 On 30 May 1898 the Tower Theatre was opened , sited between the legs of the tower . Capable of accommodating an audience of 2 @,@ 500 , it was the largest theatre in England outside London . Each season at the theatre was different ; some years it would show a play or an opera , others it would focus on variety acts such as magicians , comedians and lion tamer Mademoiselle Marguerite , with her seven lions . Wrestling was hosted at the theatre as early as 1903 , and had become a weekly event by 1937 . When the Americans occupied the site during the Second World War they used the Tower Theatre to show their own roadshows to the troops . 
