During the period John was designing the new Malthouse, he frequently referred to phantom figures. The original models for the space had such figures parading around the outside of the space – particularly the balcony areas around the audience seating.
The phrase comes from the poem The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, a very lengthy poem attributed to the person named in the title. John knew much of this the poem by heart. An English translation of a certain verse was a mediation that John focussed on during the design of the Malthouse.
The verse reads
For in and out, above, about, below,
‘Tis nothing but a magic shadow-show,
Play’d in a box whose candle is the sun,
Round which we phantom figures come and go.
The third line echos the destruction by fire of The Playbox theatre, the previous home of the company of the same name.
I believe someone suggested this poem to him, perhaps a reader can tell me who.
When the theatre itself was opened, prominent Australian artists were commissioned to paint canvasses on the theme “phantom figures” and these canvasses were placed around the walls of the theatre.
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