The Adelphi Cinema was a cinema in

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west of B ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

, England. Earlier names are the Lido Cinema and the Palladium Cinema. It was the David Garrick Memorial Theatre in the 1950s, and the site of the Theatre Royal in the 19th century.

History

1790 to World War II

A theatre, designed by John Miller of London, was built on the site on Bore Street (coordinates ) in 1790. Companies usually played at the time of race meetings, for not more than a week. Isabella Mattocks, Edmund Kean and Dorothea Jordan were among the players seen in its early years. It was known as the Theatre Royal by 1859.'Lichfield: Social and cultural activities', in ''A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 14, Lichfield'', ed. M W Greenslade (London, 1990), pp. 159-170
British History Online. 18 August 2021."The Palladium, Bore Street, Lichfield
''Staffordshire Past Track''. Retrieved 18 August 2021. The theatre was replaced by St James's Hall, built in 1873, a venue for theatre performances, concerts and dances. From the early 1900s films were shown, and in 1912 it was converted into the Palladium Cinema. It was refurbished in 1937 and re-opened as the Lido Cinema, when the first film shown was '' Captain January''."Adelphi Cinema"
''Cinema Treasures''. Retrieved 18 August 2021. The cinema was badly damaged by fire in 1942. To continue providing entertainment for American troops at

Whittington Barracks DMS Whittington, otherwise known as Defence Medical Services Whittington (formerly Whittington Barracks), is a military base in Whittington, Staffordshire, near Lichfield in England. It is home to the Staffordshire Regiment Museum, the Headquarte ...

, it was rebuilt, to the designs of Hurley Robinson, and re-opened in 1943.

David Garrick Theatre and Adelphi Cinema

The cinema closed in 1949, and after refurbishment was opened as the David Garrick Memorial Theatre (named for the actor

David Garrick David Garrick (19 February 1717 – 20 January 1779) was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of European theatrical practice throughout the 18th century, and was a pupil and friend of Sa ...

, who grew up in Lichfield). The theatre was managed by R. F. Cowlishaw and his wife Joan. The first play produced was ''

Rebecca Rebecca, ; Syriac: , ) from the Hebrew (lit., 'connection'), from Semitic root , 'to tie, couple or join', 'to secure', or 'to snare') () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical ...

'', and during the first year

Kenneth Tynan Kenneth Peacock Tynan (2 April 1927 – 26 July 1980) was an English theatre critic and writer. Making his initial impact as a critic at ''The Observer'', he praised Osborne's ''Look Back in Anger'' (1956), and encouraged the emerging wave of ...

produced ''

The Beaux' Stratagem ''The Beaux' Stratagem'' is a comedy by George Farquhar, first produced at the Theatre Royal, now the site of Her Majesty's Theatre, in the Haymarket, London, on March 8, 1707. In the play, Archer and Aimwell, two young gentlemen who have falle ...

''. The theatre closed after Joan Cowlishaw's death in 1953, and re-opened as the Adelphi Cinema. It finally closed in 1959. The building was converted into a supermarket; it was demolished some time after 1991, and a branch of the hardware chain Wilkinsons was built on the site.

References

{{Reflist Former theatres in England Theatres completed in 1790 1959 disestablishments in England Demolished theatres in the United Kingdom Former cinemas in England History of Lichfield