Recommended
Books
Old
Theatres of the Midlands
Terry
Kirtland's 'Old Theatres of the Midlands,' with a foreword
by Ken Dodd, is a fascinating and well illustrated book
looking at the many Theatres, past and present, that have
been part of the Midland's Theatrical scene. Terry details
each Theatre's history and illustrates them with a plethora
of wonderful images you probably won't have seen before.
Highly recommended.
Available from the Old
Theatres Website for £10 plus P&P.
British
Music Hall - An Illustrated History
Richard
Anthony Baker's new 300 page illustrated book on British
Music Hall comes highly recommended for newcomers and
experts alike.
Click the cover to buy the book at Amazon.co.uk
Lions Comiques!
Peter
Honri's new book on British Music Hall's Lion Comiques.
65 pages on Britains top Music Hall performers including
Arthur Lloyd, George Leybourne, and G. H. Macdermott,
and their female counterparts.
Click the cover to buy the book at Amazon.co.uk.
Fantasies
of Empire
Fantasies
of Empire: The Empire Theatre of Varieties and the Licensing
Controversy of 1894 (Studies in Theatre History &
Culture). 290 factual pages on the Empire, Leicester Square
with many illustrations.
Click the cover to buy the book at Amazon.co.uk
Guide
to British Theatres
Please
note that I have been generously granted permission to
use some extracts from the indispensable
book 'The
Theatres
Trust Guide To British Theatres 1750 -1950,
John Earl & Michael Sell',on
this website. However, these extracts are copyright and
should not be furthur re-produced without the express
permission of the Publishers.The
book is available from the publishers, A&C Black (tel
01480 212666).
Click
the cover to buy the book at Amazon.co.uk
British
Theatres and Music Halls
This
book outlines the history of theatres and music halls
from the late sixteenth century to the present time, noting
changing fashions in entertainment and evolving official
attitudes to safety that have, at various times, influenced
the architectural character of the buildings. Particular
attention is given to the thirty-five years before the
First World War, when music hall and variety entertainment
developed rapidly, accompanied by a masive surge in theatre
building. The account is enlivened with illustrations
of theatres, their architects and their audiences.
Click
the cover to buy the book at Amazon.co.uk
London's
Theatres
For
a fascinating read on the current state of all of London's
West End Theatres with wonderful pictures by Alberto Arzoz,
I heartily recommend 'London's Theatres'.
Click
the cover to buy the book at Amazon.co.uk
Coventry's
Forgotten Theatre: The Theatre Royal and Empire
Ted
Bottle is the author of 'Coventry's Forgotten Theatre,
The Theatre Royal and Empire'
published by Badger Press, in which he describes the Theatre's
fascinating history
in detail and includes glimpses of other Coventry Theatres
and Music Halls, with an informative background of nineteenth
Century English Provincial Theatre.
Click
the cover to buy the book at Amazon.co.uk
Mr Phipp's Theatre: The
Sensational Story of Eastbourne's Royal Hippodrome
I
highly recommend this new book by Mark Jones and John
Pick which describes in detail "The Sensational Story
of Eastbourne's Royal Hippodrome" - formerly Eastbourne
Theatre Royal. The books sets the story against a social
history of the town and contains a Foreword by Peter Longman,
director of The Theatres Trust
C lick the cover to buy
the book at Amazon.co.uk.
Scene/Unseen
This
new book celebrates the working buildings at the heart
of the British theatrical industry. Focusing on the theatres
in the West End, it looks at their architecture and history
as well as examining what it is that constitutes a West
End theatre.
Apart
from the expected wonderful pictures of Auditoriums, and
the Grand Entrances and Bars, this book has a plethora
of pictures of the hidden areas inside London's West End
Theatres, including The Grid, Fly Tower, Understage, Wardrobe,
Stage Management Areas, Dressing Rooms, Stage Doors, Lighting
and Sound, even a Thunder Run. Highly Recommended. M.L.
2004.
Click
the cover to buy the book at Amazon.co.uk
