Revitalising the Capitol Theatre

AUDIO: Ambient music

VISUAL: multicoloured lights reflect on the Capitol Theatre ceiling.

TEXT ON SCREEN: Revitalising the Capitol Theatre. RMIT logo.

VOICEOVER: The restoration of the Capitol is not just an RMIT project. The Capitol is an iconic building in Melbourne.

TEXT ON SCREEN: Peter Malatt, Lead Architect, Capitol Theatre restoration.

VISUAL: Peter Malatt is being interviewed in the Capitol Theatre, with green lights reflecting on the ceiling. He stands facing the camera.

PETER MALATT SPEAKS: If people understood it well enough, they would understand this is almost like our opera house.

VISUAL: The Capitol Theatre pre-construction, with dimmed lights and the old movie screen. Peter Malatt is being interviewed in the Capitol Theatre, with green lights reflecting on the ceiling. He stands facing the camera.

PETER MALATT SPEAKS: The building was designed in the early 1920s. The designers, Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony, are two of the most important architects to come to Australia.

VISUAL: An old projector from the Capitol Theatre

VOICEOVER: The very first film to be screen here was The Ten Commandments in November 1924.

TEXT ON SCREEN: Marc Morel, Venues Manager, RMIT University.

VISUAL: Marc Morel is being interviewed in the Capitol Theatre, with blue lights reflecting on the ceiling. He stands facing the camera. An old film spool with ‘Capitol Spool’ written on it, old film negatives and projection gear is gathering dust. The pre-construction Capitol Theater lobby resides empty.

MARC MOREL SPEAKS: The building, despite RMIT having spent money and kept it up throughout the years, right up until we closed it in 2014, was aging and needed a lot of additional care and support.

VISUAL: Peter Malatt is being interviewed in the Capitol Theatre, with green lights reflecting on the ceiling. He stands facing the camera. Marc Morel walks through the mid-construction theatre space.

PETER MALATT SPEAKS: The Capitol Theatre was originally a leading-edge building, and what RMIT is doing is bringing it back up to leading-edge building in terms of its film and media projection technology.

VISUAL: a construction team member walks through the Capitol Theatre wearing a high-vis vest and hard hat with ‘Anthony’ printed on the back.

VOICEOVER: I like to call it the rabbit warren.

TEXT ON SCREEN: Anthony Sturzo, Project Coordinator, Hutchinson Builders.

VISUAL: Anthony Sturzo is being interviewed in the Capitol Theatre, with white lights reflecting on the ceiling. He stands facing the camera.

ANTHONY STURZO SPEAKS: There’s just all these little nooks and crannies are just hidden all over the place, and a lot of people get lost coming here.

VISUAL: Panning shot of the Capitol Theatre ceiling plaster work amidst the construction scaffolding. A carpenter and an electrician work on restoring the Capitol Theatre lobby space. Peter Malatt is being interviewed in the Capitol Theatre, with green lights reflecting on the ceiling. He stands facing the camera.

PETER MALATT SPEAKS: Most of the work we’re doing is extra-complicated because it can’t intrude on the heritage work.

VISUAL: Peter Malatt unrolls old carpet samples in the construction office. The carpet has a distinctive chevron pattern. Peter Malatt is being interviewed in the Capitol Theatre, with green lights reflecting on the ceiling. He stands facing the camera. Peter Malatt measures out the pattern on the carpet sample.

PETER MALATT SPEAKS: We’ve also got two beautiful fragments of the original carpet and we’ve used that as the basis to restore the foyer spaces.

VISUAL: A carpenter saws through a plank of wood in the Capitol Theatre lobby. Panning shot of the Capitol Theatre’s geometric ceiling lit up in multicoloured lights.

ANTHONY STURZO SPEAKS: We’ve completed demolition works. We’re starting to do all the fit-out, building walls. We’ve restored the feature ceiling.

VISUAL: Peter Malatt walks along the construction scaffolding to inspect the plaster work on the ceiling while the lights are tinted green.

PETER MALATT SPEAKS: People will understand, when they see the ceiling lit, just how spectacular the geometry of the ceiling is.

VISUAL: Anthony Sturzo is being interviewed in the Capitol Theatre, with white lights reflecting on the ceiling. He stands facing the camera. Anthony walks along the construction scaffolding to inspect the work being done in the theatre.

ANTHONY STURZO SPEAKS: Yeah, it’s going to be great to see it all finished, so I can’t wait to come here with the wife and my daughter, come watch a movie, and just show her what I was a part of.

VISUAL: Peter Malatt is being interviewed in the Capitol Theatre, with green lights reflecting on the ceiling. He stands facing the camera. Wide shot of the construction team at work in the Theater space.

PETER MALATT SPEAKS: To work on this building is a pretty much once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work on such an important building. It is the best work of two of the most important architects to ever come to Australia. It’s a great responsibility, but it’s also a great privilege and we’re’ proud to be involved with RMIT.

VISUAL: Marc Morel films the blue theatre ceiling lights with his mobile phone. Marc Morel is being interviewed in the Capitol Theatre, with blue lights reflecting on the ceiling. He stands facing the camera.

MARC MOREL SPEAKS: It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to being back to Melbourne a cultural, architectural screen-design icon that will be managed by a beloved educational institution, not just for its students, but for everyone who lives in the city.

VISUAL: panning shot of the Capitol Theatre ceiling being lit with multicoloured lights.

TEXT ON SCREEN: Be part of the Capitol legacy – donate by 31 December.

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