The London Festival of Architecture brightens up each June, and this year the month-long celebration of our city’s grand designs continues to delight.
Most of interest to theatre-lovers are tours of two of London’s most celebrated theatres, the Lyceum (home to THE LION KING) and the Apollo Victoria (home to WICKED).
Running every Saturday morning to July 2nd at 11.00am (Lyceum) and 1030am (Apollo Victoria), these separate one-hour tours will take you into areas that the public usually don’t see, as well as regaling you with stories of the buildings’ colourful pasts.
Tickets are priced at £17.50 per person and can be booked here for the Apollo Victoria and for the Lyceum please contact Conor Hunt at conorhunt@theambassadors.com
The stunning Apollo Victoria Theatre is 90 this year, and celebrations include a rare chance to take a tour of the theatre’s foyers and auditorium. The next is on Saturday 8th February at 11.00am.
Opened as the New Victoria Theatre on 15th October 1930 , it was designed for Provincial Cinematograph Theatres(PCT) by William Edward Trent and Ernest Wamsley Lewis, seating over 2,500, this was a huge new entrant into London’s entertainment world .
The exteriors (two almost identical facades) are strongly Germanic and assume great authority on the street. The foyers and auditorium have nautical themes, with the fabulous auditorium resembling an undersea palace, filled with glass stalactites and a lavish attention to design detail. Designed to play the then-popular cine-variety (films plus short stage shows which bracketed the films), it had adequate stage and dressing room facilities for these purposes. When cinemas tailed off in popularity it was the stage facilities which saved the venue from demolition.
The cinematic legacy is a high capacity with excellent sightlines. In an extensive 2002 restoration, the auditorium was returned to its original glory with the original 3,500 auditorium lights being replaced by 88,000 LEDs, making it (as I believe) the first auditorium to be lit in this way.
The vast crowds which ebb and flow through the building at showtimes sometimes make it had to see details, so these limited-number tours are a great way to see the building without having to elbow your way through the masses.
Information from the theatre owner ATG states that “the tour lasts approximately 90 minutes. Tea, coffee and soft drinks will be offered. This tour will use routes that include steps.” Tickets are priced at £15 and can be obtained via the ATG website here.
Maybe I’ll see you there?
Read more about the theatre’s history at the Theatre trust website here
