Theatres

From Kinematograph Weekly, 6th March 1919, p. 73. Read more »

 A few doors down from the Adelphi is the pretty building which houses the Vaudeville Theatre.Built in 1870, Henry Irving acted on this stage for a while, as Ronald Bergan's book The Great Theatres of London tells us.

Vaudeville Theatre today.

Interior of the newly-opened Vaudeville Theatre in 1870. Westminster Archives Centre.

 

Carrying on along the north side of the Strand, heading east towards Fleet Street and away from Trafalgar Square, we reach the Adelphi theatre.

The Adelphi theatre today.

Lady Precious Stream is a spoken drama adaptation of a Chinese opera (Wang Baochuan Read more »

Composed by Molly Olguin, winner of the Cosmo Davenport-Hines Poetry Competition, 2011. 

In Vitrio

You're standing under the Savoy when it starts. Read more »

I had a lovely day yesterday in the company of the George Edwardes Musical Comedy society. We all gathered at Westminster Reference Library to celebrate the Edwardian theatre star Lily Elsie, who made her name in the first London production of The Merry Widow at Daly's Theatre in 1907. There was a talk by Steve Bartlett on Lily's life, accompanied by numerous illustrations from his large post-card collection. And then one by Ken Reeves (the president of the society) on the theatre of that period.

Old London Street Scene (1899)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-5Ts_i164c Read more »

In Matthew Arnold's essay on 'The French Theatre' (1879) he urges on the movement to found a national theatre and fancifully imagines French comediens departing London and passing 'along the Strand... I see a fugitive vision of delicate features under a shower of hair and a cloud of lace, and hear the voice of Mlle. Sarah Bernhardt saying in its most caressing tones to the Londoners: 'The theatre is irresistible, organize the theatre!' This phrase was for decades to be the call to arms for the movement to found the National. Read more »

Photo taken at night of the South Bank Centre from Waterloo Bridge

Article titled ‘London to the Student’ from The King’s College Review, 1914, pp.3-4.

King's College London Archives (Ref: K/SER1/63), June 1914, King’s College Review, Vol.15-16 No.2, article titled ‘London to the Student’ by Anlàf H.