London Theatres List
London Shows List
Cheapest London Theatre tickets
London Theatre breaks
|
     London Theatre Tickets » List of London Theatres » Cambridge Theatre » History
Cambridge Theatre - Information & History
The Cambridge Theatre is located in the City of London EC2 and occupies a corner plot looking out onto the Seven Dials. The Seven Dials can be found to the north-west corner of Covent Garden market, and just to the south of Shaftesbury Avenue. The district now known as the Seven Dials comprise Earlham Street, Monmouth Street, Mercer Street, Shorts Gardens, Neal Street and Neal's Yard.
The Cambridge Theatre is constructed in steel faced in stone on 3 levels. The Cambridge was designed by Wimperis Simpson and Guthrie Architects, and constructed by Gee Walker Slater Ltd. The Architects' journal of the day said about the New Cambridge Theatre 'The site is a corner one and the new building presents a symmetrical design when looking at the corner, yet the subsidiary axis of the entrance hall is actually parallel to one of the boundary walls, a fact of which most visitors remain unconscious.
The Cambridge Theatre has a seating capacity of 1,275 on three tiers and first opened its doors on the 4th of September 1930 with a review called 'Charlot's Masquerade' by Ronald Jeans.
The Cambridge Theatre was one of several new theatres that opened that year, the first being The Prince Edward, followed by the Cambridge, then the Whitehall Theatre, The Adephi Theatre and finally the Leicester Square Theatre. That year was certainly a busy year in the West End with no less than 5 new Theatres opening their doors and vying for audiences' attention.
The shape of the Cambridge theatre is unusual as it occupies a corner plot and it has a sleek steel construction, which was somewhat revolutionary at the time, and a smooth stone clad façade. The Cambridge Theatre consisted of Metal Crittal type windows and was very modern in its construction techniques and forward thinking.
Following the Second World War the Cambridge went through a refurbishment which wasn't very flattering and, in an attempt to change the ambience and atmosphere, the auditorium was covered in bright red paint and re lit with chandeliers and a huge central candelabra. This didn't really do the building justice and it wasn't until the late 1980's that the interiors were restored to more calming cream colour and most of the original lighting had been restored, although sadly not all of it.
Some memorable performances at the Cambridge Theatre include:
- 'A Night in Venice', which had a good run of 433 performances opening in 1944;
- From 1946 to 1948 the Cambridge Theatre staged a season of Opera and Ballet by Jay Pomero;
- 'Billy Liar', which opened in 1960 and ran for two years;
- Tommy Steele found great success at the Cambridge Theatre with 'Half a Sixpense' which ran for 677 performances;
- And Ingrid Bergman was also at the Cambridge Theatre in 1965 with 'A Month In The Country.'
Unfortunately the Cambridge Theatre then fell out of favour with audiences and, with continued financial pressures it was decided to convert the Cambridge to a Cinema in 1967 for a year.
The Cambridge was also home to a great many short but successful plays, many of them were revivals. 'Peter Pan' ran at the Cambridge Theatre for the second time in November 1987, 'The Rink' in 1988 was somewhat of a failure, but 'Budgie' in 1988 was a success, and 'Return 'To The Forbidden Planet' ran for three years from 1989. Then Andrew Lloyd Webbers 'The Beautiful Game', a new musical by Webber and Ben Elton, in 2000 was not the success they had hoped. Then productions of 'Fame,' in 1995 and 2000, which seems to be constantly on tour around the West End Theatres, did well as usual.
Then in 2000 the stage Musical by the seventies popular band Madness called 'Our House' ran for a year before the controversial show about the American reality chat show host 'Jerry Springer' came to the Cambridge Theatre in 2003 and was a great success.
Showing: Matilda the Musical
Tuesday 25th October 2011 to Monday 2nd January 2012 Cambridge Theatre | Performances | Information | Directions | History
|
|
