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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.

Originally built as the London Opera House this Theatre opened on 13th November 1911. It was built by Bertie Crew for Oscar Hammerstein with a 44'8" by 78' stage and had a capacity of 2,660.

For a short period between 1914/15 the Theatre was known as the National Theatre of England but was bought by Oswald Stoll in 1916 and renamed the Stoll Theatre. This was also known for a time as the Stoll Picture Theatre which housed Cine Variety until the 1950s.

Right - The London Opera House

The Stoll Theatre closed on the 4th August 1957 and was demolished to make way for an office block, but a new Theatre, The Royalty Theatre, was constructed in the basement which opened in 1960 with a capacity of 1000.

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 Saldler's Wells' own West End Theatre by night.

Right - The Peacock Theatre in 2005 - Photo M.L. 05.

For more information about The Peacock Theatre please visit the Sadler's Wells' Website here...

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