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Toole's Theatre

1895 disestablishments in England19th century in LondonCharles J. Phipps buildingsFormer buildings and structures in the City of WestminsterFormer music hall venues in the United Kingdom
Former theatres in LondonPages containing links to subscription-only contentTheatres completed in 1840Use British English from May 2015
Toole's theatre façade 1882
Toole's theatre façade 1882

Toole's Theatre, was a 19th-century West End building in William IV Street, near Charing Cross, in the City of Westminster. A succession of auditoria had occupied the site since 1832, serving a variety of functions, including religious and leisure activities. The theatre at its largest, after reconstruction in 1881–82, had a capacity of between 650 and 700. As the Charing Cross Theatre (1869–1876) the house became known for bills offering a mixture of drama, burlesque and operetta. Among the authors of its burlesques were W. S. Gilbert and H. B. Farnie. Its stars included Lydia Thompson, Lionel Brough and Willie Edouin. In 1876 Thompson and her husband, Alexander Henderson, became lessees of the theatre and renamed it the Folly Theatre. They continued the theatre's customary mix of operetta and burlesque. Their greatest successes were with English adaptations of French opéras bouffes and opéras comiques, most conspicuously Les cloches de Corneville, which began its record-breaking run (705 performances) at the Folly in 1878. In 1879 the comic actor J. L. Toole took over the lease. In 1881 he changed the name to Toole's Theatre and had the building substantially reconstructed. He continued the policy of staging burlesques, but introduced more non-musical comedies and farces. Among the authors who wrote for the theatre were John Maddison Morton, F. C. Burnand and Henry Pottinger Stephens; composers included George Grossmith and Edward Solomon. The theatre was important for beginning the professional careers of many actors, writers and actor-managers. Among the playwrights whose early works were presented at Toole's were Arthur Wing Pinero and J. M. Barrie. Future stars who were members of the company as beginners included Kate Cutler, Florence Farr, Seymour Hicks, Irene and Violet Vanbrugh and Lewis Waller. The lease of the theatre expired in 1895, and the lessor, the Charing Cross Hospital, did not renew it. The theatre was demolished in 1896.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Toole's Theatre (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Toole's Theatre
Northumberland Street, City of Westminster Covent Garden

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N 51.507466 ° E -0.122981 °
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Charing Cross Railway Station

Northumberland Street
WC2N 5DA City of Westminster, Covent Garden
England, United Kingdom
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Toole's theatre façade 1882
Toole's theatre façade 1882
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Watergate Theatre, London

The Watergate Theatre in London existed in 1949-56, located on Buckingham Street, Westminster. In 1949 Elizabeth Denby, together with the theatre director and playwright Velona Pilcher, the writer Elizabeth Sprigge, and Jane Drew converted a site at 29 Buckingham Gate, originally a Chinese restaurant destroyed in World War II during the Blitz, to create a performing space for their theatre club. This consisted of two club rooms, and a 70-seat theatre. In 1950 plans were made to increase the seating to 100, and for the walls to display murals designed by Marc Chagall. In 1950 Chagall started work on two studies for the projected murals – 'The Dance and the Circus' and 'The Blue Circus'. After Pilcher's death in 1952, Chagall gave his murals to the Tate Gallery, and the theatre was taken over by the New Watergate Theatre Club.In September 1950 it staged the premiere of George Bernard Shaw's Farfetched Fables, the last work Shaw completed, and it also staged the English premiere of August Strindberg's The Great Highway, in a translation by Sprigge. That year also saw the staging and almost runaway success of Pablo Picasso's short play, Desire caught by the Tail in the translation by Roland Penrose. In 1951 it presented a production of Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors performed by the Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club and directed by John Barton.Several revues were staged at the Watergate Theatre, including Sandy Wilson's See You Later (1951) featuring Dulcie Gray and with Donald Swann playing the piano, and John Cranko's Cranks (1955, featuring Anthony Newley and with music by John Addison) and setting by John Piper.Given notice that 29 Buckingham Gate was due to be demolished as part of the Strand Improvement Scheme, the New Watergate moved to the Comedy Theatre in Panton Street in 1956.