The Theatre Royal holds a similar place in the hearts of Castlemaine people. For many residents this building was where they saw their first film, went on their first date, experienced their first live show. It is still the only cinema in town. The building is up for sale and residents are determined to keep what is not only an invaluable local resource but a significant part of local heritage. Like the movie house in Cinema Paradiso, the Theatre Royal oozes atmosphere.
Passageways are intimate, doors are hung with heavy drapes, stairs are narrow and shadowed.
Shades of Aubrey Beardsley. The building is as much a part of the entertainment as the film. You can sit in one of the 1930s seats up in the balcony or at one of the cafe-style tables in the auditorium with a glass of merlot and a bowl of peanuts or relax among the cushions of a friendly club lounge. In that moment of delightful anticipation in the dark just before the sound erupts from the speakers and moving pictures light up the screen, you might catch a faint echo of other voices and other music, for this is the oldest operating theatre in mainland Australia. When Carnegie Hall in New York was threatened with demolition to make way for something bigger, one of the arguments used to save it was that sound can lodge in the fabric of a building.