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Lyric Theatre Shaftesbury - Information & History

The Lyric Theatre is situated on Shaftesbury Avenue and is the oldest surviving Victorian Theatre on the Avenue. The Lyric Theatre first opened its doors on the 17th of December 1888 with a comic opera called 'Dorothy' by B.C. Stephenson. This production had already been a success at the Prince of Wales Theatre where it had run for 817 performances before it transferred to the Lyric Theatre.

The Lyric Theatre was designed by the theatre architects of the day, Messrs. C.J. Phipps, and was built for Henry J. Leslie, who financed the project from the profits and proceeds from the performance of 'Dorothy'. These apparently netted him over £100,000, a somewhat speculative investment and gamble based upon the continuing success of the production at the Lyric Theatre.

The Lyric Theatre was the second theatre to be constructed on the newly created Shaftesbury Avenue, the first being the old Shaftesbury Theatre which opened only 2 months before the Lyric Theatre. The London Pavilion, which opened 3 years earlier in 1885, can lay claim to be the very first on the avenue as the majority of its frontage is on Shaftesbury Avenue, although its main entrance is situated on Piccadilly Circus.

The Lyric Theatre is today one of 4 theatres in a row on Shaftesbury Avenue, the others being The Apollo, The Geilgud & Queens Theatres. The Lyric Theatre's stage doors and dressing rooms are on Great Windmill Street right next to the Windmill Theatre's main entrance.

Some interesting facts about the Lyric Theatre, namely:

• The safety curtain at the Lyric Theatre used to be operated by water which was pumped in from the Thames to the West End Theatres to operate hydraulically the lifts and all manor of heavy machinery. It is now operated via an electric pump but can also be operated manually by two people at a time, although it's a very labour intensive job and very slow;
• The Lyric Theatre's stage was fitted with a large revolving facility which is still operable today either by electric motors or by hand. It is rarely, if ever, used due to its antiquity and slowness. The stage at the Lyric Theatre is quite large with a width of 29'6" and a depth of 36'.
• The Lyric Theatre's stage now occupies what used to be a very residential property belonging to Dr William Hunter the anatomist, which was constructed in 1766. Part of that property can still be seen behind the Lyric Theatre's façade in Windmill Street, where the house can be clearly seen. The property has a Blue Plaque to commemorate the importance of who originally lived there.
• The Lyric Theatre's auditorium was originally designed with a seating capacity of 1,306, consisting of a Stalls and Pit at the rear [cheap bench seating], Dress Circle, Upper Circle and Gallery. This has been reduced over the years with more generous spacing and abolition of the pit benches and the seating capacity is now a more modest 951. The Theatre's Freehold is now owned by the Theatres Trust.
• The Lyric Theatre had a large basement which used to stretch underneath Shaftesbury Avenue and consisted of crew rooms, offices and storage areas. These belonged to the theatre even though shops stood directly upon them. This entire section was sold off after the abolition of the Greater London Council in 1986. This has restricted the Lyric Theatre's potential considerably, as it is rather cramped for space, and now nowhere to expand as the Lyric now has considerably less space than it had before. Luckily the council didn't own the freehold of the stage area otherwise this could have been liquidised at the same time and meant the closure of the Lyric Theatre altogether.

Lyric Theatre Shaftesbury | Performances | Information | Directions | History

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