The London Coliseum: The People’s Palace Of Entertainment

Walking along St Martin’s Lane, not far from Trafalgar Square, you cannot help but pay attention to the tower of the London Coliseum. It is one of the capital’s most distinctive theatrical landmarks and has played a central role to London’s theatre scene now for over a century. 

I was delighted to pay them a visit this Christmas to see the English National Ballet’s version of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, set partly in Edwardian London. 

Oswald Stoll: Theatre Manager At Fourteen

The London Coliseum was the creation of a man called Oswald Stoll. Stoll was born in Melbourne in 1866 as Oswald Gray. His mother was Adelaide Gray, an Irish dancer who had emigrated to Australia to marry an aristocrat. 

As a child he came to the UK with his mother after the death of his father. She married again and he took his stepfather, John Stoll’s, surname.

Oswald Stoll was thrown into the deep end of theatre management from a young age. His stepfather was the owner of the Parthenon Rooms Theatre in Liverpool. From the age of 14 he essentially managed the theatre alongside his mother and step-father. He said ’I was three months past fourteen and had for a time to manage as best I could (or mismanage, whatever you like) a theatre in Liverpool’. It was apparently a bit embarrassing, because he was so young, if someone asked to speak to the manager he would go backwards and forwards between the customer and a ‘fictitious manager’ in the back of the office, so that he would not be taken advantage of. 

Taking The Theatre World By Storm

In 1886 he and his mother bought the lease for ‘Levino’s Museum of Varieties’ in Cardiff and turned it into a music hall. By 1892 they had added three more theatres and went from success to success. He wanted to make theatre more of a family friendly activity rather than the rowdy crowds it could previously attract. He once apparently walked onto the stage in Cardiff with a hose threatening to douse a particularly misbehaving crowd. 

In 1895 a new company was formed with H E Moss, of the Moss and Thornton Circuit and by 1905 they had 37 variety theatres around the UK. Oswald would apparently make sure his mother was in the box office for the opening night of each theatre to take the first ticket sale. 

Bigger and Better

The Coliseum was his crowning achievement and he engaged the prolific theatre architect Frank Matcham to design it. Matcham also designed the Hackney Empire (1901), the London Hippodrome (1900) and the London Palladium (1910). 

It was designed in an exuberant and opulent Edwardian baroque style. Stoll wanted to build the largest and most comfortable theatre in London: a ‘People’s Palace of Entertainment’. The seating capacity was originally 2,939 and now is at 2,359, making it still the largest theatre in London. The stage is huge at 52 feet wide and 92 feet deep. It also has the widest proscenium arch in the West End. 

The interior is equally grand. The auditorium has a vast domed ceiling, intricate plasterwork, sculptures and gilding. 

Unique Design

One of the most eye-catching elements of its design is the globe. Stoll, as a bit of a marketing genius, wanted a revolving dome atop his theatre, with the Coliseum name up there in lights. The revolve was unfortunately deemed not complying with regulations at the time. It was later possibly due to perceived dangers to low-flying aircraft. Instead the lights on it created the illusion of movement.

After a major restoration project from 2000-2004 however, it does now actually rotate: 2 minutes and 14 seconds for a full rotation. The whole globe weighs 5 tonnes and is depicted as being held up by statues of enslaved people.

It was also at the cutting edge of technology and comfort. For example it was one of the first theatres to include customer lifts and electric lighting throughout. 

It was also the first theatre in the country to have a revolving stage. In a pioneering feat of engineering, Matcham installed three huge independently operated concentric rings. They were powered by electric motors and operated from the raised gallery. The revolving stage was removed in the 1970s during works to modernise the theatre. 

The London Coliseum Of Varieties Opens!

The theatre opened on the 24th December, Christmas Eve, 1904. The show was a Grand Variety Show featuring a musical spectacle called ‘Port Arthur’.

Initially the shows were a mixture of music hall acts and variety performances. It gained a reputation for its eclectic offerings, including organ recitals, indoor rodeos, performing elephants and ballets. The idea was for it to not be a standard music hall, but also not entertainment specifically aimed at only the richest in society. 

One level up you can find this little balcony looking over the main entranceway, again highly decorative. Oswald was apparently so obsessed with the number of people coming into the building that he would stand on this balcony overlooking the south foyer and count everyone going in and out. He also is said to have made the balcony very low to make himself look taller.

His mother was installed at the box office, where she worked for twenty years and became known as the ‘lady of the pay-box’. 

Again Stoll was always looking for opportunities to make his customer’s visits as comfortable, interesting and novel as possible. The London Coliseum, along with Selfridges, was one of the first places to regularly sell coca-cola, from a soda fountain.

Cricket and King Kong 

In February 1908 the theatre even hosted a cricket match. Stoll wanted to bring the summer game to the people of London in the winter. It was Midlesex vs Surrey and despite the stage being very large, the stumps could only be placed 15 yards apart and only four players were allowed per side. Behind the players was apparently a painted backdrop depicting a tree-lined cricket pitch and ground. A net was put up to protect the audience and scorecards were sold in the foyer instead of programmes.

The Theatre carried on putting on plays during World War One, fulfilling its role as the ‘people’s palace’ and keeping morale up with four daily performances. Stoll also held fundraising events at the theatre to raise money for war charities. 

After the arrival of ‘talkies’ in the 1930s, the theatre started showing films. When the original King Kong film came out in 1933, a huge screen and projector were set up in the theatre and they played it multiple times a day for months. Around 10,000 people watched the film at The Coliseum every day. 

A Home For Opera and Ballet

In 1968 the Sadlers Wells Opera Company moved into the theatre, later, in 1974, becoming the English National Opera. They then purchased the freehold to the theatre in 1992 and it has been their permanent home ever since. 

It is also the base for London performances of English National Ballet. 

As mentioned at the top of the post, they very kindly invited me to see their brilliant version of the Nutcracker this year, which is set in Edwardian London, featuring chimney sweeps and Suffragettes. You can find out more here.

Thank you so much for reading, more of London’s historical wonders below…