Ashcroft Theatre

Last updated

Ashcroft Theatre
Ashcroft Theatre, Croydon - geograph.org.uk - 457547.jpg
Ashcroft Theatre
AddressPark Lane, Croydon
London
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
Coordinates 51°22′20″N0°05′43″W / 51.3722°N 0.0953°W / 51.3722; -0.0953 Coordinates: 51°22′20″N0°05′43″W / 51.3722°N 0.0953°W / 51.3722; -0.0953
Owner Croydon London Borough Council
Operator Fairfield Halls
Capacity 798
Website
www.fairfield.co.uk

The Ashcroft Theatre is a theatre located within the Fairfield Halls, Croydon, South London. The theatre was named after Croydon-born Dame Peggy Ashcroft and is a proscenium theatre with a stepped auditorium. The mural on its fire curtain is by the artist Henry Bird. [1] A variety of productions are held throughout the year such as drama, ballet, opera and pantomime. The venue has a seating capacity of 763 and can be converted into a cinema as it has a large screen giving full Cinemascope and standard film format. [2]

Contents

The Ashcroft Theatre was opened on 5 November 1962 by Dame Peggy Ashcroft. The opening ceremony included the reading of a monologue specially penned by Sir John Betjeman called ‘Local Girl Makes Good'. The first play was ‘Royal Gambit' starring Dulcie Gray. [3] Those to have trodden the boards at The Ashcroft Theatre include Richard Todd, Rex Harrison and Dame Peggy herself. [3]

The auditorium is on two tiers with the stalls heavily raked. The front of the circle is unadorned and the straight walls have natural finishes. The stage, with false proscenium, is well equipped with 30 single purchase counterweight sets for flying, and an orchestra pit on a hydraulic lift which can accommodate up to 16 players. Alterations to the forestage were undertaken to lessen the barrier provided by the original Juliet balcony and side door structures. [3]

The theatre closed in 2016 for renovation work on the Fairfield Halls, and reopened in September 2019. During the refurbishment, the centre aisles of the theatre were removed to create a Continental Auditorium seating arrangement, [4] increasing capacity to 798 without kills. [5] Further works in January 2020 replaced the recycled seating from before the renovation works with new grey seating, creating a much more modern look.

Fire curtain

Safety curtains date from the days of gas lighting and were meant to stop a fire onstage or backstage spreading to the auditorium. The Ashcroft Curtain was painted in 1982 by Henry Bird, a Northampton-based artist famous for his murals and curtains. He died in 2000 aged 90. [3]

There were many details, symbols and meanings in the curtain and they included references to the days of the Croydon Fair, the travelling players, famous artistic Croydonians and old English customs. [3]

After the theatre re-opened in 2019, it did so without the iconic safety curtain, which did not survive the asbestos removal works. [6]

Related Research Articles

Savoy Theatre Theatre in London

The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre was designed by C. J. Phipps for Richard D'Oyly Carte and opened on 10 October 1881 on a site previously occupied by the Savoy Palace. Its intended purpose was to showcase the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, which became known as the Savoy operas.

Peggy Ashcroft English actress (1907–1991)

Dame Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft, known professionally as Peggy Ashcroft, was an English actress whose career spanned more than 60 years.

Safety curtain

A safety curtain is a fire safety precaution used in large proscenium theatres. It is usually a heavy fibreglass or iron curtain located immediately behind the proscenium arch. Asbestos-based materials were originally used to manufacture the curtain, before the dangers of asbestos were widely known. The safety curtain is sometimes referred to as an iron in British theatres, regardless of the actual construction material.

Theater (structure) Performing arts venue (building)

A theater, theatre or playhouse, is a structure where theatrical works, performing arts and musical concerts are presented. The theater building serves to define the performance and audience spaces. The facility usually is organized to provide support areas for performers, the technical crew and the audience members, as well as the stage where the performance takes place.

Academy of Music (Philadelphia)

The Academy of Music, also known as American Academy of Music, is a concert hall and opera house located at 240 S. Broad Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its location is between Locust and Manning Streets in the Avenue of the Arts area of Center City.

Public Auditorium

Public Auditorium is a multi-purpose performing arts, entertainment, sports, and exposition facility located in the civic center district of downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The 10,000-capacity main auditorium shares its stage with a second venue housed at the facility: the 3,000-capacity Music Hall. Although Public Auditorium was planned and funded prior to World War I, construction did not begin until 1920, and the building did not open until 1922. Designed by city architect J. Harold McDowell and Frank Walker of Walker and Weeks in a neoclassical style matching the other Group Plan buildings, it was the largest of its kind when opened, then seating 11,500.

The Capitol, Melbourne

The Capitol is an historic theatre on Swanston Street in the central business district (CBD) of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Opened in 1924 as part of the Capitol House building, the art deco theatre was designed by American husband and wife architects Walter Burley and Marion Mahony Griffin, and is the oldest of Melbourne's large picture palaces. It is famous for its extravagant decor and abstract motifs, including an intricate geometric ceiling containing thousands of coloured lamps, designed to evoke the walls of a crystalline cave.

The Ellie Caulkins Opera House is located in Denver, Colorado as part of the large Denver Performing Arts Complex. It seats 2,225. The Caulkins family pledged $7 million towards the enhancement of the lyric opera house and adjacent public spaces which were constructed inside of the Newton Auditorium.

Grand Théâtre de Genève Opera house in Geneva, Switzerland

Grand Théâtre de Genève is an opera house in Geneva, Switzerland.

Peerys Egyptian Theater

Peery's Egyptian Theater is a movie palace located in Ogden, Utah, United States. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

His Majestys Theatre, Perth Theatre in Perth, Western Australia

His Majesty's Theatre is an Edwardian Baroque theatre in Perth, Western Australia. Constructed from 1902 to 1904 during a period of great growth for the town, the theatre is located on the corner of Hay Street and King Street in Perth's central business district.

Grimsby Auditorium Theatre in North East Lincolnshire, England

Grimsby Auditorium is a theatre situated on Cromwell Road, in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire. With a seated audience capacity of 1,200 the Grimsby Auditorium is the largest professional theatre in Lincolnshire, and one of the larger theatres in the East of England. Built in 1995, it is today managed by Lincs Inspire on behalf of its owners North East Lincolnshire Council.

The Hexagon

The Hexagon is a multi-purpose theatre and arts venue in Reading, Berkshire, England. Built in 1977 in the shape of an elongated hexagon, the theatre is operated by Reading Borough Council under the name "Reading Arts and Venues" along with South Street Arts Centre and Reading's concert hall.

Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton Theatre in Wolverhampton, England

The Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, commonly known as The Grand, is a theatre located on Lichfield Street, Wolverhampton, UK, designed in 1894 by Architect Charles J. Phipps. It is a Grade II Listed Building with a seating capacity of 1200.

Front curtain Stage curtain(s) at the very front of a theatrical stage

A front curtain, also known as a (front-of-)house curtain, act curtain, grand drape, main curtain or drape, proscenium curtain, or main rag is the stage curtain or curtains at the very front of a theatrical stage, separating it from the house.

Ramsdell Theatre United States historic place

The Ramsdell Theatre is a historic playhouse theater building and opera house at 101 Maple Street in downtown Manistee, Michigan. The building was financed by local businessman and politician Thomas Jefferson Ramsdell. At the time the structure was built in 1902, it was considered one of the best opera and vaudeville buildings in the United States. It replaced the town's two previous opera houses which had been destroyed by fire, one in 1882 and the other in 1900. Besides producing plays the facility was later used as a movie theater. James Earl Jones started his acting career at the theater.

Henry Bird (artist) English artist (1909–2000)

Henry Bird was an English artist from Northampton who painted murals and female nudes. He went to the Royal College of Art and then designed sets at the Old Vic, Sadler's Wells and Embassy Theatre. He taught art history and drawing at the University College of Wales and the Northampton School of Art.

Royal & Derngate

Royal & Derngate is a theatre complex in the Cultural Quarter of Northampton, England, consisting of the Royal Theatre and Derngate Theatre. The Royal was built by theatre architect Charles J. Phipps and opened in 1884. Ninety-nine years later in 1983, Derngate, designed by RHWL, was built to the rear of the Royal. Whilst the two theatres were physically linked, they did not combine organisations until a formal merger in 1999; they are run by the Northampton Theatres Trust. The Royal Theatre, established as a producing house, has a capacity of 450 seats and since 1976 has been designated a Grade II listed building; Derngate Theatre seats a maximum of 1,200 and is a multi-purpose space in which the auditorium can be configured for a variety of events including theatre, opera, live music, dance, fashion and sports. The Errol Flynn Filmhouse, an independent cinema built to the side of the complex, opened in 2013.

Staatstheater Mainz Theatre and opera house in Mainz, Germany

The Staatstheater Mainz is a theatre in Mainz, Germany, which is owned and operated by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Situated on the Gutenbergplatz, the complex comprises two theatres which are connected by an underground passage and also by skywalk. Performances of opera, drama and ballet are presented. Its name was Stadttheater Mainz until 1989.

Embassy Theatre (New York City) Former movie theater in Manhattan, New York

The Embassy Theatre, also known as the Embassy 1 Theatre, is a former movie theater at 1560 Broadway, along Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed by Thomas W. Lamb, the theater opened in 1925 at the ground floor of 1560 Broadway, the headquarters of the Actors' Equity Association. While no longer in use as a theater, the space is preserved as a New York City designated landmark, and it continues to operate as a store.

References

  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 23 October 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Henry Bird and his Theatrical Mural on the Ashcroft Theatre Safety Curtain, Croydon
  2. "Ashford Theatre Technical Specifications" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 May 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2008.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Fairfield at 50". Archived from the original on 22 February 2016.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. "Ashcroft Playhouse - Fairfield Halls". Archived from the original on 19 March 2020.
  5. "Help Centre".
  6. "Pop stars, Sooty and a £42m revamp – Croydon's Fairfield Halls is back for the future" . The Stage . 20 September 2019.