Edinburgh Festival Theatre
The Festival Theatre building on Nicolson Street in Edinburgh.
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| Former names | Empire Palace Theatre |
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| Address | 13/29 Nicolson Street Edinburgh, Scotland United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 55°56′48.12″N 3°11′10.24″W / 55.9467000°N 3.1861778°WCoordinates: 55°56′48.12″N 3°11′10.24″W / 55.9467000°N 3.1861778°W |
| Operator | Festival City Theatres |
| Capacity | 1,915 |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 7 November 1892 |
| Reopened | 1911, 1994 |
| Website | |
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The Edinburgh Festival Theatre (formerly Empire Palace Theatre) is a performing arts venue located on Nicolson Street in Edinburgh, Scotland used primarily for performances of opera and ballet, large-scale musical events, and touring groups. After its most recent renovation in 1994, it seats 1,915. It is one of the major venues of the annual summer Edinburgh International Festival and is the Edinburgh venue for the Scottish Opera and the Scottish Ballet.
The present theatre’s location is Edinburgh’s longest continuous theatre site, for there has been a theatre in that location since 1830. From being Dunedin Hall, the Royal Amphitheatre, Alhambra Music Hall, the Queen’s Theatre, Pablo Fanque's Amphitheatre, and Newsome’s Circus, the site became the Empire Palace Theatre, the first of the famous Moss Empires’ chain, opening on 7 November 1892. Designed by the great British theatre architect, Frank Matcham, (who built the London Coliseum, among others) its décor was lavish, with elephants with Nubian riders, nymphs and cherubs in abundance on the plasterwork, and it seated 3000 people on four levels.
For the following twenty years all the top artists of the day played at the Empire Palace until, on 9 May 1911, there was a disastrous fire on stage. While all 3000 theatre goers escaped safely in about 2.5 minutes, there were eleven backstage deaths and the death of a lion), the theatre reopened three months later. However, given the long term competition from the growth of film as a popular medium, the theatre was re-equipped to present bigger and more spectacular shows. Reusing some of Matcham’s original design concepts, the theatre reopened on 1 October 1928 with the first production, the musical Show Boat.
Between 1928 and 1963 the Empire was a variety, musical and opera house, often including ice shows. Big names like Harry Lauder, Charles Laughton, Fats Waller, Joe Loss, and Laurel and Hardy appeared, while English comedians Max Wall, Morecambe and Wise and Harry Worth established themselves at the Empire.
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