The Alexandra Theatre, Station Street, Birmingham

Formerly The Lyceum Theatre, John Bright Street

Birmingham Index

Above - The Lyceum Theatre, Birmingham - From an illustration in the Playgoer of 1901 / 1902 - Courtesy Iain Wotherspoon.

The Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham's Station Street, originally opened as the Lyceum Theatre on the 27th of May 1901. The Theatre was designed by the architects Owen and Ward and built at a cost of £10,000 and it's original entrance was on John Bright Street.

The Lyceum was unsuccessful and was sold only a year later to Lester Collingwood for £4,450 and renamed the Alexandra Theatre, reopening on the 22nd of December 1902 with a performance of 'The Fatal Wedding.' Sadly Collingwood was killed in a car accident in 1910 and so the following year Leon Salberg took over the Theatre.

Right - Poster for the Leon Salberg Pantomime 'Bo-Peep' at the Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham on Boxing Day, Dec 26th. Undated but probably 1925 as the previous year the same production with a similar cast was performing at the Nottingham Hippodrome. - Courtesy Stephen Wischhusen.

In 1927 Salberg started his own Alexandra Repertory Company at the Theatre which performed twice nightly performances for many years.

In 1935 the Theatre was rebuilt at a cost of £40,000 with an Art Deco auditorium. In 1938 Salberg died at the Theatre during a performance of 'Devonshire Cream,' and his son Derek Salberg took over and remained there until he retired in 1977.

In 1968 the main entrance, which was originally situated on John Bright Street, was changed when a new entrance was built to the designs of the John Madin Design Group.

The Alexandra Theatre is currently run by LiveNation and it's own website can be found here.

If you have any more information or images for this Theatre that you are willing to share, please Contact me...

 

 

 

Web www.arthurlloyd.co.uk