Building    From 8/11/1924 

Fortune Theatre - WC2

Categories: Theatre

Designed by Ernest Schaufelberg, this was the first London theatre to be built after the end of WW1, and one of the first buildings in London to to use ferro-concrete construction. Built on the site of the Albion tavern. Due to a right of way the passage to the Crown Court Church of Scotland is buried in the fabric of the theatre, on the south-west side. One of the smaller theatres in London, it was commissioned by Laurence Cowen who also wrote the opening play, Sinners!, which sadly ran for only 2 weeks. 'Beyond The Fringe' initially ran here.

Originally named the Fortune Thriller Theatre, possibly after the Fortune Theatre in EC1. Some sources give August as the opening month but Arthur Lloyd convincingly gives November.

Sources include: Theatre-Tickets.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Fortune Theatre - WC2

Commemorated ati

Fortune Theatre - WC2

{Above a stylised picture of two performers:} Fortune Theatre. A 'jewel of a ...

Read More

Laurence Cowen

The dates on the plaque indicate the anticipated period of construction, but ...

Read More

Other Subjects

Michael Flanders

Michael Flanders

Broadcaster, writer and performer. Born Michael Henry Flanders in Hampstead. He served in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve, but contracted poliomyelitis and spent the rest of his life as a wheelcha...

Person, Literature, Music / songs, Theatre, TV & Radio, Wales

1 memorial
Richard D'Oyly Carte

Richard D'Oyly Carte

Theatre impresario. Born Greek Street. Suggested that Sullivan should work on Gilbert's "Trial by Jury" and staged the first performance in 1875. In 1879 D'Oyly Carte's Opera Company was formed and...

Person, Commerce, Music / songs, Seriously Famous, Theatre

5 memorials
Richard Berkeley Sutcliffe

Richard Berkeley Sutcliffe

From V&A: “Berkeley Sutcliffe was one of the leading stage designers of the mid 20th century. He was best known for his spectacular and amusing scenery and for the costumes which he designed fo...

Person, Art, Theatre

1 memorial
Herbert Campbell

Herbert Campbell

Music-hall artiste. Born Herbert Edward Story at 16 Hamilton Street, Kennington. He was famous for starring, for forty years, in the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane's Christmas pantomimes, predominantly ...

Person, Theatre

1 memorial
Grand Order of Water Rats

Grand Order of Water Rats

Show business charity with headquarters at The Water Rats Public House in the Gray's Inn Road.

Group, Music / songs, Philanthropy, Theatre, TV & Radio

8 memorials