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Lyceum

The Lyceum is a Grade II Usted theatre in the heart of London with a capacity of over 2,000 The original thea tre built on the site opened in 1772, but was razed to the ground by fire in 1830. It reopened in 1834, having been rebuilt with the now familiar porticoed frontage. It was renamed The Royal Lyceum and English Opera House, though generafly it remained known simply as The Lyceum.

The theatre gained the reputation of being unlucky after a number of owners went bankrupt, but its fortunes changed after American ‘Colonel’ Bateman took over, assembling a new company headed by the great actor Henty I i performance as Hamlet in 1874 ran 0 200 nights, an unheard of success in its day

Most of that theatre was eventually demolished due to lack of funding to implement new fire regula tions, though the portico and façade were retained as part of the current theatre, which opened in 1904. Once again there was a notable performance of Hamlet on the premises, this time by SirJohn Gielgud in 1939. In the same year plans for a road extension and round about threatened the future of the theatre, but they were eventually scrapped and after the Second World War the theatre became a dance hail and then a music venue. It now hosts large-scale musicals.

The ghostly figure of a woman has often been seen in the stalls area holding a man’s severed head. This is supposed to be the head of Henry Courtenay, the local landowner who was beheaded on the orders of Oliver Cromwell at the time of the Civil War. The actor William Terris is also supposed to have been seen in the theatre . Albert | Oxfordshire | Aberdeen | Aberdeen | Barnsley | Birmingham | Edinburgh | Festival Theatre | Folkestone | The Adeiphi Theatre | The Royal Lyceum | Woman | York |