The Workington Opera House, or ''The Opera'' as it was known, is a purpose built

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

located in

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast, south-west of Carlisle and north-east of Whitehaven. At the 2021 census the ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Originally built as the Queen’s Jubilee Hall & Opera House it was gutted by

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

in 1927 and rebuilt with a fine wide

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoriums can be found in entertainment venues, community halls, and t ...

, and Ornamental ceiling with seating for 1200. The theatre has good sightlines and a large stage and currently sits empty after its former use as a bingo hall ended in 2004.

History

The theatre was designed by T. L. Banks & Townsend and had a small

with two

balconies A balcony (from , "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. They are commonly found on multi-level houses, apartme ...

accommodating 1,130 people. The theatre was also equipped with a small

stage Stage, stages, or staging may refer to: Arts and media Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly Brit ...

with a

proscenium A proscenium (, ) is the virtual vertical plane of space in a theatre, usually surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch (whether or not truly "arched") and on the bottom by the stage floor itself, which serves as the frame ...

width of 11 metres, a depth of 9.14 metres and a grid height of 14 metres. An

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

pit for 16 musicians was also included. *Other names: **Queen's Jubilee Hall *Dates: **Opened 1888. Date of first use not known. **1888 - Design/Construction: ***T.L. Banks & Townsend - Architect **1897-1900 - Alteration: reconstructed after

explosion An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume of a given amount of matter associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Explosions may also be generated ...

(

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

unknown) **1927-1930 - Alteration: reconstructed after fire (architect unknown) **1963-1970 - Alteration:

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

rebuilt (architect unknown)

Current owners

Graves (Cumberland) Ltd currently own the building and have planning permission for 5 years to replace the theatre with retail and residential units. Graves own many different assets across

including cinemas, bingo halls and in the past they owned and ran a number of theatres.

The future of the theatre

The Workington Opera House is now under threat of

demolition Demolition (also known as razing and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction (building), deconstruction, which inv ...

to be replaced with retail units and

flats Flat or flats may refer to: Architecture * Apartment, known as a flat in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and other Commonwealth countries Arts and entertainment * Flat (music), a symbol () which denotes a lower pitch * Flat (soldier), a two-dimens ...

. The ''Save Workington Opera House'' group are fighting to have this building made available to the town of

as a working civic theatre that the community can be proud of.

Specifications

*Capacities: **Original: 1,330 **After 1950: 1,219 *Listings: **Grade not listed *Stage type: **

Proscenium A proscenium (, ) is the virtual vertical plane of space in a theatre, usually surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch (whether or not truly "arched") and on the bottom by the stage floor itself, which serves as the frame ...

*Dimensions **Stage dimensions: ***Depth: 9.14m ***Proscenium width: 11m ***Height to grid: 14m ***

Orchestra pit An orchestra pit is an area in a theatre (usually located in a lowered area in front of the stage) in which musicians perform. The orchestra plays mostly out of sight in the pit, rather than on the stage as for a concert, when providing music fo ...

: Original, for 16 musicians

References

External links

workingtonoperahouse.co.uk

OperaAction.co.uk

Opera House (Workington)-Theatres Trust

{{coord, 54.6438, -3.5443, display=title, region:GB_scale:5000 Theatres in Cumbria Workington Theatres completed in 1930 Opera houses in England Art Deco architecture in England Theatres completed in 1888 Music venues completed in 1888