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Peacock Theatre, Kingsway, London

Formerly The London Opera House / National Theatre of England / Stoll Theatre / Royalty Theatre

Above - The Peacock Theatre in October 2006.

The Peacock Theatre on London's Kingsway was originally built as the Royalty Theatre and opened in 1960. There is more on this Theatre furthur down on this page. The Royalty Theatre was built on the site of an earlier Theatre called the London Opera House which opened on the 13th of November 1911. The London Opera House was built by Bertie Crew for Oscar Hammerstein and had a stage of 44'8" by 78' and an auditorium capable of accommodating 2,660 people. This Theatre was later to be renamed the Stoll Theatre.

Above - A Postcard showing the London Opera House, Kingsway, from above.

The Theatre was enormous and consisted of an entire block on the recently constructed Kingsway, covering an area of over 24,000 square feet with a facade stretching 272 feet along the street and a height of 80 foot. The Theatre cost over £200,000 to build and was designed in the French Renaissance style with a Portland stone frontage. Along the roof of the Theatre were twelve statues by the sculptor Thomas Rudge and at either end were statues representing Melody and Harmony.

Above - The Stoll Theatre in 1958, shortly before its demolition - Courtesy Gerry Atkins.

The lavish auditorium was in the French Renaissance style, built on four levels, Stalls and three Balconies, with 22 boxes, 18 on three rows flanking either side of the proscenium and 4 at stalls level. There were also private boxes around the rear stalls and the front of the first circle.

Left - A Thumbnail image of the Stoll Theatre auditorium which can be seen in its original size at the photo sharing site Flickr here.

There were 13 dressing rooms in the Theatre which could apparently accommodate up to 76 artistes.

For a short period between 1914/15 the Theatre was known as the National Theatre of England, but when it was bought by Oswald Stoll in 1916 the Theatre was converted for Cinema use and reopened as the Stoll Picture Theatre on the 31st of April 1917.

Right - A programme for 'Songs and Dances of Spain' at the Stoll Theatre in 1952.

This proved to be a a success showing silent films with its own Jardine tubular pneumatic orchestral organ which was installed in 1927, and later a full orchestra. Later still the Theatre became home to regular Cine Variety shows until it was closed in September 1940.

The Stoll reopened on the 1st of September the following year, 1941, as a live Theatre and when it was taken over by Emile Littler in 1942 it was renamed the Stoll Theatre.

Right - The London Opera House, Kingsway, later to be renamed the Stoll Theatre.

The Stoll Theatre soon became home to lavish stage shows and ice spectaculars and was very successful until it was closed at the end of the run of 'Titus and Andronicus' with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh on the 4th of August 1957. The Theatre was then demolished the following year in 1958 to make way for a very sorry looking office block, quite why this was allowed is anybody's guess.

Above - Programme and Ticket Stubs for 'Rose Marie' at the Stoll Theatre for August the 7th 1942, and a Programme for 'Joan of Arc at the Stake' at the Stoll Theatre in 1954.

The Royalty Theatre
Later the Peacock Theatre

As a consolation, after the magnificent Stoll Theatre was demolished, a new smaller Theatre, The Royalty Theatre, was constructed in the basement of the office block which replaced it. This new Theatre opened in 1960 with a capacity of 1,000. This should not be confused with the Royalty Theatre in Dean Street.

Right - The Peacock Theatre in 2005, built as the Royalty Theatre in 1960 on the site of the former London Opera House / Stoll Theatre - Photo M.L. 05.

Never a very successful Theatre, the Royalty eventually found a use as a TV studio for 'This is Your Life,' but was later bought by the London School of Economics and renamed the Peacock Theatre. Here Sadler's Wells' found a home whilst its own Theatre was being rebuilt.

The Peacock is now in use as a lecture Theatre by day and puts on various productions at night including occasional Saldler's Wells' productions.

The Theatre is also home to regular Christmas pantomimes such as 'The Snowman' a perennial favourite at this Theatre.

London's West End Theatres

Adelphi Aldwych Apollo Apollo Victoria Arts Cambridge Comedy Criterion Dominion Drury Lane Duchess Duke Of Yorks Fortune Garrick Gielgud Haymarket Her Majesty's London Coliseum London Palladium Lyceum Lyric New Ambassadors 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