Theatre Royal The Latter 19th Century
The Latter 19th Century |
| Written by yorkguides.co.uk | |
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In November 1876 Coleman went bankrupt, and his renewed lease on the York Theatre was therefore void. The Corporation's Finance Committee ruled that he would be granted a new lease on his discharge, if he could raise the £215 rent he owed. W. A. Waddington, who had for some years run the Festival Concert Rooms in York and the Londesborough Theatre in Scarborough, and who had been in competition with Coleman for the lease earlier in 1875, now obtained promises from seven members of the Committee that he should be granted the lease. He made an offer to Coleman's trustee for the rest of the lease and his offer was accepted by one member of the Committee of Inspection. But the rest of the Committee then accepted an alternative, higher offer, made on behalf of Coleman. Waddington claimed that he had 'entered into an agreement with the trustee under the affairs of Mr Coleman in liquidisation, for taking the theatre, paying the sum of £50 at once, and the balance in a few days afterwards, receiving a written authority from the trustee to enter the premises'43 He considered that, as his offer had been accepted first, he had entered into a binding contract for the lease and he therefore opened the Theatre, without a licence, and kept the engagements made by Coleman with the Billington and 'Our Boys' touring companies. He was fined £1 a day for each day the Theatre was open without a licence from the Justices of the Peace, but in May 1877 he was granted a licence for the year, on condition that he did not sell 'beer and spirituous liquors' at the Theatre.44 Waddington replied 'that he would not sell liquors or refreshments of any kind whatever, having already stopped the sale of oranges within the building'. A legal battle between Coleman and Waddington ensued, the Court of Appeal finally ruling that Waddington's contract was binding, and in August 1877 the Corporation granted him a formal lease.After 1877 the York Theatre became entirely a touring theatre, with no resident company, and with W.A. Waddington and, after 1901, his son W. H. Waddington, acting as impressarios. The Theatre at first continued to be visited by the most prominent actors and actresses of the day, who would perform for one or two nights as part of provincial tours. Among them was Henry Irving, who appeared in 1877, the year before he took over the management of the Lyceum Theatre in London. In the late 19th century, however, a system developed whereby most touring companies would spend a week at each theatre on their itinerary. This imposed a certain rigidity on the manager's time-tabling, and it became more difficult to slot in stars for their one-night stands. London theatres, too, began to send 'second companies' to the provinces. Many stars did go to York, however, including Sarah Bernhardt in La Dame aux Cornelias for one night in July 1904. She returned the following year in July with Mrs Patrick Campbell and the Theatre Sarah Bernhardt Company and performed Maeterlinck's Pelleas et Melisande'. The Yorkshire Gazette wrote:45
Madame. Bernhardt, of course, was the boy love, Pelleas. Though she has lost just a little of the slimness which made her so convincing a Due de Reichstadt, she yet succeeds in a truly marvellous manner in making us forget the woman we know in La Tosca and La Dame aux Cornelias . . . Her wonderful voice with its slow clear enunciation (so grateful to those whose French is not all they could wish it!) never rose to heights of passion . . . Throughout her declamation remained in delicate harmony with the strain of gentle poetic sadness in which the whole play is pitched. Some visiting companies became regular, almost annual, visitors to York. Amongst them were the D'Oyly Carte, mostly with productions of Gilbert and Sullivan, and the Carl Rosa Light Opera Company. Twice nightly variety was put on in the York Theatre for the first time in 1906 instead of a Christmas pantomime and novelties including: Professor Cocker's 15 educated horses, giving children rides around the stage, in 1888; Shing Yengazika's Tokio Theatre Company performing The Geisha's Revenge, 'entire production Japanese', in 1905; the first film to be shown in the York Theatre in 1907 by the London Bioscope Company; Fred Karno's troupe of pantomimists with over ten tons of scenery in 1908 and, in 1909, an international wrestling match for the middle¬weight championship of the world.
In 1880 the exterior of the Theatre was altered once more. A new arcade of five arches was built, and the Theatre given a new Victorian Gothic frontage. In 1888 the pit was extended by opening out the space beneath the dress circle. In 1901 the Grand Opera House, later to become the Empire, opened in York in New Clifford Street and provided serious competition. The Corporation tried to counteract the Opera House's appeal by rebuilding the interior of the Theatre Royal. The roof was altered, giving extra height to the stage and improving sight lines. The width of the pit and stage was increased and access was improved. The decorations were done in white, gold and emerald green, with the dome in grey and red. Electric light was installed, and the dress and upper circles furnished with red velvet tip-up chairs. But this made little difference to the once more declining fortunes of the Theatre. In 1910 Waddington gave up the lease, after it had been in the family for 35 years, the longest successive period of management since Tate Wilkinson's, and the Theatre was taken over by Percy Hutchison. |
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