Theatre Royal, Norwich
The Theatre Royal is an art-deco theatre in Norwich, Norfolk, England. It celebrated its 250th anniversary on the 31st of January 2008 and is one of the country's oldest established theatres. Many well known acts have played here over the years, including Debbie McGee, Ching Lau Lauro, William Charles Macready, Charles Kean , Tom Thumb and his spouse (Mr and Mrs Stratton), Paganini, Donald Sinden, Bernard Cribbins and The Bolshoi Ballet.

It hosts a large range of touring productions. The theatre had a £10m refurbishment in 2007, designed by Tim Foster Architects.

In 2015, plans were launched for the new £15m Stage Two building under the direction of the then CEO Peter Wilson MBE. The new building was to house one of europe's most technically advanced arts education facilities, and a new 200 seat auditorium.

In 2016, it was announced that Peter was to depart the Theatre Royal, after 25 years at the helm. It was later announced that the new auditorium would be named the Peter Wilson Studio.

In mid 2016, Stephen Crocker, a former deputy CEO of The Lowry theatre was announced as the new Chief Executive.

In 2019, Norwich Theatre Royal was rebranded to become the Norwich Theatre group alongside Norwich Playhouse.

Shows 
A traditional family pantomime is produced in-house annually for the Christmas season each year. The 2019 production of Cinderella starred Kara-Lianne Jones and Prince Charming (David Witts) as the love-struck young couple who will live happily ever after come the end of the show. Joining them on stage was the entertaining sister act - Alexa (Amanda Henderson) and Siri (Alix Dunmore) - who were good, bad and indeed ugly, as Cinders' sisters.

In addition, it regularly attracts a host of touring theatre productions.

History 
The second Theatre Royal (previous to the building pictured) was built in 1826.
The theatre announced its opening.

The popular magician Ching Lau Lauro received a bad review there, from the Norfolk Chronicle, in 1828.

Just over a year after the theatre burnt down its successor was revealed.

In 1894 the theatre was closed for several months in order to carry out a scheme of reconstruction and redecoration from the designs of  Frank Matcham.

The theatre owner's death in 1902 led to its auction.

In November Harry Lauder made his first visit to Norwich with his BIG VARIETY ROAD SHOW in 1935.

George Barnes  played The Grand Vizier to John Inman's Wishee Washee in Aladdin Christmas 1975. This was to be George's 33rd pantomime season.

Television newsreader Helen McDermott landed a part as Helen the Sultana of Booberoomba - doubling as a tavern wench - in Dick Whittington and His Cat in January 2001.

Mother Goose, the 2001 pantomime beat box office targets by £10,000.

A Birthday profit for Norwich Theatre Royal in 2002 as it celebrated its tenth anniversary since reopening, with a profit of £76,000, more than twice the previous year's surplus. The 2002 pantomime was Jack and the Beanstalk starring Rikki Jay.

In January 2004 the theatre received a tax reimbursement of more than £1 million, making it the latest venue to benefit from new rules that entitled organisations to reclaim VAT on ticket sales.

Vicki Carr played the title role in Sleeping Beauty in 2004.

Jay appeared for his eighth consecutive year, the previous year's pantomime had grossed £627,000 with 98% of capacity is virtually unheard of elsewhere. This year was Peter Pan, with Derek Griffiths as Captain Hook , whilst Jay played Smee.

The 2015 pantomime production starring Kevin Kennedy was one of the most financially successful pantomimes in the theatre’s history. A total of 60,996 tickets were sold for Peter Pan, beating the previous year’s sales of 60,063 for Cinderella.

During the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic over half the theatre's staff were made redundant by the summer.

See also
 Norwich Playhouse
 Norfolk and Norwich Festival
 Maddermarket Theatre
 Sewell Barn Theatre

References

External links

Theatres in Norwich