World Travel Guide

City Guide  - Melbourne  - Culture
Culture

For much of this century, Melbourne - and Australia - struggled to find its own identity in the fields of art, music, theatre and film. Now, as Australia's cultural capital, Melbourne is confidently showing off all Australian forms of art and the Victorian Arts Centre complex (tel: (03) 92 81 80 00) is leading the way. The centre is home to Opera Australia, the Melbourne Theatre Company, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Ballet and there are many top-class performances throughout the year. The Sidney Myer Music Bowl (tel: (03) 92 81 83 60) hosts open-air performances throughout the year especially during the many arts festivals held in the city. The Australian film industry has also received international acclaim in recent years with a number of award-winning productions and Melbourne's successful International Film Festival (tel: (03) 94 17 20 11) has been running since 1951.

Cheap tickets for most venues throughout Melbourne can be booked through the Halftix booth (tel: (03) 96 50 94 20), Bourke Street Mall, but only on the day of the performance. Advance tickets can be bought through Ticketek (tel: 132 849, Australia only).

Music:
Opera Australia (tel: (03) 96 86 74 77) regularly appears at the Melbourne Concert Hall in the Victorian Arts Complex as do the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (tel: (03) 96 26 11 11).

Theatre:
Melbourne has an enormous number of theatres located throughout the city centre and in the suburbs. These offer a wide range of productions ranging from alternative and mainstream theatre to sparkling international productions. The Regent Theatre, Collins Street (tel: (03) 92 99 95 00), hosts elaborate musical productions, while theatres such as the Athenaeum, Collins Street (tel: (03) 9650 1500) and Princess, Spring Street (tel: (03) 9299 9800), put on Shakespeare, contemporary plays and musicals. The Melbourne Theatre Company, Ferrars Street, Southbank (tel: (03) 9684 4500) is renowned for its celebrated productions of classics from Moliere to Pinter.

Dance:
Dancehouse, Princes Street, North Carlton (tel: (03) 93 47 28 60), is an exciting venue for innovative dance and physical theatre and has a well-deserved reputation in the contemporary dance field.

Film:
Both Cinema Como, Chapel Street, South Yarra (tel: (03) 98 27 75 33), and Cinema Nova, in Carlton (tel: (03) 93 47 53 31), pride themselves as leading art houses. To enjoy the full effects of innovative films the IMAX Theatre, Rathdowne Street, Carlton (tel: (03) 96 63 54 54), has a huge screen, possibly the world's largest and occasionally shows special 3D films. Kino Cinema, Collins Street (tel: (03) 96 50 21 00), shows international films, and the Moviehouse, Kingston Arts Centre (tel: (03) 95 56 44 40), is for the nostalgic as it regularly shows classic films from the past. The State Film Theatre, MacArthur Street (tel: (03) 96 51 15 15), is the main centre for independent cinema.

Over the past few decades a number of films have been set or filmed in Melbourne, including Phar Lap (1983) and Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975). More recently, the comedy Death in Brunswick (1991) achieved international acclaim.

Cultural events:
The importance of the flourishing art scene in Melbourne is highlighted by the support received for the Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, held every October. Artists, writers, musicians, actors and dancers from dozens of countries around the world come to the theatres and galleries of Melbourne for a 17-day cultural feast. It also boasts a Fringe Festival, which is smaller and definitely more off-beat and kicks off with an outrageous parade and huge party in Brunswick Street. Eleven days in March are given over to the Melbourne Moomba Festival (tel: (03) 96 99 40 22), which is Australia's largest outdoor festival. There are open-air performances, night-time parades, firework displays and even water-skiing competitions. The three-week Melbourne International Comedy Festival (tel: (03) 94 17 77 11) attracts many local and international acts every year in April. The cream of the Australian and international film world are drawn to the city for the Melbourne International Film Festival, which is a showcase for new films, documentaries and multimedia productions.

Literary Notes

Melbourne may only have a population of three million but an extraordinary number of homegrown artists have made it to the world stage. Opera diva Dame Nellie Melba, who named herself after her birthplace, was Melbourne's first great star and numerous others have followed in the fields of film, entertainment and popular music and the city has also enjoyed its share of internationally acclaimed novelists.

C J Dennis, who lived in the small town of Toolangi, north of Melbourne rose to national fame as Victoria's most popular writer with his verse story, The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, an urban idyll published in 1915. The works of Victorian writers of this period, including Dennis, reflected upon the impact of the gold rush and the business of making money.

Painter and writer Norman Lindsay, who hailed from the small town of Creswick (near Ballarat), focused on rural life - his books Red Heap and Saturdee, set at the turn of the century, provide humorous insights into the lives of young men growing up in the bush.

One of the most sensational novels to come out of Melbourne is Frank Hardy's Power Without Glory (1950). Loosely based on the affairs and dealings of notorious Melbourne businessman John Wren, the book scandalised Melbourne society and Hardy was prosecuted for criminal libel.

Modern classics include Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay and George Johnston's My Brother Jack, however, the writer most associated with the theme of Australian culture and identity is, of course, award-winning novelist Peter Carey, who set his bestselling novel Illywhacker (1985) in Melbourne. Novelist Helen Garner whose works, including The Children's Book, Postcards from Surfers and Monkey Grip, are mostly set in Melbourne, has also attracted a wide following.



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