FAMOUS THEATRE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23275, 18 February 1939, Page 14

FAMOUS THEATRE

THE; LONDON LYCEUM SALE FOR DEMOLITION ! IRVING'S DAY RECALLED Independent Cable Service (Received February 17, 9.10 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 17 The historic Lyceum Theatre, Lon'don, has been sold and will be demolished. A block of flats and offices jvill be erected on the site. ' / ______ ! The Lyceum Theatre, in Wellington p'Street, • Strand, was made famous by •Sir Henry Irving who, as actor-man-ager, appeared there many years in ■succession, with Miss Ellen Terry as -his leading lady. The approximate Seating capacity is 2814. Many_ lavish productions were staged there in Irving's day (IS/S-QS), including ' Faust, ";with its spectacular Brocker scene, "The Bells" (which ran for 151 nights), and various Shakespearean plays. The first Lyceum was opened about 1772, on site of Exeter House, as an academy of arts. It was transformed into a theatre in 1794 by Samuel Arnold, composer, but he failed "to obtain a licence. In 1802 it housed for a while Madame Tussaud's waxworks. On the destruction of Drury Lane Theatre by fire in 1809 the Lyceum was first used as a theatre anu the Drury Lane Company performed there until 1812. In 1816' Samuel .'Jasper Arnold a son of Samuel -Arnold, acquired a 99 years' lease. He ■bought some adjoining property and built a substantial new theatre. This ■was burned down in 1830 and a new building was opened in 1834. From 1847 to 1855 Charles Matthews the ' Younger, and his wife, Madame Vestris, had control. In 1871 came an American manager, who was followed by Irving. ■ In 1898 the Lyceum passed into the hands of'a limited liability company, and in 1903 it was cemverted into a music-hall. Reconstruction followed and it was reopened as a variety theatre, but it returned to drama and melodrama in 1907. For two and ahalf years, from 1920, it was closed owing to a quarrel between the lessees, two brothers, Walter and Harry Melville. i It was opened again in 1923.