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The Woolwich Empire by John Earl 1998

When the Woolwich Empire closed in 1958, the site had been occupied by a theatre for 123 years without a break. In 1835, a portable cast iron-framed theatre was moved from Greenwich, where it had stood for two years, to a site in Beresford Street, Woolwich, where it was known first as the West Kent Theatre, then as the Duchess of Kent's. In 1836 it was replaced by a permanent building which, like most small theatres at that time, was rectangular, with a single balcony and a benched pit, set behind a narrow, stucco pedimented facade. It was then known as the Theatre Royal. The portable was presumably sold and erected elsewhere, but its subsequent history (if it had one) is unknown.

Above - The Auditorium of the Woolwich Empire from a 1922 programme for the Theatre - Courtesy John Earl.

In 1884 Frank Matcham, whose best years as a theatre architect were still to come, presented two designs for reconstruction, but neither of these was implemented. Some minor improvements may have been made in the 80s by a local man named J.O.Cook, but in 1892 Edward Clark, who had been one of the most active music hall designers of the crucial 1860-80 period, was called in to carry out a major reconstruction. Clark, by this time, near the end of his productive life, was not an innovative architect, but he had designed the first Metropolitan music hall in Edgware Road and he is also known to have been responsible for - or at least he carried out substantial works to - 14 other classic halls, including Forester's in Mile End and the Sun, Knightsbridge. His third design for the Woolwich theatre, dated December 1893, was executed. This raised and extended the existing Theatre Royal facade, reconstructed the auditorium with two balconies and provided the stage with a fly tower.

This first major reconstruction was commissioned by Samuel Barnard, who had taken over the licence in 1892. The building was officially the Royal, but known popularly thenceforth as Barnard's. In 1898, Barnard, who must have prospered, embarked on a further wholesale improvement campaign, this time employing the man who had prepared the unexecuted 1884 designs and who had since come to be recognised as the leading theatre architect of the time, Frank Matcham. On this occasion little more than the outside walls were left standing. Matcham was obviously working to a tight budget and the Royal remained externally much as Clark had left it in 1893, still incorporating some fabric of the pre-Victorian theatre. Internally it lacked the magnificence of Matcham's finest theatres, but it was pleasing and efficient, with excellent sight lines from every part of the house. Barnard described it to a licensing session in 1906 as 'not what you would call a high class theatre; it is a very nice building but at the same time it is used... by artisans and their wives who work in the Royal Arsenal... It is only a cheap theatre'.

Right - Programme for the Lew Lake revue 'The New Splinters' at the Woolwich Empire in August 1927, by the Les Rouges et Noirsat company, with music by David Hunter and lyrics by Douglas Furber. The programe cover shows an illustration of the auditorium and boxes - Courtesy John Earl.

The Barnards ran a number of theatres and music halls in south east London and west Kent. Sam, who remained in control until 1930, and David Barnard, who took over for a further two years, continued to hold a stage plays licence, saying that 'no variety season is run', but the bills were, nevertheless, extremely catholic and, as time went on, variety turns and bioscope shows became more frequent.

At the time of Sam Barnard's rebuilding, Woolwich could clearly have supported a big variety theatre, but the Royal site, squeezed between Beresford Street and a narrow lane called Ropeyard Rails, was too small for such a purpose. Matcham, in fact, designed a fantastic Moorish-style Grand music hall for a site in nearby Beresford Square, close enough to constitute a threat to the Royal, but it was never built. Competition eventually came from another Grand, later renamed Woolwich Hippodrome (built 1900) and the Century (Arsenal) Cinema, converted from a row of cottages on the corner of Beresford Street and the Square, but demand for entertainment in the garrison town was still brisk and the Royal managed to stay in business. As the Empire, it flirted for a time with films (back projection) but returned to variety when it was outclassed as a cinema by the Woolwich 'supers', the Granada and the Odeon, both of which opened in 1937. The Granada made all the local theatres look old-fashioned by mounting variety shows between the films on a stage that was in every way superior to the Empire's.

Left - Programme for 'Cinderella' at the Woolwich Empire in 1931 - Courtesy John Earl.

From 1932 the former Barnard's had been licensed to the Woolwich Empire Company. In February 1939 closure was announced, but another company took over, retaining the name Empire. The Empire Repertory Players presented a series of plays, farces and melodramas (including Todd Slaughter in 'Sweeney Todd') but four years later the fare was almost exclusively variety and revues.

Above - Three 1940s Programmes for the Woolwich Empire - Courtesy John Earl.

By the 1950s the Empire was hopelessly outdated and sadly run down. A steadily increasing number of strip shows gave it a semblance of life but here, as everywhere else, this was a policy of desparation, appealing to a dwindling and ageing audience.

Above - A 1950s Box Office Plan for the Woolwich Empire - Courtesy John Earl.

Above - A page from the Takings Book of the Woolwich Empire Theatre on a Wednesday in February 1952, the banked cash amounted to a miserable £40 - Courtesy John Earl.

The takings book for December 1951 to March 1952 (Shown Above) has survived and tells its own dismal story. The seating capacity was optimistically advertised as 1800, with the uncomfortable benched gallery (rarely opened) limited by the licence to 450.

Right - Poster for 'Sunset Strip' at the Woolwich Empire in the 1950s - Courtesy John Earl.

The 1951/2 Christmas show was a circus which ran for nearly a fortnight, followed by 'Snow White' for a week. The first night of 'Snow White' produced an attendance of 436 for the matinee, 294 for the first house and 194 for the second house. The top attendance achieved during the currency of the book was 929 for a Monday in March ('On the Sunny Side'), but for a first house for 'Beauties of 1952' on a Saturday in January only 120 ticket sales were recorded, 'papered' to a more respectable number by 98 complimentaries. The second house had 149 paying customers, with 100 complimentaries. Bar takings for this performance were £12, the banking total for the night being just over £122.

Even this was a healthy state of affairs, compared to what was to follow. In its last years the 'orchestra' was reduced to a solo piano and even the few good turns played to nearly empty houses. My wife and I went to see Nat Travers, the cockney comedian, at the Empire in 1953. We were alone in the front stalls. Travers was visibly touched to see that his audience (both of us) knew the words of his songs.

Left - In 1954 a return to drama was tried at the Woolwich Empire with a season of plays including this production of 'A Streetcar Named Desire' but it was not sustained and the Theatre had to return to variety to survive. - Courtesy John Earl.

In 1956 a diamond merchant bought the theatre for £3,500 as a gift for his girl friend, Frances Grayson, described in Press reports as 'fan dancer'. For reasons now difficult to fathom, a theatre chaplain was appointed. A funeral director would have been more appropriate. Under this regime 'Glamour Shows' were the normal fare. Following one short break in the tedious series the manager said 'As an experiment we tried to put on a nice type of show but the public wants something more spicy. We have been losing money... so the leggy shows start again next Monday'.

Above - Three 1950s Programmes for the Woolwich Empire - Courtesy John Earl.

In March 1957 the LCC's Public Control Department warned the proprietor that his licence might not be renewed. The star of the show, Peaches Page, had been seen to move on the stage without adequate covering (nudes at that time had to keep still). Page said 'I don't know what the fuss is about. My act is artistic... It's for red-blooded English gentlemen'. There were too few such gentlemen.

Left - Leaflet advertising the Daymar production of 'Skirts & Scanties' at the Woolwich Empire in 1951 Courtesy John Earl.

Takings continued to fall. As an added attraction, the management considered asking the glamour show girls to take turns serving at the bar, but Equity objected.

Right - Programme for a Frances Grayson production at the Woolwich Empire in 1957 - Courtesy John Earl.

The Empire closed in 1958 and was demolished in 1960, ending a history of well over 120 years of entertainment on this one site. Woolwich remains to this day without a purpose-built theatre. The final tragedy was followed by a farce. A modern wonder, the mechanical AutoStacker, rose on the site to solve the town's parking problems at a stroke. On the day it was opened by Princess Margaret, a car drove on to the lift platform and nothing happened. The AutoStacker was demolished some years later without ever having served the purpose it was designed for.

The above article on the Woolwich Empire Theatre was written by John Earl in 1998, and was very kindly sent for inclusion on this site by him in 2008.