The Theatre Royal is an

art-deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It is one of the country's oldest established theatres. It hosts a large range of touring productions. The theatre had a £10m refurbishment in 2007, designed by Tim Foster Architects. In 2015, plans were launched for the new £15m Stage Two building under the direction of the then CEO Peter Wilson MBE. The new building was to house one of Europe's arts education facilities, and a new 200 seat auditorium. In 2016, it was announced that Peter was to depart the Theatre Royal, after 25 years at the helm. It was later announced that the new auditorium would be named the Peter Wilson Studio. In mid 2016, Stephen Crocker, a former deputy CEO of

The Lowry The Lowry is a theatre and gallery complex at Salford Quays, Salford, Greater Manchester, England. It is named after the early 20th-century painter L. S. Lowry, known for his paintings of industrial scenes in North West England. The complex ope ...

theatre was announced as the new Chief Executive. In 2019, the theatre was rebranded under the Norwich Theatre umbrella, alongside Norwich Theatre Playhouse and Stage Two.

Shows

A traditional family pantomime is produced in-house annually for the Christmas season each year. The 2022 panto is Jack and the Beanstalk, starring Rufus Hound, Joe Tracini and Amanda Henderson.

History

The second Theatre Royal (previous to the building pictured) was built in 1826. The theatre announced its opening. The popular magician Ching Lau Lauro received a bad review there, from the ''Norfolk Chronicle'', in 1828. Just over a year after the theatre burnt down its successor was revealed. In 1894 the theatre was closed for several months in order to carry out a scheme of reconstruction and redecoration from the designs of

Frank Matcham Francis Matcham (22 November 1854 – 17 May 1920)Mackintosh, Iain"Matcham, Frank" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, accessed 7 July 2019 was an English architect who specialised in the design o ...

. The theatre owner's death in 1902 led to its auction. In November

Harry Lauder Sir Henry Lauder (; 4 August 1870 – 26 February 1950)Russell, Dave"Lauder, Sir Henry (1870–1950)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, online edition, January 2011, accessed 27 April 2014 was a S ...

made his first visit to Norwich with his BIG VARIETY ROAD SHOW in 1935. George Barnes played The Grand Vizier to

John Inman Frederick John Inman (28 June 1935 – 8 March 2007) was an English actor and singer best known for his role as Mr. Humphries in '' Are You Being Served?'', a British sitcom between 1972 and 1985, and was the only actor from that series to featu ...

's Wishee Washee in ''Aladdin'' Christmas 1975. This was to be George's 33rd pantomime season. Television newsreader

Helen McDermott Helen McDermott (born 24 March 1954) is a British radio and television presenter, best known for her work at Anglia Television. McDermott began her broadcasting career in the 1970s as a continuity announcer and newsreader for Westward Television ...

landed a part as Helen the Sultana of Booberoomba, doubling as a tavern wench, in ''Dick Whittington and His Cat'' in January 2001. Mother Goose, the 2001 pantomime beat box office targets by £10,000. A Birthday profit for Norwich Theatre Royal in 2002 as it celebrated its tenth anniversary since reopening, with a profit of £76,000, more than twice the previous year's surplus. The 2002 pantomime was ''Jack and the Beanstalk'' starring

Rikki Jay Rikki is a given name of feminine and masculine usage. It is of European, East Asian, and South Asian origins. Notable people with the name include: Rikki(born 1990), Jewish-American pop princess * Rikki (Japanese singer) (born 1975), Japanese folk ...

. In January 2004 the theatre received a tax reimbursement of more than £1 million, making it the latest venue to benefit from new rules that entitled organisations to reclaim VAT on ticket sales.

Vicki Carr Florencia Vicenta de Casillas-Martínez Cardona (born July 19, 1940), known by her stage name Vikki Carr, is an American vocalist. She has a singing career that spans more than four decades. Born in El Paso, Texas, to Mexican parents, she has pe ...

played the title role in ''Sleeping Beauty'' in 2004. Jay appeared for his eighth consecutive year, the previous year's pantomime had grossed £627,000 with 98% of capacity is virtually unheard of elsewhere. This year was ''Peter Pan'', with Derek Griffiths as Captain Hook , whilst Jay played Smee.

References

{{Coord, 52.627183, 1.290520, display=t, type:landmark Theatres in Norwich

Shows

History

See also

References