A day out in Melbourne fit for a queen

Wednesday 26 October 2011, 8:43 AM
By The Team | Posted in Events and People and Places

Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II is spending the day in Melbourne and she’s cramming quite a lot into the royal itinerary:

Wednesday 26 October 2011

Morning: Fly to Melbourne, attend opening of the Royal Children’s Hospital.

• Afternoon: Visit the Ian Potter Centre, walk through Fed Square, tram down St Kilda Road, attend a reception at Government House, fly to Perth.

But you don’t have to be a queen to have a royal day out in Melbourne. Whether you’re a republican or a monarchist there’s plenty of fun to be had with a regal tour through our numerous ‘royal’ sites:

A visit to the Royal Botanic Gardens is a great way to start your royal day out. Established in 1846 and known in its early years as the Melbourne Botanic Garden, it was not until 1958 that Queen Elizabeth II approved the addition of  ‘Royal’ to the title.

If you’re more interested in open space than botany, Royal Park in Parkville is the largest of Melbourne’s inner city parks and includes the Royal Park Public Golf Course.

In 1861 a small portion of Royal Park was donated by the City of Melbourne for the Royal Melbourne Zoological Gardens. Modelled on the London Zoo in Regent’s Park, the zoo was opened in 1862 and is Australia’s oldest zoo. Before this, animals were housed at the Botanical Gardens in Melbourne.

Treat yourself like royalty with a trip to the oldest surviving shopping arcade in Australia, Melbourne’s Royal Arcade. Built in 1869 the high ceiling brings to mind London’s famous Burlington Arcade in Mayfair – the sort of place the Queen might shop if she needed some retail therapy.

Finally, you can end your royal tour with a trip to the Royal Exhibition Building in the Carlton Gardens. Despite its grand appearance and stately age, it was not until the building’s centenary in 1980 that it gained its ‘Royal’ prefix, making it the youngest royal in town.

A CADELerbration in Fed Square

Friday 12 August 2011, 4:42 PM
By The Team | Posted in Events and People and Places

Victorians flocked to Federation Square to ‘Yell for Cadel’ at the Tour de France winner’s welcome home parade.

The champion took his time as he made his way along St Kilda Road, shaking hands with ecstatic fans on both sides of the street.

Veteran radio presented and Coodabeen Champion Ian Cover presided cover the ceremonies, which included appearance by Lord Mayor Robert Doyle, Premier Ted Baillieu and Prime Minister Julia Gillard from Canberra (via the big screen).

The Premier, sporting a festive yellow shirt and tie, invited the assembled crown to “put the yell in yellow” and make the day a “Cadelabration” to remember, before presenting Cadel with a special award for his contribution to the state of Victoria.

The crowd, which spilled out over Swanston Street, all the way over to Flinders Street Station, waved their yellow flag enthusiastically as they cheered for Cadel.

Fans who didn’t make it to Federation Square can take comfort in the fact that Cadel was hopeful this wouldn’t be a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” noting that the next Tour was just 11 months away.

To Q or not to A

Wednesday 20 July 2011, 2:49 PM
By The Team | Posted in Events and People

…that is the question for Garry McDonald, appearing in the Melbourne Theatre Company’s production of Hamlet.

by Sonia Harford

You perform in many Australian cities. How does it feel to perform in Melbourne?

Excellent. I especially love opening nights in Melbourne. The MTC opening nights are not fully invited, so at least 50% of the audience have invested in the night being successful and enjoyable. At the STC and Ensemble theatres in Sydney the opening night audiences are fully invited and, hence, jaded and blasé.

Do you think most of our theatre companies strike the right balance between new, contemporary and classical works?

Yes. I think some of the arts journos in Melbourne are a bit hard on the MTC. It’s a large beast and you have to please a very large subscriber base and balance the books. At the moment the MTC has two new Australian works playing in different theatres (until 23 July): The Joy of Text and The Water Carriers, and Hamlet is replacing The Gift, a new play by Joanna Murray-Smith, in the Sumner Theatre.

What was the first Shakespeare play that you read?

I read Julius Caesar when I was 14, for the Intermediate certificate, an educational stepping stone that we had during the Punic Wars.

And what was the first Shakespeare play that you saw on stage? What do you remember of it?

It was Henry V, performed in a large tent in Rushcutters Bay in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. It starred new sensations John Bell and Anna Volska and was a matinee. I can’t remember much about it, but I do remember that it  was hot in that tent. Anna also.

And who was the first character you played in a production of one of his works?

I played Adam in Jim Sharman’s production of As You Like It for the Old Tote in Sydney. I was 21, Adam was 80 and, depressingly, I pulled it off.

Shakespeare’s plays still pack a dramatic and emotional punch. How do they do this for you?

I recently saw an HD screening of Hamlet at the Nova and it was very moving. Shakespeare’s understanding of the human condition is so beautifully stated.

Sneaky, nosy and long-winded, your character Polonius brings a little humour into the rage, guilt and murder of Hamlet’s story, allowing the audience a laugh or two – does that make it more enjoyable for you?

Polonius says, ‘If circumstance lead me, I will find where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed within the centre’. Garry says, ‘If circumstance lead me I will find where a laugh is hid etc’. It’s pathetic, but I love laughs. As one of the actors in Ernst Lubitsch’s 1942 film To be or not to be says to his Hamlet director: ‘It’ll get a good laugh. A laugh is not to be sneezed at.’

Do you feel the weight of history on your shoulders, in terms of past productions? How important is it to make the character your own in 2011?

I think people remember and compare Hamlets more than they do Poloniuses (Polonii?). Barry Otto was excellent recently. You just do what you hope will help sustain and tell the story. Cognitive behaviour therapy hopefully takes care of the pressure of 400 years of comparisons!

Are you a traditionalist, or do you welcome contemporary treatments of these iconic plays?

In the end, whether it’s a modern setting or not, the playing of it has to be contemporary. The audience has to recognise the behaviour of the characters.

Do you have an opening night routine, or – like football players on game day – a lucky pair of socks?

My opening night routine used to be Koko Black chocolates for the cast and crew – but Hamlet is a huge production and I’m as tight as, so I might have to come up with something new and less delicious.

The MTC’s Hamlet is playing at the Sumner Theatre until 31 August.