Old Theatre Hall

The real thing: the Victorian playhouse

Victorian and Edwardian theatres were built to pack people in. Steep, horseshoe-shaped balconies, called circles, are stacked one above another so that nobody sits too far from the stage. Behind the proscenium arch, a tall fly tower hides scenery that can be hauled up out of sight.

The architect Frank Matcham designed dozens of theatres in this style, including the London Coliseum and the London Palladium. Many smaller towns have a theatre from the same era, often saved from demolition by a local trust.

Fire was the great danger of gaslit theatres. In 1887, a fire at the Theatre Royal in Exeter killed 186 people. Disasters like that led to stricter rules: more exits from every level, and a fireproof safety curtain that can drop between the stage and the audience. In many British theatres it is still lowered and raised in front of the audience to show that it works.