Curtains!!! Or A New Life for Old Theatres: Chatham Theatre Royal

Curtains!!! Or A New Life for Old Theatres: Chatham Theatre Royal

Before I start on my post regarding the sad story of The Theatre Royal Chatham let me give you a bit of background on what inspired this piece.

A few months ago LibraryGirl and I were spending time with her parents and we were discussing things we enjoyed about theatre and what I could write about on here. We had spent the day walking round London looking at the many different historical sites that you can find just turning a corner in that magical city and we hit upon the fact that there could be dark theatres in London which would make for an interesting subject to talk about, study and perhaps walk around. After all if a theatre cannot survive in Theatre Land then what luck does any theatre in the provinces have? We looked into the subject and came across the website of the Theatres Trust which is a fantastic resource, it led onto us finding out about Urban Exploration and rare photos of dark and abandoned theatres (and pretty much any other kind of building you care to mention) then today we were in Badger Books in Worthing and we found a book that seemed to be perfect for this little project of ours 'Curtains!!! Or A New Life For Old Theatres' a book about endangered theatres in the UK.

Curtains!!! an organisation underneath the banner of SAVE Britains Heritage was formed in the late 1970s to combat the awful statistic that of the 1000 Theatre Royals, Grands, ALhambras and Empires that had been so prevelant in the UK between 1900 and 1914 85 percent had been destroyed or badly damaged as they had been altered for other uses. It also claims that in 1982 only a tenth of the remaining 150 or so were still in use as theatres. Now inside the book it lists all sorts of fascinating information with a listing of 70 at risk theatres in which it eplains some of the history and architectual changes of the theatres along with giving their addresses and original architects information.

I googled Curtains!!! and found nothing, it seems the organisation has ceased to exist which is a real shame as another part of their organisation was a travelling exhibition that gave lectures about the situation and had many bits of history on the many venues that they wanted to save. I would assume that with the increased prominence of the Theatres Trust they either were amalgamated into the TT or were seen as surplus to requirement.

So going from the book I will be looking at what has happened in the past 30 years since it was published to the 70 endangered venues listed. So we start with the Chatham Theatre Royal.

The Chatham Theatre Royal was built in 1899 and was designed by the architect G.E. Bond who also designed many other buildings in the area including the former Chatham Town Hall, St Andrews Church, The Century Cinema in Dartford and the River Medway Conservancy Board Offices.

The Theatre Royal in Chatham could seat approximately 3000 audience members and was by all accounts a lush and luxuriant venue, something that is obvious even when you look at the highly (and upsettingly) degraded interior of this neglected venue.

Chatham Theatre Royal was a venue that had all the stars pass through it at some point, Rex Harrison, Ken Dodd, Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel, Norman Wisdom and Gracie Fields all graced its stage with their acts. The Theatre was so big and popular that according to local reports they had to build a brand new road just to accomodate the traffic approaching the venue. Unluckily the fact was that the Theatre Royal could not sustain its box office success and by the 1950s attendance figures had dropped to the point that they finally pulled the plug on it being a performance venue in 1955. It was then turned into several little shops on its bottom level including as a furniture shop which included displays on the stage. Then in 1960 a fire ravaged much of the stage and stalls area. In the 1980s there was a movement out to try and protect the building and revamp it as a better venue for Chatham than the considerably smaller and less grand Central Hall.

The fight to restore The Theatre Royal raged for 20 years but Curtains!!! prediction came true

'However the Theatre Royal is probably too far gone to make restoration economically feasible'

In 2002 the Theatre Royal Chatham Trust had to withdraw its support of the venue as the building was too rotten to feasibly be saved, a travesty considering the fact that it was a Grade II building. These types of building should be saved not left to rot.

There happened to be various bodies and people trying to save this once beautiful venue since the 60s before the Trust came into being in the 80s but they couldn't stop progress it seems. A beautiful old building with a heritage linked to the local area was allowed to rot so that its land could be sold off for Housing Association redevelopment in 2002. In March 2009 they demolished the theatre a sad day but unfortuanately it was necessary as it was really just a shell of former glory, a testament to past magic and variety.

The saddest part of this story for me though is the fact I have heard it so many times over and over again. Last month I spoke about my disgust at the situation regarding Farnham Rep and how wrong it was that local authorities can just say no to people who want to use purpose built venues. When a venue has a trust behind it trying to raise the money, raise its profile for the sake of saving a usable building so it can be appreciated and used by future generations and the local authority decides to ignore that fact until that building has to be knocked down, Government Protection or not, so it can sell the land on for housing developments I think its stupid. Why bother allowing a building to die slowly, why not just pull the plug? Chatham Theatre Royal was allowed to mould and fester before it was finally pulled down and that is not the way these buildings should be remembered.

It is however ironic that Chathams alternative venue with Jazz Lessons, Community Theatre and smaller scale productions is the Old Town Hall designed by Bond, his work still influences theatre in the area. At least that venue is safe.

However on the old address of the once grand theatre 102 High Street you will today find Cutting Crew Hairdresser. I think that just says it all.

Anyone who feels the same as I do should visit the Theatres Trust Website and find out how they can help save local theatres.

Pictures of the inside of the Theatre Royal were sourced from http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/ and http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/ headtheatre.blogspot.com does not condone or encourage the illegal entry of derelict or private property. It is potentially life threatening and illegal.