Original Shaftesbury Theatre
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The Original Shaftesbury Theatre was built by John Lancaster for his wife, Ellen Wallis, a well-known Shakespearean actress. The theatre was designed by C. J. Phipps and built by Messrs. Patman and Fotheringham at a cost of £20,000 and opened with a production of As you like it on October 20, 1888. The theatre was noted for having a stage of 28' 6 square. The capacity was 1,196.[1]
The theatre's first big hit was The Belle of New York produced by the prominent Broadway producer, George W. Lederer,opened on April 12, 1898 and ran for an extremely successful 697 performances. In 1908–9 H. B. Irving became the lessee and manager of the theatre and presented a successful season of plays. He was succeeded by Robert Courtneidge in 1898, who produced mostly musicals there in the early years of the 20th century, including Tom Jones (1907), The Arcadians (musical) (1909), Oh! Oh! Delphine! (1913), The Pearl Girl and many others. Courtneidge's successors, from 1917 to 1921 were George Grossmith, Jr. and Edward Laurillard.
In December 1914 Basil Rathbone appeared at the Shaftesbury as the Dauphin in Shakespeare's Henry V.
In 1941 the theatre was so severely damaged by aerial bombardment that the lease was vacated, and in 1956 the site was appropriated by the London County Council for use as a fire station. It is at present used as a car park and for advertising purposes.
[edit] References
- Who's Who in the Theatre, edited by John Parker, tenth edition, revised, London, 1947, p.1184.
- ^ But see 'Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road', Survey of London: volumes 33 and 34: St Anne Soho (1966), pp. 296-312 Date accessed: 04 March 2007, which claims that it was much larger.
