencies of poster boards
FM2 / 2006

SERIES 04:
Nimrod Theatre The Venetian Twins [posters for the] Nimrod Theatre, 1982 / Martin Sharp
PXD 770

SERIES 05:
Nimrod Theatre sound recordings including show tapes and music, radio advertising, interviews and reviews, ca 1970-ca 1989
MLOH 743

Copyright status:: In copyright - This collection has multiple rights owners
Research & study copies allowed: Applies only to material in which the former Nimrod Theatre (1970-1988) owned copyright
Rights and Restrictions Information:: No publication without prior written approval of the State Library of New South Wales
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy former Nimrod Theatre (1970-1988)