Irene Mitchell

Irene Gladys Mitchell MBE (24 November 1905 – 1995) was an Australian actress and theatre director, prominent in the little theatre movement in Melbourne.

Career

Mitchell was the eldest daughter of (James) Herbert Mitchell (1886–1971) and Annie Maud May Mitchell, née Hallihan (c. 1888 – 23 May 1914),{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article155098890 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Age |issue=19,707 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=23 May 1918 |access-date=10 October 2022 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}} who had a home, "Aurilla", Princes St, Prahran, Victoria, later of Burnley, Victoria.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8200219 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=29,641 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=23 August 1941 |access-date=9 October 2022 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}

As a child, Mitchell studied elocution with Miss Louie Dunn,{{efn|Louie Dunn (c. 1890–1950) was a successful contestant at South Street eisteddfods in her youth, and later coached many winners. She won several prizes for her 1948 production of Mona Brand's play Here Under Heaven. She died in St Kilda after a motor vehicle collision.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224925048 |title=Drama Teacher Dies in Crash |newspaper=Weekly Times |location=Melbourne |issue=4230 |date=19 July 1950 |access-date=25 April 2023 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}}}{{cite web|url=https://theatreheritage.org.au/on-stage-magazine/general-articles/item/219-melbourne-little-theatre |title=Memories of Irene Mitchell |first=Sandy |last=Graham |publisher=Theatre Heritage Australia |date=1 December 2015|access-date=25 April 2023}} who encouraged her to enter the South Street and other contests in the early 1920s.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article213371793 |title=South Street Competitions |newspaper=The Ballarat Star |volume=66 |issue=19664 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=30 September 1920 |access-date=28 September 2022 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article209613258 |title=C.N.F Competitions |newspaper=Geelong Advertiser |issue=24,333 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=4 June 1925 |access-date=28 September 2022 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}} Comunn Na Feinne was a Scots organisation in Geelong.

By 1928 she was a member of the Theatre Association,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244077807 |title=Woman's World |newspaper=The Herald (Melbourne) |issue=16,020 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=21 September 1928 |access-date=28 September 2022 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}} appearing in Godfrey Cass's production of Ma Pettengill, an Australian premiere.

In 1929 she won the Governor's gold medal first prize at the South Street Society's recitation competitions.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244208115 |title=Prahran Girl Wins Governor's Medal |newspaper=The Herald (Melbourne) |issue=16,363 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=26 October 1929 |access-date=10 October 2022 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}

By 1930 she was a committee member of the Proscenium Club, whose rooms were in Nicholas Building, Swanston Street.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244574790 |title=Theatre Club Activities Resumed |newspaper=The Herald (Melbourne) |issue=16,439 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=23 January 1930 |access-date=28 September 2022 |page=19 |via=National Library of Australia}}

In 1931 she was in the cast of Ashfield Players' The Best People by David Gray and Avery Hopwood, and Bulldog Drummond for the Old Wesley Collegians' Dramatic Society and in 1932 had the name part in the Proscenium players' The Last of Mrs. Cheyney.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243039327 |title=Amateur Players |newspaper=The Herald (Melbourne) |issue=17,250 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=27 August 1932 |access-date=28 September 2022 |page=20 |via=National Library of Australia}} In 1933 she was in Gregan McMahon's production of Shaw's The Apple Cart. Other plays with the Proscenium Club were Cecil Finn Tucker's The Optimist{{efn|Other plays by Melbourne socialite Dr Tucker (1876–1945){{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12160141 |title=Obituary |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=30,987 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=22 December 1945 |access-date=25 April 2023 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}} were Pleston's Experiment (1929), Butterflies and Bees (1932), Thunder and Death (1936), also several short stories and a book of golfing fiction.}} in June 1934, Noël Coward's Hay Fever at the Central Hall, Little Collins Street in September. In June 1935 she was a "dashing Romeo"{{cite web|url=https://liveperformance.com.au/hof-profile/irene-mitchell-mbe-1905-1995/ |title=Irene Mitchell MBE 1905–1995 |publisher=Live Performance Australia |access-date=15 December 2022}} in a pioneering all-female professional production of Romeo and Juliet under Miss Dunn at the Garrick Theatre.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244827616 |title=While I Remember |newspaper=The Herald (Melbourne) |issue=18,120 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=13 June 1935 |access-date=29 September 2022 |page=32 |via=National Library of Australia}} They staged The Merchant of Venice a year later,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244870436 |title=Only Women in the Cast |newspaper=The Herald (Melbourne) |issue=18,392 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=27 April 1936 |access-date=29 September 2022 |page=18 |via=National Library of Australia}} and Othello'' (as Iago) in August 1939.

She was a member of a five-woman cast playing Ernest Vajda's Fata Morgana at the Carrick in October 1936. In November she appeared in Maxim Gorki's Lower Depths for Dolia Ribush, fresh from the Moscow Arts Theatre, at the Garrick.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205954873 |title=A Maxim Gorki Play |newspaper=The Age |issue=25,450 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=9 November 1936 |access-date=29 September 2022 |page=15 |via=National Library of Australia}} In January 1937 she played The Children's Hour, and in February The Vinegar Tree; in June she was acclaimed as Rosalind in As You Like It with Gertrude Johnson's newly formed National Theatre Movement{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203873855 |title=As You Like It |newspaper=The Age |issue=25,640 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=21 June 1937 |access-date=30 September 2022 |page=13 |via=National Library of Australia}} (NTM), all at the Princess.

In February 1940 she was in the cast of Giving the Bride Away at the Princess, starring Charles Norman, written by Gerald Kirby and "Margot Neville", an Australasian premiere.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article75035349 |title=City Audiences Enthusiastic |newspaper=The Standard (Melbourne) |location=Victoria, Australia |date=22 March 1940 |access-date=3 October 2022 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} This show's season was extended due to popular demand, and Just Married, for which Mitchell had also been engaged, had to be postponed.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article204419179 |title=Princess — Season Extended |newspaper=The Age |issue=26,493 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=14 March 1940 |access-date=3 October 2022 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}} Stepping Out{{efn|Original title The Mummy and the Mumps: A farce in three acts (1925) by Larry E. Johnson (born 1874), author of The Absent-minded Bridegroom and other farces}} followed, then the company toured the other capital cities with Giving the Bride Away, Just Married, Charley's Aunt and Stepping Out.

In April 1942 she again played Rosalind in the NTM production of As You Like It.

=Little Theatre=

Alongside her other commitments, in 1934 Mitchell joined the Melbourne Little Theatre, founded by Brett Randall and Hal Percy in 1931, which had just moved into the old St Chad's church in Martin Street, South Yarra. Her first part was the "Italian Lady" in From Morn to Midnight, an adaptation of Georg Kaiser's Von morgens bis mitternachts.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203371187 |title=A German Expressionist Play |newspaper=The Age |issue=24,611 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=28 February 1934 |access-date=29 September 2022 |page=14 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Inquest followed, then in June she conducted a reading of The First Mrs Fraser,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243176392 |title=Looking Ahead |newspaper=The Herald (Melbourne) |issue=17,821 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=28 June 1934 |access-date=29 September 2022 |page=34 |via=National Library of Australia}} arguably a first step towards her ultimate role as director.

She played Beverley Nichols' Avalanche in November and John Hastings Turner's The Spot on the Sun (Ada Reeve's farewell production) in March 1935{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12215809 |title=St Chad's, South Yarra |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=27,625 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=4 March 1935 |access-date=29 September 2022 |page=17 |via=National Library of Australia}} with Dot Rankin, who was to accompany Reeve to London,

By November 1935 she was president of the Little Theatre social committee.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244768776 |title=Studio Party at Little Theatre |newspaper=The Herald (Melbourne) |issue=18,260 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=23 November 1935 |access-date=29 September 2022 |page=25 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Valentine Katayev's Squaring the Circle was performed at the Garrick rather than the club's theatre,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205266518 |title=Squaring the Circle |newspaper=The Age |issue=25,266 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=7 April 1936 |access-date=29 September 2022 |page=14 |via=National Library of Australia}} as was Ernest Vadja's Fata Morgana,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article248559706 |title=Hungarian Comedy at the Garrick |newspaper=The Herald (Melbourne) |issue=18,548 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=26 October 1936 |accessdate=28 April 2023 |page=33 |via=National Library of Australia}} but a report of their playing Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205567302 |title=Plays and Players |newspaper=The Age |issue=25,669 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=24 July 1937 |access-date=27 April 2023 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}} may have been mistaken.

She played the Honorable Reader in S. I. Hsiung's Lady Precious Stream at the Garrick in July 1936.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article204910784 |title=Lady Precious Stream |newspaper=The Age |issue=25,342 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=6 July 1936 |access-date=30 September 2022 |page=19 |via=National Library of Australia}}

On Caulfield Cup night 1938 the company staged James Bridie's comedy Storm in a Teacup as a testimonial benefit for their director Brett Randall.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243397083 |title=While I Remember |newspaper=The Herald (Melbourne) |issue=19,149 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=1 October 1938 |access-date=30 September 2022 |page=28 |via=National Library of Australia}}

A season of five plays by five producers was staged in November 1938 as "A Play Bill". Mitchell's contribution was The Last Mrs Fraser, by Virginia Saffold Booth.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205209969 |title=Ideas in Drama |newspaper=The Age |issue=26082 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=21 November 1938 |access-date=3 October 2022 |page=13 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{efn|Virginia White Saffold Booth (30 November 1911 – 5 January 2005) was an American dramatist, born in Savannah, Georgia, and married to physicist Eugene T. Booth}}

The understudy had to take her part in Lavender Ladies in April 1939, but she was back on stage in Passers By that December.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205583237 |title=Little Theatre — Passers By |newspaper=The Age |issue=26412 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=11 December 1939 |access-date=3 October 2022 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}}

On 3 August 1940 director Randall revived an earlier hit, The Rescue Party, by Phyllis Morris.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172043429 |title=Excellent Acting at Little Theatre |newspaper=The Advocate (Melbourne) |volume=LXXIII |issue=4539 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=15 August 1940 |access-date=3 October 2022 |page=24 |via=National Library of Australia}}

A season of five short plays began on 14 December 1940: Lithuania by Rupert Brooke, F. Keith Manzie's For the Honor of Larratania, Edith Susan Boyd's Three Roses, followed by 'Op o' Me Thumb by Frederick Fenn and Richard Pryce and The Man in the Bowler Hat by A. A. Milne.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205226825 |title=Little Theatre |newspaper=The Age |issue=26,729 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=16 December 1940 |access-date=3 October 2022 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}

In April 1941 they played another John Hastings Turner's comedy The Scarlet Lady, while Mitchell produced Sidney Rusk's one-act two-hander Fog{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205144678 |title=Little Theatre |newspaper=The Age |issue=26835 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=21 April 1941 |access-date=9 October 2022 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}} as a companion-piece.

:In August 1941 she married John Henderson, an RAAF pilot from New Zealand. He was posted missing, presumed killed, in April 1943 while on RAF operations in the Middle East.

In February 1943 she played in Robert Morley's comedy Short Story, produced by Randall at the Little Theatre, then served as his stage manager for Rodney Ackland's Dance With No Music, Henry Allan having been posted overseas with the RAAF.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205276335 |title=Stage and Screen |newspaper=The Age |issue=27,133 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=6 April 1942 |access-date=10 October 2022 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}

She produced the Little Theatre's first Christmas comedy, Frank Harvey's Saloon Bar, Randall playing a key character, but was back in the director's chair for Lionel Hall's She Passed Through Lorraine in March 1943.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11344835 |title=Comedy at St Chad's |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=30,113 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=1 March 1943 |access-date=10 October 2022 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}

In April she had the chief part in Samson Raphaelson's comedy, Skylark{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172206407 |title=Theatre |newspaper=The Advocate (Melbourne) |volume=LXXVI |issue=4680 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=6 May 1943 |access-date=10 October 2022 |page=19 |via=National Library of Australia}}

In June she produced Marguerite Steen's French for Love, starring Eva Schwarcz,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172207178 |title=Theatres |newspaper=The Advocate (Melbourne) |volume=LXXVI |issue=4686 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=17 June 1943 |access-date=11 October 2022 |page=18 |via=National Library of Australia}} later involved in a very public custody case.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article246150720 |title=Father Afraid if Son Should Go to Germany |newspaper=The Herald (Melbourne) |issue=21,892 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=21 July 1947 |access-date=11 October 2022 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}

In December she produced Reginald Berkeley's comedy The World's End, set in a Dartmoor hotel.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172210816 |title=An Incredible Comedy |newspaper=The Advocate (Melbourne) |volume=LXXVI |issue=4714 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=30 December 1943 |access-date=11 October 2022 |page=13 |via=National Library of Australia}}

In April 1944 she returned to acting, in a highly praised{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172212654 |title=Theatre |newspaper=The Advocate (Melbourne) |volume=LXXVII |first=Gregory|last=Parable|issue=4730 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=19 April 1944 |access-date=11 October 2022 |page=18 |via=National Library of Australia}} The Day Is Gone by W. Chetham-Strode, then produced Drawing Room by Thomas Browne.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11804833 |title=Drawing Room |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=30,499 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=29 May 1944 |access-date=11 October 2022 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}} first produced in England 1940, otherwise nothing found of play or author

In June 1944 Randall and Mitchell were among those non-professional actors castigated by Actors' Equity in continuing to work while their strike was on.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article241308994 |title=No Settlement Yet of Actors' Strike |newspaper=The Herald (Melbourne) |issue=20,917 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=1 June 1944 |access-date=11 October 2022 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}

In July she played in Randall's production of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes, which ran for three weeks; players included Sydney Conabere.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11353472 |title=The Little Foxes |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=30,547 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=24 July 1944 |access-date=11 October 2022 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Then in August they presented a second play by Australian Alan Burke, Woman Bites Dog, again produced by Randall with stage direction by Mitchell.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172215224 |title=Local Author's Play at Little Theatre |newspaper=The Advocate (Melbourne) |volume=LXXVII |issue=4748 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=30 August 1944 |access-date=11 October 2022 |page=20 |via=National Library of Australia}}

She produced J. B. Priestley's Eden End in October, and "Gregory Parable", critic for The Advocate, was not surprised at a workmanlike presentation{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172216476 |title=Eden End |newspaper=The Advocate (Melbourne) |volume=LXXVII |issue=4757 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=1 November 1944 |access-date=11 October 2022 |page=20 |via=National Library of Australia}} nor for John Van Druten's Old Acquaintance, produced by Randall and directed by Mitchell in December.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172217867 |title=Old Acquaintance |newspaper=The Advocate (Melbourne) |volume=LXXVIII |issue=4767 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=10 January 1945 |access-date=11 October 2022 |page=20 |via=National Library of Australia}}

In February she produced A. J. Cronin's three-act Jupiter Laughs, starring Wilma Harrison, a professional actor looking gain experience.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172218482 |title=Jupiter Laughs |newspaper=The Advocate (Melbourne) |volume=LXXVIII |issue=4672 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=14 February 1945 |access-date=13 October 2022 |page=20 |via=National Library of Australia}} Her next production was Clare Boothe's The Women, a play with twelve scenes and cast of thirty-nine women — again, "Parable" notes, without blemish.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172221728 |title=The Women |newspaper=The Advocate (Melbourne) |volume=LXXVIII |issue=4695 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=25 July 1945 |access-date=13 October 2022 |page=20 |via=National Library of Australia}}

For the Christmas season she starred in, and co-produced with Randall, Emlyn Williams' The Wind of Heaven.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article245941269 |title=Little Theatre's Provocative Play |newspaper=The Herald (Melbourne) |issue=21,406 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=27 December 1945 |access-date=13 October 2022 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Her next production, in June 1945, was George Bernard Shaw's The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles, an "intellectual fantasy", again totally successful.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article245538860 |title=GBS Success At Melbourne Little Theatre |newspaper=The Herald (Melbourne) |issue=21,558 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=24 June 1946 |access-date=13 October 2022 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}

An Australian play with a Chinese theme, Enduring as the Camphor Tree by Russell John Oakes followed in October, hailed by "Parable" as "Australia's first great play".{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172231563 |title=Theatre Music and Film |newspaper=The Advocate (Melbourne) |volume=LXXIX |issue=4760 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=23 October 1946 |access-date=13 October 2022 |page=28 |via=National Library of Australia}} So popular was the production that the usual three-week season was extended by two weeks, and a charity performance for the Brotherhood of St Laurence.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22380042 |title=The Life Of Melbourne |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=31,276 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=26 November 1946 |access-date=14 October 2022 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}} Sumner Locke Elliott's The Invisible Circus followed on Boxing Day, 26 December 1946.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22391521 |title=Sydney Playwright's Satire on Radio People |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=31,304 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=30 December 1946 |access-date=17 October 2022 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Jan de Hartog's Skipper Next to God, with an all-male cast, followed in April,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172487331 |title=Skipper Next to God |newspaper=The Advocate (Melbourne) |volume=LXXX |issue=4787 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=30 April 1947 |access-date=18 October 2022 |page=28 |via=National Library of Australia}} then on 28 June the Little Theatre's 120th production, Karel Čapek's The Macropulos Secret opened.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article246146555 |title=Capek Play on Longevity |newspaper=The Herald (Melbourne) |issue=21,874 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=30 June 1947 |access-date=18 October 2022 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Exercise Bowler, written by an anonymous cooperative "T. Atkinson", and depicting two groups fighting over production of a play, followed on 6 September.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22505944 |title=Theatre |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=31,519 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=8 September 1947 |access-date=18 October 2022 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}

John Patrick's The Willow and I ran from Boxing Day 1947{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22533240 |title=Little Theatre Play Has Unusual Twists |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=31,614 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=29 December 1947 |access-date=19 October 2022 |page=14 |via=National Library of Australia}} and in May 1948 Constance Cox's Vanity Fair, an adaptation of Thackeray's novel, which failed to please one critic.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172496823 |title=Theatre Music |newspaper=The Advocate (Melbourne) |volume=LXXXI |issue=4845 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=3 June 1948 |access-date=16 December 2022 |page=18 |via=National Library of Australia}} Another Australian premiere was her production of Arthur Miller's All My Sons in August.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172498393 |title=Theatre Music |newspaper=The Advocate (Melbourne) |volume=LXXXI |issue=4855 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=12 August 1948 |access-date=16 December 2022 |page=18 |via=National Library of Australia}} Noël Coward's Hay Fever followed in October, and was well received.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22680991 |title=Little Theatre players' success in comedy |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=31,859 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=11 October 1948 |access-date=16 December 2022 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}} "F.K.M." is F. Keith Manzie June Brunel (Mrs Helmut Newton) and Diana Bell were especially praised.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172499682 |title=Theatre Music |newspaper=The Advocate (Melbourne) |volume=LXXXI |issue=4865 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=21 October 1948 |access-date=16 December 2022 |page=18 |via=National Library of Australia}}

In 1948 Melbourne Little Theatre, under director Brett Randall, jointly with the College of Adult Education (CAE) founded Everyman Theatres Pty Ltd, a professional company to bring theatre to Victorian country centres. Their first production was Benn Levy's Springtime for Henry. Mitchell appears not to have any substantial involvement with this company. She did however, in May 1951, direct their production of Miles Malleson's version of Molière's comedy, The Miser{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28330227 |title="The Miser" Coming to Theatre Royal |newspaper=Camperdown Chronicle |volume=LXXV |issue=4093 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=8 May 1951 |access-date=18 December 2022 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}} its first Australian production.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article28330363 |title=French Comedy Next C.A.E. Play |newspaper=Camperdown Chronicle |volume=LXXV |issue=4096 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=18 May 1951 |access-date=11 January 2023 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}

In July 1949 Mitchell produced the verse play Happy as Larry by Donagh Macdonagh,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22762177 |title=Engaging Irish Play |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=32,085 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=4 July 1949 |access-date=17 December 2022 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} followed in October by William Douglas Home's Now Barabbas, another Australian premiere.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172507096 |title=Theatre music |newspaper=The Advocate (Melbourne) |volume=LXXXII |issue=4916 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=13 October 1949 |access-date=18 December 2022 |page=18 |via=National Library of Australia}} Her New Year's production for 1950 was a "hiss the villain" melodrama — Henning Nelms's Only an Orphan Girl,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172508758 |title=Theatre Music |newspaper=The Advocate (Melbourne) |volume=LXXXIII |issue=4929 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=12 January 1950 |access-date=18 December 2022 |page=18 |via=National Library of Australia}} after which she left for London on a working holiday aboard the Ranchi.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22806239 |title=Stage send-off |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=32,260 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=23 January 1950 |access-date=18 December 2022 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}} She had been sponsored by the British Council to attend an actors' and producers' course, "London and Stratford-on-Avon". On her return in December 1950 she produced Douglas Stewart's Shipwreck, a play which revived Sir Dallas Brooks' interest in little theatre{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23045821 |title="Shipwreck" wins Viceregal blessing |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=32,554 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=3 January 1951 |access-date=15 December 2022 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}} In April 1951 she directed Peter Ustinov's Blow Your Own Trumpet{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206387219 |title=Ustinov Play Grips Audience |newspaper=The Age |issue=29,940 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=14 April 1951 |access-date=18 December 2022 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}} In May she directed R. F. Delderfield's comedy All Over the Town, and in August Guy Bolton's Larger Than Life, based on Somerset Maugham's novel, Theatre.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23063850 |title= Maugham story on stage |first=Frank |last=Doherty |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=731 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=30 July 1951 |access-date=11 January 2023 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}

=Other activities=

In 1946 Mitchell produced Richard of Bordeaux for the girls of Toorak College, Frankston.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22330972 |title=Richard of Bordeaux |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=31,193 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=22 August 1946 |access-date=13 October 2022 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}

In 1947 she produced Dorothy L. Sayers' passion play The Just Vengeance at the Melbourne Town Hall for the Methodist Young People's Department in conjunction with the denomination's annual conference.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22412380 |title=Impressive Passion Play in Town Hall |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=31,359 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=4 March 1947 |access-date=18 October 2022 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} The cast of 40 was bolstered by several professionals, who played anonymously. She produced, for the same organisation, Laurence Housman's, Francis of Assisi (with Brian James in the name part, and music composed by Dorian Le Gallienne) on 1–2 March 1948.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243843912 |title=Housman Play At Town Hall |newspaper=The Herald (Melbourne) |issue=22,084 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=2 March 1948 |access-date=19 October 2022 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}} She produced Leonid Andreyev's He Who Gets Slapped for the Melbourne University Dramatic Club's 1948 Commencement Play at the Union Theatre,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243851777 |title=Play for University Commencement |newspaper=The Herald (Melbourne) |issue=22,107 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=30 March 1948 |access-date=19 October 2022 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}

In March 1949 she was guest adjudicator for the Tasmanian Drama Festival, where nine groups, from across the state, competed for the Catherine Duncan Cup.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article26495539 |title=Hobart Players Win Catherine Duncan Cup |newspaper=The Mercury (Hobart) |volume=CLXIX |issue=24,411 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=7 March 1949 |access-date=17 December 2022 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}} She was on the examinations board of the Melbourne University Rehabilitation drama course and a member of the Australian Dramatic Art and Education Guild council.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article52666861 |title=Of Interest to Women |newspaper=The Examiner (Tasmania) |volume=CVII |issue=336 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=26 February 1949 |access-date=17 December 2022 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}}

In April 1951 she was appointed State adjudicator at the Commonwealth Jubilee Drama Competition,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article267455311 |title=Jubilee Drama Competition |newspaper=Live Wire (Yallourn) |issue=1192 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=11 April 1951 |access-date=18 December 2022 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}} a festival organised at the instigation of Sydney's British Drama League.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article209825005 |title="The Play's the Thing" |newspaper=The Age |issue=29,982 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=2 June 1951 |access-date=26 December 2022 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}} The contest took her to Yallourn,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article267455311 |title=Jubilee Drama Competition |newspaper=Live Wire |issue=1192 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=11 April 1951 |access-date=26 December 2022 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}} Sale,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63301558 |title=House Full for "The Paragon" |newspaper=Gippsland Times |issue=11,866 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=5 July 1951 |access-date=26 December 2022 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} and eight other Victorian country groups and ten from Melbourne, in order to select two semi-finalists.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244240575 |title=Which show will be best? |newspaper=The Herald (Melbourne) |issue=23,173 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=31 August 1951 |access-date=26 December 2022 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} Meanwhile, she also adjudicated at a drama contest staged by the Country Women's Association.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206383942 |title=C.W.A. Plans for Festival |newspaper=The Age |issue=29,907 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=6 March 1951 |access-date=18 December 2022 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}

In 1951 she directed the stage show An Aboriginal Moomba: Out of the Dark with an all-Aboriginal cast.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article209820669 |title=Native Moomba an Exciting Show |newspaper=The Age |issue=30,001 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=25 June 1951 |access-date=26 December 2022 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}} also touring regional cities.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63301438 |title=To Visit Sale |newspaper=Gippsland Times |issue=11,866 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=2 July 1951 |access-date=28 September 2022 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} She has been credited with giving the name to the annual Melbourne festival. She was declared "Queen of Moomba" by Jacob Chirnside, an elder of the Elondalli nation from Queensland, and with Harold Blair, one of the stars of the show.

In November 1951 she produced Christopher Fry's A Phoenix Too Frequent{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article247850884 |title=Good start for new theatre |newspaper=The Herald (Melbourne) |issue=23,246 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=24 November 1951 |access-date=11 January 2023 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}} and Oscar Wilde's Salome, with June Brunel and Frank Thring as Herod at Thring's Arrow Theatre (previously Melbourne Repertory Theatre).{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23081551 |title=Stage |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=32,778 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=22 September 1951 |access-date=11 January 2023 |page=16 |via=National Library of Australia}}

=Children's theatre=

In 1939 she established a Children's Theatre in association with the Little Theatre.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205969806 |title=Children's Theatre |newspaper=The Age |issue=26165 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=25 February 1939 |access-date=3 October 2022 |page=16 |via=National Library of Australia}}

=Radio drama=

Mitchell appeared in many radio plays —

Vicki Baum's Grand Hotel for 3UZ in 1938{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11158281 |title="Grand Hotel" |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=28,607 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=30 April 1938 |access-date=13 October 2022 |page=13 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Priestley's Laburnum Grove, Ian Hay's Housemaster and Pinero's Magistrate and others produced by Edgley and Dawe for 3DB in 1946–1947.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article245378247 |title=Today's Information Guide |newspaper=The Herald (Melbourne) |issue=21,677 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=9 November 1946 |access-date=13 October 2022 |page=21 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Other interests

She was a keen golfer, loved walking with her dog "Robert the Bruce", attended ballet, and had a large library.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206049183 |title=Women and The Arts, No. 6 |newspaper=The Age |issue=28831 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=20 September 1947 |access-date=18 October 2022 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}

She was a close associate of Betty Pounder.

Recognition

Mitchell was a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association.
The Irene Mitchell Studio, one of two performance spaces at St Martins Youth Arts Centre (built on the site where St Chad's once stood) was named for her. A plaque under the old pepper tree, where she was wont to take a breather, commemorates her involvement.

Personal

On 24 November 1926 Mitchell announced her engagement to Laurie Abrahams of "Newington," Burke Rd, East Malvern.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146576886 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=Table Talk |issue=3056 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=2 December 1926 |access-date=10 October 2022 |page=65 |via=National Library of Australia}} Includes good photo No record of a subsequent marriage has been found.

On 22 August 1941 she married Pilot-Officer John Robert Dunlop Henderson (8 October 1915 – 11 April 1943). He was with No. 73 Squadron RAF, lost presumed killed when his Hawker Hurricane aircraft crashed into the sea off Sfax, Tunisia, on 11 April 1943. Her address at the time was 8 St George Rd, Malvern, Victoria, known to her friends as the "slanty shanty".

She had a sister, Vera Pearl Mitchell (born 1907) who married Thomas Hugh O'Halloran in 1931.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146708733 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=Table Talk |issue=3280 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=19 March 1931 |access-date=9 October 2022 |page=43 |via=National Library of Australia}}