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______________________________________________________________________________________________________ The Garrick Theatre, Charing Cross Road, London
Above - The Garrick Theatre during the run of 'Rock
of Ages' in March 2013 - Photo M.L.
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   The
Garrick Theatre opened on the 24th of April 1889
with a play called 'The Profligate' by A. W. Pinero. The Theatre backs
onto The Duke Of York's Theatre and
was designed by Walter Emden and C.
J. Phipps, and built by Messrs Peto with deep excavations so that
the back of the Dress Circle would be level with the street. This caused
some problems because an old river known in Roman times was discovered
to be running through the land and held up construction considerably.
At one point it seemed that the Theatre might have had to be given up
on altogether but eventually it did get finished. |
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Left - A Programme detail for ' The Bishop's Move' at The Garrick Theatre 1902. Two days after the opening of the Garrick Theatre, The Stage printed a review of the building in their April 26th edition which said:- 'The style of Mr Hare's new theatre is classic. The whole of the Charing Cross Road front is executed in Portland Stone and Bath Stone and has a long frontage of 140 feet. |
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Left - A Programme detail for ' Rejane' at The Garrick Theatre early 1900s. Right - A Programme detail for ' Pilkerton's Peerage' at The Garrick Theatre 1902. The saloon on the foyer opens on to a broad balcony facing on to Charing Cross Road, the balcony being covered with an arcade... |
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Above - A Mid 1920s Seating Plan for the Garrick Theatre. Note the missing Gallery which is still there but has been unused now for over 60 years. |
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Left - Two Garrick Theatre programmes; ' The Wedding Guest', 1900, and ' Whitewashing Julia' in early 1903. Right - An early 1940s programme for ' Madame Louise' at The Garrick Theatre. The ceilings are of a highly ornamental character, the whole of these decorations being in the Italian Renaissance style. To every part of the house there are two separate means of exit, ten in all.' The above text in quotes was first published in The Stage, April 26th 1889. The ERA also printed a review of the building a week before its opening in their April 17th 1889 edition which said:- 'The house consists of four tiers, pit, stalls, dress circle, upper circle and gallery, and will hold about 1500 persons. The auditorium is decorated in Italian Renaissance style, the ornamental work being in high bold relief. The proscenium opening is formed by groups of columns on either side of the first proscenium box, the general form of the theatre being after that of Covent Garden, with four openings forming a square, supporting in their centre a circular dome. The box front of the dress circle tier is divided by groups of cupids supporting shields crowned with laurels, each shield bearing the name of a celebrated author.' The above text in quotes was first published in the ERA, April 17th 1889. |
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Above - An early Entrance Token for the Garrick Theatre - Courtesy Alan Judd - David Garrick, who the Theatre was named after, was born in 1717 and died in 1779 and it is unclear what the 1830 date on the Token refers to, perhaps you know. |
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Right - 1905 Postcard for The Garrick Theatre. After the Second World War began the Theatre was tried out as a 'Forces Theatre' but this failed and the Garrick closed and didn't reopen until September of 1941 with a play called 'Room V'. After this though the Theatre has had many successes. The Garrick Theatre is currently owned and run by Nimax Theatres whose own website can be found here. |
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Above - The Garrick Theatre whilst in production for 'Amy's View' in October 2006.
Above - The Garrick Theatre during the run of 'Zorro' in February 2009 - Photo M.L.
Above - The Garrick Theatre, newly painted and displaying signage for 'Chicago' which transferred from the Cambridge Theatre in October 2011 for a November 7th reopening at the Garrick Theatre - Photo M.L. |
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Adelphi Aldwych Ambassadors Apollo Apollo Victoria Arts Cambridge Criterion Dominion Drury Lane Duchess Duke Of Yorks Fortune Garrick Gielgud Harold Pinter Haymarket Her Majesty's London Coliseum London Palladium Lyceum Lyric New London Noel Coward / Albery Novello Old Vic Palace Peacock Phoenix Piccadilly Playhouse Prince Edward Prince of Wales Queen's Royal Opera House Savoy Shaftesbury St. Martin's Trafalgar Studios / Whitehall Vaudeville Victoria Palace Wyndham's
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The
Garrick's auditorium was constructed on four levels, Stalls and Pit,
Dress Circle, Upper Circle, and Gallery, and was quoted as being able
to seat 1,500 on its opening by the 
The
theatre is entered on the dress circle level, which is reached after
passing through the outer vestibule by a large inner vestibule. A striking
object in this is a handsome oil painting copy of the celebrated portrait
of Garrick. From this, by a staircase on either side, the stalls are
entered; and from it, by a staircase, the foyer level, with its refreshment
saloon and smoke room, is approached. 
...The
floor of the vestibule is laid with mosaic and that of the entrance
hall and saloons in marquetry, and they are surrounded by dados of polished
walnut in panels, the upper part of the walls being divided by marble
pilasters, the panels thus formed being filled with mirrors and decorations
in relief. 
The
Garrick Theatre was very nearly destroyed in 1934 when plans were prepared
to convert the building into a so called 'Super Cinema'. An architect
was even named and a rebuilding date given but thankfully this plan
never came to fruition and the Theatre survives much in its original
state to this day.
