Coliseum Theatre

Address: St. Martin's Lane, London, WC2

Tube: Charing Cross

Architect: Frank Matcham,

Opened: 1904

Capacity: 2356

The London Coliseum is now home to The English National Opera Company, although originally it was built as a huge Variety Theatre, to rival the theatre Royal Drury Lane. From its very conception it was grand, and for this reason it did not have a pit. The modern orchestra pit was in Victorian times a vast area where the hoi polloi stood if they could not afford a seat. It was fitted with a revolving stage before the London Palladium had one at a cost of £70,000, which was then a small fortune. Despite its grand opening it closed down after two years and remained closed for a year, when it was reopened it was an instant success.

On the 4 th of August 1914, her fourteenth birthday Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon was taken to see a Sir Charles Hawtrey production, coincidentally on the same day her future father in law George the fifth declared war on Germany.

Past productions at the coliseum Theatre:

In 1947 'Annie Get Your Gun' was staged at the Coliseum and had a staggeringly run for the time, of 1,304 performances and three continuous years which was then the longest run in Theatrical history.