November 12, 2009
A brief history of the New Theatre
Sections:
The first plays in Oxford
Theatre Royal
A new New Theatre in 1886
Fire!
The Dorrill Family
The most luxurious Theatre in England
Big business, and big businesses
The present day
The future...
Thanks and More Information
The story of the New Theatre is worthy of appearing on its own stage. It's got mystery, tragedy, comedy, triumph, and a cast of characters which includes Harry Drinkwater the publican's son and Vera Legge the dancing teacher. Oxford's stories thread through it and the town's great names and families can all be found in its misty history. Sections:
The first plays in Oxford
Theatre Royal
A new New Theatre in 1886
Fire!
The Dorrill Family
The most luxurious Theatre in England
Big business, and big businesses
The present day
The future...
Thanks and More Information
This week the theatre is 75 years old. But in the best tradition of music hall conjurors nothing's quite what it seems. It might instead be 175 years old - it just depends how you look at things. There's certainly been a New Theatre in Oxford since 1833, and this New Theatre certainly opened in 1934. And there are certainly plenty of details we still can't be so sure about.
The first plays in Oxford
To begin at the beginning... By the year 1800 theatre in Britain was in a bad way. Travelling players had been very popular, but they fell from grace, accused of spreading the plague, accused of dissidence, accused of encouraging immorality and distracting the students of Oxford University. And in this town you didn't want the University as an enemy.
But around 1831 people started putting on plays over the summer. They started off in tennis courts, as those often had roofs. Mr Barnett and his company played in St Aldate's racket court, and then in 1833 they moved to the first of the New Theatres, on land which is now part of Oriel College. They got leave to put on theatrical events again three years later, only this time in a new New Theatre, very close to where our present version stands. It had three entrances - the smartest, which led to the boxes, was down a passageway off Magdalen St. The entrance to the pit was via Victoria Court, and the cheapest seats, in the gallery, were reached from Red Lion Square, where the stage door now is.
Mr Barnett's company entertained Oxford again in 1839. Then there was a bit of a gap. The theatre changed its name to the Theatre Royal, or the Victoria Theatre, possibly because of the entrance from Victoria Court, or maybe because of the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1838.
Theatre Royal
A group called the Theatre Royal came visiting Oxford around the 1850's and used the assembly rooms of The Star hotel in Cornmarket as their theatre. But in 1863 The Star was sold, and became The Clarendon Hotel. It seems the new owners didn't want to carry on this tradition, and so the Theatre Royal players moved back to the New / Victoria / Royal Theatre. The Clarendon Hotel was knocked down in the 1950's, and a huge Woolworths was built instead. It's now The Clarendon shopping centre.
Visiting players came often in the 1860's and 70's, as did music hall acts, family singing troups, child prodigy pianists, and many other delights. Amateur dramatics and choirs started up. Sometimes there were entertainments on at the theatre, the town hall and the corn exchange. One such amateur actor was a man named Harry Drinkwater. In 1878 he took part in a very successful show, and it gave him a love of theatre which was to be important. These people obviously had stamina: a typical bill might contain a prologue written by one of the cast, comic songs and dances, then after the interval "Macbeth and The Waterman". Was this fusion theatre? Or just a 6 hour marathon?
A new New Theatre in 1886
Fires were frequent and alarming occurences in towns, and excited crowds could cause buildings to collapse, so John Galpin was brought in around 1868 to strengthen the theatre with brick pillars, where before it was all wooden. In 1878 a fire safety officer from London was brought in to inspect the theatre. His report was damning. He said the entrances were too small, the walls liable to collapse and the fire safety inadequate. John Galpin was not pleased! But he did acknowledge that it might be time for a new theatre to be built. After all the present one only had room for 580 people.
Around this time a Fellow of Balliol named Benjamin Jowett was making waves. He got himself labelled heretic, and displeased his clergy colleagues, but was much beloved by his students, and tutored them well. He was interested in them as people outside the tutorial room. Some of his students put on a play, and he was much impressed. By dint of some loyal friends pulling strings Jowett became Master of Balliol in 1870, and Vice Chancellor of the University in 1882. He supported the idea of a theatre which could be used by the townsfolk, visiting theatre companies, and be home to OUDS, Oxford University Dramatic Society.
In 1885 they started raising money, and by 1886 a New Theatre was opened. This was a much grander affair than before, and 8 houses had to be knocked down to make way for it. It seated 1000 and was designed by an architect named HGW Drinkwater. Remember him? He acted in the last theatre. Drinkwater, who grew up at the top of George St in his father's pub, The Three Goats (now Nat West bank) was one of the Managing Directors of the new Theatre, with Thomas Lucas. Alongside running the theatre he was retained by Morrell's brewery, extending their site on St Thomas St. You can see his work now in The Grapes (George St), Castle Tavern (Paradise St) and St Margaret's Church in north Oxford.
Fire!
It must have been handy having a resident architect when the theatre caught fire in 1892. About 11pm on a dark March night a loud crackling was heard and the fire brigade was summoned. Fortunately they only had to come from New Inn Hall Street, but unfortunately all the hydrants were frozen. The fire was under the stage, and very difficult to get to. It was finally put out at 5am by which time much of the stage and auditorium was damaged, though if it hadn't been for the green baize safety curtain things could have been even worse. But these determined Victorians had the theatre open again less than 6 weeks later, and the only casualty was a production of Charley's Aunt scheduled for the following week.
The Dorrill Family
1908 saw the next Act began in the New Theatre's tale, when it was taken over by Charles Dorrill. Like the Drinkwater family, the Dorrill family were on the up. Charles' father had been a college scout, and Charles was apprenticed to the college Bursar. We don't know where he got his love of theatre, but the Dorrill family were to be true heroes of the piece. Charles started with refurbishment, and the theatre was closed for 6 months. It opened again in October and was obviously popular, surviving the coming of the cinemas which first appeared in Oxford in 1910.
In 1913 Charles died. He was only 51, and his son Stanley was 17. But Stanley had a vision. He declared his theatre would be "the most luxurious and comfortable house of entertainment in England". He had both players and patrons in mind, and planned to attract the best productions. At an incredible time, when many theatres elsewhere were having to become dual purpose theatres and cinemas just to survive, Stanley set about making his dream come true. He chose the Milburn brothers of Sunderland to build the theatre, and TP Bennett to design the interior. Egypt fever gripped the nation and Art Deco was the style of the day.
The most luxurious Theatre in England
In 1933 Drinkwater's theatre was demolished, and work started on Stanley's new design. In just a year and a day it was opening its doors again, an incredible feat of coordination and hard work, and one it's hard to imagine matching today! The souvenir brochure describing the work shows just how much research Stanley Dorrill had done. He knew all about the latest techniques and advancements in theatre design. He had to consider motorists and air conditioning, things which would not have concerned Drinkwater. Stanley's theatre had double the stage width and nearly twice the audience capacity from its predecessor. It lacked for nothing. He even put in a revolving stage.
Stanley's work paid off. Oxford became a big player on the theatre circuit. It hosted national companies, and shows came here even before they went to London. Oxford was not always representative of the nation - The Mousetrap didn't go down well at all! In Stanley's theatre people didn't just buy tickets, they bought a seat, so they didn't miss anything in a season. Even during the war years pantomimes featuring Vera Legge's dancing tots, the Oxford Babes, kept the city's spirits up. Laurence Olivier played here. Much as today the rafters rang with opera, ballet, G&S, musicals and all manner of entertainments. It didn't suit OUDS quite so well; student companies just couldn't afford the scenery for a 45' stage, and eventually OUDS transferred to the Playhouse.
Stanley finally relinquished the reins in 1965, aged 70. His son John faced a difficult task, as television was on the up and theatres everywhere were struggling. By 1972 things were just too tough and the Dorrill family sold it to Howard & Wyndhams, who managed a chain of provincical theatres from Edinburgh. This was not a popular with theatregoers and the New Theatre declined further.
Big business, and big businesses
The chain of takeovers started, as theatres got caught up in big business. Paul and Nita Gregg bought the New Theatre, and renamed it The Apollo. It was the first of their Apollo Leisure theatre chain. Things improved for the theatre, as the Greggs specialised in turning around failing theatres, and were very persuasive impresarios. Apollo Leisure was sold to SFX, which merged with Clear Channel and The Apollo became The New Theatre once again in 2002. Clear Channel then split, and the management of the New Theatre was taken over by LiveNation three years ago. Its lease has just been renewed for another 15 years or so, which will hopefully give some stability to its future.
All the changes of management in the last 30 years has resulted in a scattered archive. If you have old brochures, memories or photos do send them to us, or get in touch with the New Theatre. They'll be pleased to receive them, and maybe in time for its 100th birthday we'll have filled in a few more gaps in its ancestry!
The present day
The theatre now continues much as it always had. Instead of the music hall acts we have musicians, comedians and spirit mediums. Live Nation manage artists as well as theatres, and those names will be familiar as people or shows who return annually. The community projects include the Oxfordshire Gang Show, Oxford Operatic Society, and the Stage Experience extravaganza. Auditions have just been held to choose the lucky children who'll get to tread the boards. Let's hope, like Drinkwater, it gives them a love of theatre in general, and our own New Theatre in particular.
If we wanted it to, the stage could still revolve. But there's a false floor now, and you can guess why: at some point it must have become lonely to be the most luxurious theatre in England. Who can stage a performance which requires a 35' turntable if most provincial theatres don't have one? These days it would have to be a bespoke performance. Perhaps the producer of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang which will take over the stage for Christmas 2009 could write one in!
The future...
It's seen a lot of change, this theatre: in culture, inside, and in its surroundings. Not a single building that stood in George St in 1861 is still there. Not one! Back then it was a sleepy path to the river and canal basin, and 400 people lived there not including those in the alleys and courts off George St. When New Inn Hall St was extended to go right through from Queen St to George St it woke the whole area, and the street became a thoroughfare. Huge churches have come and gone and the street has changed scale. Perhaps eventually George St will become pedestrianised. Theatre-goers would be able to queue in safety, and we could stand back enough to admire the whole frontage of these grand buildings.
This won't be the only change coming. Currently there are plans for better air conditioning and more comfy seats. Its patrons may change their ideas of what they want to see. We can't predict what the next act will hold. Meanwhile the ghosts will continue to haunt a particular corridor backstage, and occasionally the upper circle. The underground stream will threaten to flood the electrical department. Our age's familiar names will come and go in the dressing rooms named after University colleges. The New Theatre will continue to draw together the threads of the University, town and visitors' stories and, most importantly, to entertain us.
Thanks to:
Diana Hackett of The New Theatre
Stephanie Jenkins of Oxford History
Oxfordshire County Council Photographic Archive
For more information the following are recommended:
Oxford History / Headington.org
www.british-history.ac.uk
www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/heritagesearch
Jackson's Oxford Journal, published 1700 - 1913, available through the Bodleian