It has been more than half a century since Margaret Oaten stepped inside Newcastle’s Victoria Theatre in Perkins Street.
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The former usher and box office manger isn’t quite sure what to expect when she returns as a VIP guest of the theatre’s owners in a couple of weeks, but she is excited nonetheless.
“There were lots of tears when it closed in 1966. I’m looking forward to returning mainly because it is going to be used for live theatre again. Hopefully it will be a pleasant surprise,” she said.
Ms Oaten began working at the theatre as a 22-year-old in 1961.
She remembers a thriving live theatre scene in the middle of a bustling city centre.
“It was always busy; people came from far and wide,” she said.
“There was DJs and Winns. There used to be a laneway down the side of the Vic to Winns. That’s where we would have lunch.”
After leaving the Victoria theatre Ms Oaten later went on to work at the Civic Theatre where she stayed until her retirement in 1998.
Ms Oaten will be among a group of former Victoria Theatre employees and performers who will attend the unveiling of a virtual reality project on November 13, which has recreated the theatre as it was 1891
The University of Newcastle’s IT Innovation Team has spent the past five months poring over newspaper articles and historical artefacts to help piece together the late nineteenth century building.
The finished product includes detailed renderings of the building’s exterior and internal spaces including vestibules, stair cases, stalls area, dress circle, upper circle, private boxes, orchestra pit, and stage area.
“We’ve had to work backwards from the 1921 floor plans, and essentially unwind the 30 years of changes that we know about to get back to 1891,” project member Gaute Rasmussen said.
“We’ve got a lot of clues from newspaper articles describing the theatre in the early days, as well as references from other buildings which we know were built in a similar style.”
Century Venues, which acquired the building in 2015, is in the process of restoring the historic gem.
Recent engineering, pest, acoustic and building-compliance reports show the dilapidated theatre is structurally sound.
Century Venues executive director Greg Khoury said the theatre’s proximity to the East End redevelopment made the restoration project more attractive.
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