The story of The Alexandra Palace Theatre is truly unique. Opened in 1875, the Theatre was a place of spectacle and delight where audiences of up to 3,000 people were entertained by pantomime, opera, drama and ballet. A feat of Victorian engineering, the impressive stage machinery was designed so that performers could appear, fly into the air and disappear through the stage.
However, it struggled to compete with the might of the West End and the theatre went on to be used as a cinema, a chapel and the home of music hall stars. During World War I, the Alexandra Palace was used as an internment camp for "enemy aliens" from Germany and Austria and the theatre was used as a makeshift hospital before a spell as a BBC prop store and workshop. For 80 years it was closed to the public, a hidden gem perched high above the city.
The theatre is currently being restored with the help of an £18.8m lottery grant, which is among the biggest grants ever for a UK heritage project. The restoration work will be completed in the summer of 2018. In an attempt to create a more intimate space, one big change to the theatre includes raising the floor by about 3.5 metres. Original floorboards have been taken up and numbered.
The Alexandra Palace Theatre officially reopens on 1 December 2018.
