Greenwich Theatre

Greenwich Theatre, London. 1. The first permanent theatre in Greenwich was opened in 1709, probably in Church Street. Colley Cibber's Love Makes a Man is known to have been produced there the following year, but there is no further mention of it after 1712.2. A second Greenwich Theatre, at 75 London Road, opened in 1864. It held 721 in a three-tier auditorium, and later came under the control of William Morton, who gave it his own name, as did his successor Arthur Carlton in 1902. It was converted into a cinema in 1910 and demolished in 1937.3. The present Greenwich Theatre, in Crooms Hill, was originally a concert-hall attached to the Rose and Crown public house. The theatre was rebuilt in 1871 and became Crowder's Music-Hall. After several changes of name and management it became the Greenwich Hippodrome in 1911, and was successively a variety theatre, a cinema, a repertory theatre, and an antiques store. By 1962 it was derelict and was acquired by the council for demolition, but it was saved by a group of enthusiasts from the Bristol Old Vic. The present theatre, opened in 1969, was erected within the walls of the old building, with a new façade. It holds 423 in a single-tier auditorium, and has an open stage. Many notable new works have been staged, including John Mortimer's A Voyage round My Father (1970), Peter Nichols's Forget-Me-Not Lane (1971), and Alan Ayckbourn's trilogy The Norman Conquests (1974), all successfully transferred to the West End. Jonathan Miller directed several plays there, and the theatre housed the British premières of O'Neill's More Stately Mansions (1974) and Hugh Leonard's Da (1978). Among later West End transfers were Coward's Private Lives (1980), Present Laughter (1981), and Design for Living (1982), Julian Mitchell's Another Country (also 1982), and Chekhov's Three Sisters (1987).