Vaudeville Theatre - History
The Vaudeville Theatre is found on the Strand in London, making up part of its historic West End. This makes for a variety of underground stations in its vicinity – the closest being Embankment, Covent Garden and Charing Cross. The nearest railway station to this venue is Charing Cross.
London’s Vaudeville Theatre dates back to April 1970 when it opened with a comedy in the form of Andrew Halliday’s For Love Or Money. It had been designed by the architect C J Phipps who, like many other theatre architects of the time, was responsible for a number of other London venues. Its style is reminiscent of various other theatres in that it calls back to a particular period – in this case the design is Romanesque and is the work of George Gordon.
The theatre’s shows during the rest of the nineteenth century included work by the Shakespearean actor Henry Irving, dramatist W S Gilbert and the likes of Elizabeth Robins and Marion Lea. Visiting the theatre through these years would have meant you could have witnessed the likes of Two Roses (1870) by James Albery, Our Boy (1875 – the first ever play to run for 500 consecutive performancese, and then 1,000 – a huge achievement at the time) by H J Byron, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (1891), Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler (1891), Rosmersholm (1891), Jerome K Jerome’s Woodbarrow Farm (1891) and The Note Of Hand (1891).
During this time the theatre also closed for refurbishment to allow for more room in the seats and so that the decorations could be improved. It reopened with the above mentioned show Woodbarrow Farm and the designs you can see on the façade of the building now are the same ones that people in the 1890s will have enjoyed had they graced the theatre with their presence.
The theatre changed hands over the next decade and by the time the twentieth century arrived there were a variety of productions about the hit the Vaudeville Theatre including J M Barrie’s Quality Street (1902), which went on to last for 459 shows. This was followed by the likes of The Cherry Girl by Seymour Hicks (1903), The Catch of the Season, also by Hicks (1904), The Belle of Mayfair (1906), The Girl in The Train (1910), Baby Mine by William Greet (1911), Cheap (1917), Just Fancy (1920) and Rats (1923).
Reconstruction came next with the closure of the theatre in 1925, which involved the changing of the auditorium to the one we recognise now. This only took a few months and the stage was re-populated with performers come February 1926. RSVP was the show that saw the theatre back and was followed up over the next few decades with the likes of The Breadwinner (1930), The Chiltern Hundreds, Salad Days (1954) and Chips with Everything (1959).
From then to the modern day the theatre continued to take pride of place in London with some great shows that included The Bride Comes Back (1960), The Burglar (1967), The Man Most Likely To… (1968) and Move Over Mrs Markham (1971) during one particular decade, then the likes of Out On A Limb (1976), Key for Two (1982) and Blithe Spirit (1986).
Right up until today, the amount of productions hitting the Vaudeville Theatre have been rich and varied, including many award nominated shows by acclaimed artists. As long as the theatre remains it will continue to put on top quality shows.
