7 minute read
Totally Local Lancaster
By Paul Cusimano, Joseph Clothing, Lancaster
Nestled between Lancaster Castle and the Ashton Memorial, is our beautiful Georgian City centre. Approaching the City from Kellet Lane is my favoured route. It always offers an amazing vista, whatever the weather, whatever the time of day
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It will be fifteen years since we went to Tuscany for a week. We visited Forte dei Marmi, Pisa, Lucca and Florence. The view of Lancaster from the crest of Kellet Lane, for some inexplicable reason, takes me back to Tuscany, in particular, Florence.
Perhaps it’s the tiered amphitheatre effect created by the rows of Victorian terrace properties that fall from the Ashton Memorial down to the City centre, a view that reminds me of the amphitheatre at the Palazzo Medici
Of course, we don’t have the Ponte Vecchio, or a replica of Michelangelo’s ‘David’ stood in our Squares, but we do have absolute gems tucked away. The Music Room in Sun Street Square dates back to the seventeen thirty two whilst Lancaster’s Grand Theatre, the third oldest provincial theatre in Britain, dates back to seventeen eighty two. theatrical performances were carried out in barns and suitably sized inns. “The Theatre, Lancaster” as it was originally called, opened in June of seventeen eighty two and its first two plays, William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” and Hannah Crawley’s “The Belle’s Strategem” received great reviews. In seventeen ninety five, Welsh actress Sarah Siddons played Lady Macbeth in William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth“. Italian violinist Niccolo Paganini graced the theatre in eighteen thirty three.
Little Would You Know What Awaits Inside
Sarah Siddons Playing Lady Macbeth
Paganini Played ‘The Theatre, Lancaster’
During the nineteenth century, the theatre changed ownership and was extended and altered a number of times. Meetings and lectures were also carried out there. In nineteen zero eight the theatre was damaged by fire, but the interior was rebuilt and the theatre reopened in the same year.
The theatre was, and still is, used for both amateur and professional performances. In the nineteen twenties, what was going to be a very important amateur dramatic society, the ‘Lancaster Footlights’, began performing at the then called “Grand Theatre”.
In nineteen fifty one, the theatre was on the verge of being demolished when it was bought, and therefore saved, by ‘Lancaster Footlights’ who still own and run it under a trust arrangement.
By the late nineteen seventies a significant amount of money was required to carry out remedial works on the two hundred year old theatre. Over six hundred and sixty seven thousand pounds was raised and under the guardianship of this fantastic charity (registered in nineteen seventy two) the condition of the building today is as good as when it was first built.
What I particularly love is that they have maintained the period features of that bygone era. Features that are being lost because the buildings they are housed in are being left to fall into disrepair and the appetite for new, modern, purpose built, grows. The mid to late twentieth century saw many such buildings flattened.
At this point two words spring to mind, ‘economics’ and ‘nostalgia’. Running and maintaining such buildings is expensive. Therefore, nostalgia is expensive. The world has changed since “The Theatre” was first built. We now have movies, televisions, cinema’s and cd’s that give the masses twenty four seven entertainment. Your modern day Paganini’s and Caruso’s perform in football stadiums for greater remuneration, not 460 seat theatres.
Upper Circle
Keeping Its Many Original Features
Every Genre Catered For
So let’s add another two words into the mix; ‘passion’ and ‘vision’. ‘Lancaster Footlights’ have both. The passion to drive forward, and the vision to make it viable whilst maintaining the theatre’s integrity.
In two thousand and four a new Theatre Manager, Ellie Singleton, was recruited. Ellie encompasses so many qualities. Full of passion and has a great vision of what Lancaster Grand should be. She understands and is so committed to the arts that everything is being done sympathetically. Humble, unassuming, and one of those rare people that you immediately warm to.
Magic happens when the right people come together, whether by accident or by design. Ellie came in to join a similarly dedicated Board, a couple of members of staff and an army of volunteers. This is a new chapter, a renaissance, in the theatres 240 year history. There is a full programme of shows, both amateur and professional, covering every genre and every season. Celebrities, like comedian John Bishop, appear regularly. The chat show King himself, Sir Michael Parkinson, has recently appeared doing “An Evening With ….” performance.
This is a truly versatile theatre and one that is again going to be treated to some further development. A two point two million pound extension, mixing old and new, that will be in keeping with the building
Features From Different Times
Treat Yourself To A Box
John Bishop Performs Regularly At Lancaster Grand
An Evening With Sir Michael Parkinson itself and the splendid Georgian landscape. A real Planning Officers dream. Making it accessible for all without losing its architectural integrity.
The best memories are a complete experience. A performance can be fabulous, but if conducted in poor surroundings, it detracts from the experience. A great performance in great surroundings equals the complete experience, and long lasting memories.
Lancaster Grand is a superb theatre but as I mentioned at the outset, almost hidden away. Like ‘The Music Room’ in Sun Square, few people stumble across it, but when they do, they find something truly beautiful and something the likes of which are becoming extremely rare.
TAKE A LOOK AT THEIR WEBSITE lancastergrand.co.uk AND EXPLORE ALL THAT THEY HAVE TO ENTERTAIN YOU.
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