The Palace Theatre is a theatre

Westcliff-on-Sea Westcliff-on-Sea (often abbreviated to Westcliff) is an inner city area of the city of Southend-on-Sea, in the City of Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is on the north shore of the lower Thames Estuary, about 34 ...

which is part of the city of

Southend-on-sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north ...

in the English county of

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

. The theatre presents a range of performances, including drama, music and both local and national touring companies. The theatre was built by Ward & Ward of London and was opened in October 1912. It was named the "Palace of Varieties" in November that year. In December it was renamed "The New Palace" and a small annexe at the back of the stage was built to facilitate projection for cinema. In the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...

the theatre mainly presented touring

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form ...

and

repertory A repertory theatre is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation. United Kingdom Annie Horniman founded the first modern repertory theatre in Manchester after withdrawin ...

companies. The theatre and its business continued through

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, however there were some financial troubles and a period of closure, and a number of companies held the lease of the theatre thereafter. In 1957 the Palace Theatre Club was created with the intention to protect the interests of the theatre and raise funds for it. In 1969 the Palace Theatre suffered a major financial crisis and was closed, however a petition by the Palace Theatre Club led to its reopening in 1970 and the establishment of the Palace Theatre Trust. After extensive redecorations in 1973 and 1986 and the addition of the adjacent building to the theatre as the Dixon Studio in 1980, in March 1999 the theatre was closed again, but was reopened in 2001 under new management. The theatre was closed in 2002 when the management left without explanation, however it reopened again in 2003 under the newly formed Southend Theatres, the result of a merger of the

Cliffs Pavilion Cliffs Pavilion is a theatre and concert venue on Station Road in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, England, a town within the city of Southend-on-Sea. It seats 1,630 and offers an assortment of variety acts. Building Work began on the original Cliff ...

and the Palace Theatre.

History

The Palace of Varieties

The theatre opened on Monday 21 October 1912 and named as the "Palace of Varieties" on 14 November. The theatre was built by Ward & Ward of London and was owned by Mr. Raymond of the Raymond Picture Company who also controlled 14 other cinemas and theatres. By the standards of the day, it was a modern building, claiming to be the only building of its time to be fitted so that "no matter from what part of the building spectators look up to the stage, there is a clear and uninterrupted view". It seated 1500 compared to 603 today.

The New Palace

In December 1912 the Theatre was renamed as "The New Palace", presenting a forerunner of the TV talent show '' Opportunity Knocks''. In 1919 Mrs Gertude Mouillot bought the theatre for £25,000, intending to open it as a cinema but owing to the steep "rake" of the circle, it was impossible to project pictures from the front. Accordingly a small annexe was constructed at the back of the stage and rear projection was used. Unfortunately this meant that any films shown had to be run all the way through on to a blank reel to make it the right way round for the audience and then re-run again afterwards to make it right for the next person hiring it. The annexe is still there today and greatly used. Between the two

World Wars A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

the theatre mainly presented touring ballet and repertory companies which included many famous stars for the day:

Ivor Novello Ivor Novello (born David Ivor Davies; 15 January 1893 – 6 March 1951) was a Welsh actor, dramatist, singer and composer who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. He was born into a musical ...

, Matheson Lang, John Clements, Ruth Draper, Lillian Braithwaite and Sybil Thorndike. Throughout the Second World War the theatre managed to generate an atmosphere of business as usual, and the building survived the air raids without serious damage.

The Palace Theatre Club

As a result of some financial troubles the theatre suffered a period of closure and in 1942 Mrs Mouilott presented the theatre to the Entertainment's manager for the

Southend Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

Corporation. The Harry Hanson Court Players, who included a newcomer in the name of

Dora Bryan Dora May Broadbent, (7 February 1923 – 23 July 2014), known as Dora Bryan, was a British actress of stage, film and television.

Financial crisis and redevelopment

Crisis came to the Palace in 1969 when money problems mounted and Haymarket Stage Productions announced their final show – ''The Last Laugh'', and the theatre then shut. The Palace Theatre Club swung into action and over 2000 signed a petition which was presented to the Council together with 1400 letters in support of the Club's campaign. A protest march through the streets was held. As a result in 1970 Southend Borough Council set up the Palace Theatre Trust which registered as a charity secured the task of establishing a repertory theatre in

. Ray Cooney opened the theatre with a production of ''Spider's Web'', and thereafter the

seasons were produced under three successive Artistic Directors: Tony Clayton, Leslie Lawton and Christopher Dunham, the last of whom spent over 25 years at the theatre. In 1973 Southend Council made generous donations to the Trust and the theatre was extensively redecorated. The theatre was designated as a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

on the 23 August 1974. In 1980 the theatre had an opportunity to obtain the property adjoining the west of the building and with considerable help from the Appeal committee set up to raise funds for the redevelopment, half the cost supplied by Southend Council and a contribution from the

Arts Council of England The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both h ...

, the foyer, courtyard, workshop and wardrobe were built together with the Dixon Studio – a smaller auditorium with space for up to 100 patrons. The box office was moved to the new foyer which contains a large public bar and a small bistro. The alterations had cost £314,000. The Palace re-opened in 1982 as the Palace Theatre Centre with a Gala Night performance of ''Cabaret''. In September of that year the Dixon opened with ''Duct for One''. In 1986 the theatre was re-wired and in 1987 it closed for three months whilst the main auditorium was restored to its

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

splendour. Some areas of seating were reupholstered, lighting upgraded and a new carpet with the theatre's own logo laid in the foyer. This was rather appropriate, for in October 1987 the theatre celebrated its 75th birthday. On 21 October 1992 the theatre celebrated its 80th birthday with a play specially commissioned. It was written by Michael Wilcox who spent his childhood in Westcliff. The incidental music was provided by Barrington Pheloung, a local composer.

Palace Theatre Repertory Company

In March 1999 the theatre closed again, but after only a short period of time Green & Lenagan were retained to operate and programme the theatre on behalf of the Trust, for a period of five years. Roy Marsden has been appointed as Artistic Director of the Palace Theatre Repertory Company and directs at least 5 in-house productions a year. In addition there are lively mix of visiting companies, local amateur societies, one nighters and Sunday concerts. As before the theatre often hosts local bands on Sunday nights, and with free entry the foyer is often full to capacity. The New Palace Theatre Company (Green & Lenagan) presented the first ever

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fiction ...

Theatre Festival it run from 8 May to 28 July 2001. The festival, featured all of Christie's 25 plays, including a semi-staged performance of the West End production of The Mousetrap using all of the actors of the West End cast of the 'World's Longest Running Play.' This was the first time The Mousetrap has been licensed in the UK outside of the West End since it launched in 1952. 25 actors for the 135 performances of all 25 of Agatha Christie's plays in a 12-week season to mark the 25th anniversary of the mystery writer's death. It is believed that the Palace Theatre holds the world record for performing Agatha Christie. The Dixon Studio complements the Main House with a wide range of performances by visiting small-scale touring theatre, dance and

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods or strings to move ...

companies. It also is used for some of the in-house productions and for workshops, talks, classes and educational work.

Renovation and Southend Theatres

On Saturday 29 June 2002 the Palace Theatre once again closed its doors to the public with its final performance by the

British Touring Shakespeare Company British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

with a modern and contemporary Production of ''

Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (c. 1173–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (121 ...

''. After only a short period, West End producers Green & Lenagan left the theatre without explanation, though there were many rumours in the local newspapers. After 9 months, The Palace Theatre was once again open, this time after important renovation work was carried out backstage to the sound and lighting equipment and the general fabric of the building. The theatre re-opened on 1 April 2003 under newly formed Southend Theatres, formed by merging

and The Palace Theatre. The Palace will no longer be a

theatre. The new format for The Palace is one of receiving smaller scale national tours, big name major productions and intimate one-night shows featuring prominent performers.

Notes

References

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External links

Official websiteUnofficial website
{{coord, 51.5438, 0.6919, type:landmark_region:GB-SOS, display=title Buildings and structures in Southend-on-Sea Theatres in Essex 1912 establishments in England