Peacock Theatre facts for kids
The Peacock Theatre (once known as the Royalty Theatre) is a famous theatre in London's West End. It's located on Portugal Street, close to Aldwych. This theatre has 999 seats and is owned by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). The LSE uses the theatre for important lectures, public talks, conferences, and open days.
The LSE works closely with Sadler's Wells, a main centre for contemporary dance in London. They have a special agreement to bring many dance companies to the Peacock Theatre. This means the theatre often hosts exciting dance performances, ballet shows, pop concerts, and award ceremonies. The stage is about 11 metres long and 10 metres wide.
Peacock Theatre in 2017
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| Address | Kingsway London, WC2 United Kingdom |
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| Coordinates | 51°30′52″N 0°07′05″W / 51.514444°N 0.118056°W |
| Public transit |  Holborn |
| Owner | London School of Economics |
| Capacity | 999 |
| Current use | Also a lecture theatre |
| Production | Sadler's Wells productions in repertory |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 13 November 1911 |
| Rebuilt | 1960 |
| Architect | Bertie Crewe |
| Website | |
| http://www.peacocktheatre.com | |
Contents
History of the Peacock Theatre
Early Theatres on This Site
A theatre has stood on this spot since the 1600s. It was first known as Gibbon's Tennis Court. Later, it was called the Vere Street Theatre. On December 8, 1660, Mrs. Hughes made history here. She became the first known woman to act on a London stage in a play called Othello. The theatre company left in 1663. The building was later destroyed by a fire in 1809.
In the early 1900s, new roads like Aldwych and Kingsway were built. This made the land between Portugal Street and Sardinia Street available. A theatre owner from New York, Oscar Hammerstein I, decided to build a new theatre here. He hired Bertie Crewe to design it in a grand style.
The new theatre opened on November 13, 1911. It was called the London Opera House. It had a very large stage and could hold 2,660 people. It was hard for the opera house to attract audiences. This was because the Royal Opera House was already very popular. From 1914 to 1915, it became the National Theatre of England.
In May 1915, the theatre hosted a special opera season. It showed the first English performance of Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades. It also introduced Tamaki Miura, the first Japanese singer to play Madama Butterfly.
The Stoll Theatre Era
Oswald Stoll bought the theatre in 1916. He renamed it the Stoll Theatre. For a while, it was also known as the Stoll Picture Theatre. It showed both live acts and movies until the 1950s. Many famous shows played here. Rose-Marie was performed in 1942. Kismet and Stars on Ice followed in 1947.
A special version of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess came here in 1952. In 1954, Joan of Arc at the Stake was produced, starring Ingrid Bergman. The Stoll Theatre closed on August 4, 1957. It was then pulled down to make way for a new office building.
The Current Building: Royalty and Peacock Theatre
The theatre you see today was built in 1960. It was smaller than the old one. It was named The Royalty Theatre. It was the first new West End theatre built since 1931. The first show was a play called The Visit.
Later, in 1961, the movie company MGM rented the theatre. They showed the film Ben Hur here. It ran for many months. After that, Mutiny on the Bounty was shown.
The theatre was then set up to show special Cinerama films. These films used three projectors to create a very wide picture. It showed movies like The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm. Later, it showed It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.
The Royalty Theatre had some successful live shows too. These included Oh! Calcutta! and Bubbling Brown Sugar in the late 1970s. It was also used as a TV studio for the show This Is Your Life. Eventually, the London School of Economics bought the theatre. They renamed it the Peacock Theatre.
When Sadler's Wells Theatre was being rebuilt in 1996, the company moved to the Peacock Theatre. After their new theatre opened in 1998, the Peacock became a main dance venue for Sadler's Wells. Today, the theatre is shared. The London School of Economics uses it during the day. Sadler's Wells uses it in the evenings for amazing dance productions.
The Peacock Theatre's Ghost Story
The Peacock Theatre is famous for a very unusual ghost story. People say a dolphin named 'Flipper' haunts the theatre. The story goes that a dolphin was kept in a tank under the stage in the 1970s and died there.
However, this isn't quite true! Two dolphins, named Pennie and Pixie, were indeed kept in a tank at the theatre. This was for a show called 'The Royalty Folies'. But neither of these dolphins died at the theatre. When the show finished, they were moved safely to a dolphinarium in East Asia.
The old tank and its lifting equipment are still under the stage. Many visitors say they hear strange squeaking sounds there. It sounds a bit like a crying baby. One idea is that the noise comes from the London Underground Piccadilly line trains. The old Aldwych train tunnel used to pass very close to the theatre's basement.
See also
- List of London theatres
- List of West End musicals
- List of notable musical theatre productions
- Musical theatre
