Empire, The

The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre | 1996 | 700+ words | Copyright

Empire, The, London, in Leicester Square, famous music-hall, originally a theatre which from 1884 to 1886 housed burlesques and extravaganzas. In 1887 it opened as the Empire Theatre of Varieties under the joint management of George Edwardes and Augustus Harris, whose spectacular ballets rivalled those of the Alhambra. One of the Empire's most popular features was its promenade, which was attacked as a ‘haunt of vice’ by Mrs Ormiston Chant in her 1894 ‘Purity Campaign’. Screens were erected to separate the promenade and its prostitutes from the auditorium but the audience rioted and tore them down. Shortly before the First World War revue made its appearance, and in 1918 the first of a series of successful musical comedies, The Lilac Domino, began a long run, followed by Irene (1920), The Rebel Maid (1921), and Lady, Be Good! (1926). In 1927 the Empire closed and was demolished, being replaced by a cinema.

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PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Empire, The." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Empire, The." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-EmpireThe.html

PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Empire, The." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-EmpireThe.html

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