The Little Theatre in the Adelphi was a 250-seat theatre in London, in a site to the south of the Strand. It was opened in 1910, damaged in a German air raid in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and rebuilt in 1919–20. German bombs again hit the theatre in 1941 so severely damaging it that it remained empty until it was demolished in 1949. The theatre was home to a wide variety of productions, from plays by

Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

and

Laurence Housman Laurence Housman (; 18 July 1865 – 20 February 1959) was an English playwright, writer and illustrator whose career stretched from the 1890s to the 1950s. He studied art in London and worked largely as an illustrator during the first years o ...

presented by

Gertrude Kingston Gertrude Kingston (born ''Gertrude Angela Kohnstamm''; 24 September 1862 – 7 November 1937) was an actress, an English actor-manager and artist. Early life Kingston was born in Islington in London, the daughter of merchant Heiman Kohnstamm a ...

, to

Grand Guignol The Théâtre du Grand-Guignol () was a theater in the Pigalle district of Paris (7, cité Chaptal). From its opening in 1897 until its closing in 1962, it specialized in horror shows. Its name is often used as a general term for graphic, amor ...

melodramas presented by

Sybil Thorndike Dame Agnes Sybil Thorndike, Lady Casson (24 October 18829 June 1976) was an English actress whose stage career lasted from 1904 to 1969. Trained in her youth as a concert pianist, Thorndike turned to the stage when a medical problem with her h ...

and

Lewis Casson Sir Lewis Thomas Casson (26 October 187516 May 1969) was an English actor and theatre director, and the husband of actress Dame Sybil Thorndike.Devlin, DianaCasson, Sir Lewis Thomas (1875–1969) ''The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' ...

revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatre, theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketch comedy, sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural pre ...

, heavyweight drama staged by

Nancy Price Nancy Price, CBE (3 February 1880 – 31 March 1970) was an English actress on stage and screen, author, animal welfare activist and theatre director. Her acting career began in a repertory theatre company before progressing to the London stage, ...

and her People's National Theatre company and Restoration comedy presented by

Herbert Farjeon Herbert (Bertie) Farjeon (5 March 1887 – 3 May 1945) was a major figure in the British theatre from 1910 until his death. He was a presenter of revues in London's West End, a theatre critic, lyricist, librettist, playwright, theatre manager and ...

History

1910 to 1920

The theatre was in a block, part of the original Adam Brothers' Adelphi development, between the Strand and the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

bounded by Adam Street, John Street (now John Adam Street) and Durham Street (now Durham House Street). The theatre was constructed in 1910 from a banking hall previously used by

Coutts Coutts & Co. () is a British private bank and wealth manager headquartered in London, England. Founded in 1692, it is the eighth oldest bank in the world. Today, Coutts forms part of NatWest Group's wealth management division. In the Channe ...

. The initial seating capacity was 250. The first lessee of the Little Theatre was the

actor-manager An actor-manager is a leading actor who sets up their own permanent theatrical company and manages the business, sometimes taking over a theatre to perform select plays in which they usually star. It is a method of theatrical production used co ...

, who had it equipped largely to her specification, the first British theatre to adopt lighting techniques, including "dimmer" lights, invented in the US. The theatrical newspaper '' The Era'' reported on the interior of the theatre: The prospectus for the new theatre announced: Kingston had intended to open with ''Pains and Penalties'', a new play by

, but the official censor declined to license its production because the theme – the divorce of

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830. At the time of his accession to the throne, h ...

and

Caroline of Brunswick Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (Caroline Amelia Elizabeth; 17 May 1768 – 7 August 1821) was List of British royal consorts, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Queen of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until her ...

– was uncomplimentary to the royal family. Instead, the theatre opened with Housman's translation in rhyming verse of

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

' ''

Lysistrata ''Lysistrata'' ( or ; Attic Greek: , ''Lysistrátē'', ) is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC. It is a comic account of a woman's mission to end the Peloponnesian War between Greek city ...

''. In January 1911 the child actor

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...

made his stage debut at the Little Theatre. The following month Kingston closed the theatre "owing to indisposition".

Lillah McCarthy Lillah, Lady Keeble OBE (born Lila Emma McCarthy; 22 September 1875 – 15 April 1960) was an English people, English actress and Actor-manager, theatrical manager. Biography Lila Emma McCarty was born in Cheltenham on 22 September 1875, the s ...

temporarily took over the management of the house in March 1911 and

had his first commercial success there, with ''

Fanny's First Play ''Fanny's First Play'' is a 1911 play by George Bernard Shaw. It was first performed as an anonymous piece, the authorship of which was to be kept secret. However, critics soon recognised it as the work of Shaw. It opened at the Little Theatre ...

'' in April. Kingston returned to the theatre in April 1912 to play Arkadina in the first London production of ''

The Seagull ''The Seagull'' () is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 in literature, 1895 and first produced in 1896 in literature#Drama, 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramati ...

''. During 1912, "the lessees having found that accommodation for cheaper seats is desirable", the theatre closed in mid-year while the original boxes were demolished. The roof was raised and four new boxes and a balcony were added, the latter offering unreserved seats at half-a-crown (12½p). The theatre reopened under Kingston's management with a revival of Shaw's ''Captain Brassbound's Conversion'' on 15 October, with Kingston in the role – originally played by

Ellen Terry Dame Alice Ellen Terry (27 February 184721 July 1928) was a leading English actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born into a family of actors, Terry began performing as a child, acting in Shakespeare plays in London, and toured ...

– of Lady Cicely Waynefleet. On 4 September 1917 a German bombing raid during the

so damaged the theatre that it remained empty until the end the war. The theatre was rebuilt in 1919–1920; the original plans were followed except that the boxes were dispensed with. New systems of stage lighting, heating and ventilation were installed. The theatre now had a seating capacity of 377.

1920 to 1949

The house reopened in February 1920, under the management of J. E. Vedrenne and Frank Vernon. The opening production was

Edward Knoblock Edward Knoblock (born Edward Gustavus Knoblauch; 7 April 1874 – 19 July 1945) was a playwright and novelist, originally American and later a naturalised British citizen. He wrote numerous plays, often at the rate of two or three a year, of whic ...

's war play ''

Mumsie ''Mumsie'' is a 1927 British silent drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Pauline Frederick, Nelson Keys and Herbert Marshall. It was adapted from the 1920 play of the same title by Edward Knoblock about a favourite son of a f ...

''. Later in the year

, her brother,

Russell Russell may refer to: People * Russell (given name) * Russell (surname) * Lady Russell (disambiguation) * Lord Russell (disambiguation) ** Bertrand Russell *Justice Russell (disambiguation) Places *Russell Island (disambiguation) *Mount Russel ...

and her husband

presented a two-year run of

melodramas at the Little Theatre.Morley, p. 384 The theatre historians

Mander and Mitchenson Raymond Mander (15 July 1911 – 27 December 1983) and Joe Mitchenson (4 October 1911 – 7 October 1992) were theatre historians and joint founders of a large collection of theatrical memorabilia. Both began their careers as actors, but what ...

record: The Little Theatre began presenting intimate revue in October 1922 when ''The Nine O’Clock Revue'' starring

Beatrice Lillie Beatrice Gladys Lillie, Lady Peel (29 May 1894 – 20 January 1989) was a Canadian-born British actress, singer and comedy performer. She began to perform as a child with her mother and sister. She made her West End debut in 1914 and soon gain ...

and

Morris Harvey Morris Harvey (25 September 187724 August 1944) was a British actor and writer. A renowned character actor, he also wrote for the stage, including material for Broadway theatre, Broadway revues, in which he also appeared. He was the stepfather of ...

was produced. It ran for 385 performances and was followed in October 1923 by ''The Little Revue Starts'' at Nine. It starred

Jack Hulbert John Norman Hulbert (24 April 189225 March 1978) was a British actor, director, screenwriter and singer, specializing primarily in comedy productions, and often working alongside his wife (Dame) Cicely Courtneidge. Biography Born in Ely, C ...

and

Cicely Courtneidge Dame Esmerelda Cicely Courtneidge (1 April 1893 – 26 April 1980) was an Australian-born British actress, comedian and singer. The daughter of the producer and playwright Robert Courtneidge, she was appearing in his productions in the West End ...

and ran for 196 performances. From 1932 to 1937 the house was the permanent home of the People's National Theatre under its manager

. Among her presentations in 1932 were

John Galsworthy John Galsworthy (; 14 August 1867 – 31 January 1933) was an English novelist and playwright. He is best known for his trilogy of novels collectively called '' The Forsyte Saga'', and two later trilogies, ''A Modern Comedy'' and ''End of th ...

's '' The Silver Box'', Shaw's ''

Getting Married ''Getting Married'' is a play by George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on ...

'', and an adaptation of ''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...

''. Later productions included plays by

John Masefield John Edward Masefield (; 1 June 1878 – 12 May 1967) was an English poet and writer. He was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate from 1930 until his death in 1967, during which time he lived at Burcot, Oxfordshire, near Abingdon ...

Elmer Rice Elmer Rice (born Elmer Leopold Reizenstein, September 28, 1892 – May 8, 1967) was an American playwright. He is best known for his plays '' The Adding Machine'' (1923) and his Pulitzer Prize-winning drama of New York tenement life, '' Street Sce ...

, Galsworthy, Shaw,

Maurice Maeterlinck Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count/Comte Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the 1911 Nobel Prize in ...

Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; ; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italians, Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his bold and ...

and

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

. Price's biggest box-office success was Hsiung Shih-I's ''Lady Precious Stream'', which she staged four times, the longest revival running for 456 performances. Her other great success was a dramatisation by

Mazo de la Roche Mazo de la Roche (; born Maisie Louise Roche; January 15, 1879 – July 12, 1961) was a Canadian writer who was the author of the ''Jalna (novel series), Jalna'' novels, one of the most popular series of books of her time. Biography Early lif ...

of her own novel '' Whiteoaks'', produced in April 1936, which ran for 827 performances. Price left the Little Theatre in 1937, and ''

The Ascent of F6 ''The Ascent of F6: A Tragedy in Two Acts'', by W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood, was the second and most successful play in the Auden–Isherwood collaboration, first published in 1936. It was a major contribution to English poetic drama in ...

'', described as "a tragedy in two acts", by

W. H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry is noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in tone, ...

and

Christopher Isherwood Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood (26 August 1904 – 4 January 1986) was an Anglo-American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, autobiographer, and diarist. His best-known works include '' Goodbye to Berlin'' (1939), a semi-autobiographical ...

transferred from the

Mercury Theatre, Notting Hill Gate The Mercury Theatre was a small theatre on Ladbroke Road, Notting Hill Gate, London, notable for the productions of poetic dramas between 1933 and 1956, and as the home of the Ballet Rambert until 1987. History (founding) The Mercury Theatr ...

. The theatre was closed from June to December 1938, after which

took over the management and wrote ''Nine Sharp'', a revue with music by

Walter Leigh Walter Leigh (22 June 190512 June 1942) was an English composer. Leigh is best known for his Concertino for harpsichord and string orchestra, written in 1934. Other famous works include the overture ''Agincourt'' and ''The Frogs of Aristophanes ...

. The two followed this in 1939 with ''The Little Revue''. Both revues ran for more than 400 performances. In April 1940 Farjeon opened what was intended to be a season of Restoration drama, with

Alec Clunes Alexander Sheriff de Moro Clunes (17 May 1912 – 13 March 1970) was an English actor and theatrical manager. Among the plays he presented were Christopher Fry's '' The Lady's Not For Burning''. He gave the actor and dramatist Peter Ustinov ...

Hermione Baddeley Hermione Youlanda Ruby Clinton-Baddeley (13 November 1906 – 19 August 1986) was an English actress of theatre, film, and television. She typically played brash, vulgar characters, often referred to as "brassy" or "blowsy".Folkart, Burt, "Note ...

Max Adrian Max Adrian (born Guy Thornton Bor; 1 November 1903 – 19 January 1973) was an Irish stage, film and television actor and singer. He was a founding member of both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. In addition to his succ ...

and

Ursula Jeans Ursula Jean McMinn (5 May 1906 – 21 April 1973), better known as Ursula Jeans, was an English film, stage, and television actress. Biography Jeans was born in Shimla, Simla, British Raj, British India, to English parents. She was brought up ...

Miles Malleson William Miles Malleson (25 May 1888 – 15 March 1969) was an English actor and dramatist, particularly remembered for his appearances in British comedy films of the 1930s to 1960s. Towards the end of his career, he also appeared in cameo roles ...

's production of

William Wycherley William Wycherley ( ; April 16411 January 1716) was an English Army officer and playwright best known for writing the plays '' The Country Wife'' and ''The Plain Dealer''. Early life Wycherley was born at Clive near Shrewsbury, Shropshire, ...

's ''

The Country Wife ''The Country Wife'' is a Restoration comedy written by William Wycherley and first performed in 1675. A product of the tolerant early Restoration period, the play reflects an aristocratic and anti-Puritan ideology, and was controversial fo ...

''."The Little", ''The Stage'', 11 April 1940, p. 7 On the night of 16 April 1941 the theatre was again wrecked by a German bomb, and remained derelict until 1949, when it was demolished, replaced by an office block.

Notes, references and sources

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * *

External links

1937 survey of John Adam Street
{{DEFAULTSORT:Little Theatre in the Adelphi Former buildings and structures in the City of Westminster Former theatres in London 1910 establishments in England 1941 disestablishments in England Theatres completed in 1910