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Matters of State

Ian Smith
To a certain generation of
Melburnians the State - despite the
later name change, will always be the
State – the exotic building that defined
a drab section of the city and gave a
purpose for going there. Its over-the-
top external form and equally
flamboyant interior, with no concern
for consistency between the two, is
‘high cholesterol’ architecture that
seems heroic in an age that gets most
of its buildings weight-watcher lite.
The concept was born at a time when
the power of film to attract huge The fire curtain ‘Butterfly lady’ seems a cross between an Egyptian bas-relief and
audiences seemed unstoppable. There Clara Bow. Image: Kevin Adams
was no way to know that the dream
was a bigger illusion than the product. designs was ‘realistic enchantment’. (4) the site as the building. Flinders Street
The building was a target for critics As a re-creation of a walled garden in is a mean street, on the basis of
of the ‘less is more’ creed, but the public Renaissance Italy the interior was footpath width. It is impossible to
saw films and an over-the-top masterly. Many visits were needed imagine an Islamic inspired, north
environment as a perfect match. Even before the eye could take in the detail African exterior on a prime site in
so, proof that enthusiasm for the State involved in the nooks and to appreciate Collins street, but the Regent gets an
has been muted for a long time, came the vision of the architects and the skill immediate boost to image because the
with the decisions to rejuvenate the of the artisans in setting down that footpath there is 60 percent wider.
Regent and leave Forum 1 and Forum detail. But the fact was, seen once or Ideally, the entrance to the State would
2 to get by as best they could. If time many times, it was a grand garden. No have been on a set-back. As well as a
has in some way proved that the Regent other interpretation was possible. style statement, this could have
is the better theatre, it is instructive to The emphasis on copies of the minimized truck damage to what was
explore why this might be so. great statues of antiquity and once an elaborate verandah.
reproduction furniture was also Secondly, the site is too small. An
Matters of Taste
criticized. If copying is a problem, absurd statement? Not when you
The State and the Regent were
then Italy and Greece, the inspirations consider that the State was the largest
alternative visions for the superior
for it, is full of reproductions, the theatre in Australia and sought to be
twenties theatre. Because there were so
originals safe in museums. The Great trend-setter in comfort and delights.
few ‘atmospherics’ in Australia and
Depression cut short many plans for Yet it occupies half a city block, while
world wide, novelty made them easy to
The Grand Tour and the war years the Regent with a seating capacity
criticise or treat with condescension.
added to the isolation of Australia. only five percent smaller, sits on a full
The brashness of the State made it
How many children formed dreams of block. The extra space enabled the
easy to be critical or condescending.
travel by first contemplating the designers of the Regent to provide
Reporting the opening the Herald
wonders of the State and imbibed an deep foyers and effective crush space.
described the exterior as ‘bizarre.’ (1)
informal History of Art without Both auditoriums are about the same
and Table Talk damned with faint
realizing it? Today the State; length and width. The State is a little
praise. ‘As a matter of actual theatre
tomorrow Rome, Florence and Athens, wider, but not as much as might be
design, there is much to be said for the
seems a positive for culture. expected. To get the seat record the
State. (2) The same magazine could not
If the State was indelibly a garden, State sacrificed foyer space and gave
disguise their relief when the Regent
the Regent was less literal. Everyone the balcony an extreme slope. A
opened, ‘….there is nothing to distract
has notions of a palace and here was positive benefit of this is that Forum
the attention from what after all the
the egalitarian version. The plaster 2, a delightful space, has excellent
majority of people go to the pictures to
tracery of the Regent was as detailed sight lines.
see – the pictures. The interior
as at Flinders Street, but what it
decoration (avoids) that garish note The Burden of Dreams
represented wasn’t quite so easy to
which is liable to appall those of more Wonderful stories about the State,
categorise. The same person can get a
conservative taste.’ (3) real or imagined, tell of the
different interpretation on each visit,
The idea that an atmospheric commitment to a dream and how bold
akin to viewing one of those 3-D (5)
theatre is inferior to an imaginative ideas sparked others. One story says
patterns that only become visible when
conventional one is probably the same that Union’s engineer A. E.
not focusing on it. The supreme
aesthetic that says a painting is Emmelhainz planned to match the
example is the Capitol, but that is
superior to a photograph. In this view trajectories of his stars and planets
another story.
accurate representation is a lesser skill. with their counterparts in the night sky.
Theories aside, the State did have
Eberson said that purpose of his When the cost of wiring ‘moveable
tangible problems, as much to do with stars’ was seen to be out of the
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