Building   

Lyceum Theatre

Categories: Theatre

A theatre with this name has been in the locality since 1765. The present site opened on 14th July 1834 to a design by Samuel Beazley. In 1904 the facade and portico were retained but the main building was redesigned by Bertie Crewe.
It closed in 1939 and avoided demolition twice. In the 1950s it became a ballroom and was eventually permanently re-opened as a theatre in 1996, specializing in the production of large musicals.

There is a description of a visit to the Lyceum in the 1919 Pilgrimage 2 by Dorothy Richardson (Virago), starting on page 186 with: "Last week when she had had to ask, she had not noticed the words printed on the side of the passage that showed as you came down the Strand. The pavement was clear for moment, and she rounded the near angle and ran home down the passage without slackening her pace, her half-crown ready in her hand, a Lyceum pittite."

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:
Lyceum Theatre

Commemorated ati

Lyceum Theatre

Edgar Allan Poe's maternal grandparents performed as actors at this theatre, ...

Read More

Other Subjects

Fortune Theatre - EC1

Fortune Theatre - EC1

Knowledge of London says: "One of the earliest theatres, the Fortune Theatre . . . was first opened in 1600 by Philip Henslowe and Edward Allen {Alleyn}. It burnt down in 1621 and was rebuilt soon ...

Building, Theatre

2 memorials
Equity

Equity

UK Trade Union representing professional performers and other creative workers.

Group, Cinema, Community / Clubs, Music / songs, Theatre, TV & Radio

1 memorial
Globe Theatre, Southwark

Globe Theatre, Southwark

Created when the lease ran out for The Theatre in 1597 so the building was dismantled and rebuilt across the Thames as The Globe. Closed by the Puritans and pulled down in 1644. The reconstruction...

Building, Theatre

6 memorials
Curtain Theatre

Curtain Theatre

This, the second English purpose-built playhouse was erected very close to the first, The Theatre, and run by the same man, Burbage.  Not named for the modern drape on a proscenium arch, but for it...

Building, Theatre

2 memorials
Members of the original National Theatre company

Members of the original National Theatre company

The National Theatre company was founded in July 1962 and the first performance was given at the Old Vic on 22 October 1963.There is a permanent exhibition about the history of the National Theatre...

Group, Theatre

1 memorial