Nottingham

This week and last week, we've been playing at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham. On a tour like this, we get to experience a wide variety of theatres. They may mostly take roughly the same capacity - although there will be a couple of venues on this tour that seat over 2000 people - but the architecture, sightlines and acoustics can vary hugely.

 

The Theatre Royal, Nottingham is a beautiful building that celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. During the building of the theatre, the world saw the end of the American Civil War, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the publishing of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, the founding of the US Secret Service, the first ascent of the Matterhorn and the introduction of the speed limit in Great Britain (2mph in the town and 4mph in the country).

In March 1865, they began cutting the turf to commence the construction process. On 25th September, the completed theatre opened with The School For Scandal.

That's six months from marking out the site to the finished product. Aside from everything that happened in that brief period, it says something about 19th century builders, doesn't it?