Empire (Sunderland)

• Theatre ID
  1667
• Built / Converted
  1907
• Dates of use
  • 1907: continuing
• Current state
  Extant
• Current use
  Theatre
• Address
  High West Street, Sunderland, Tyne & Wear, SR1 3EX, England

Details

Built as a large variety theatre and in excellent condition inside and out. The style of the auditorium is typical of the Milburns’ earlier work, and an important comparison can be made between this theatre and their West Hartlepool Empire Theatre (dem) built two years later in 1909. Here the auditorium layout was highly reminiscent of Sunderland, which now seems to be the only example of this phase of their work. Wide auditorium with two deep, slightly curved balconies, two very big, almost overbearing boxes with elaborately tiered cupolas facing the audience at upper balcony levels, and dress circle slips which rake steeply down the side of the auditorium wall. At each side of the first balcony is a little six-bay arcade with four of the bays made into boxes. Rectangular proscenium with a large, flat tablet above the centre. The ceiling has very high coves over the proscenium and at the sides, divided into panels by strips of moulding. Heavily modelled and sparsely applied Baroque plasterwork. The exterior is mostly hidden behind the frontages of the main street, but above the corner entrance is a big, circular, domed tower with a boldly projecting cornice and oeil-de-boeuf dormers. Beyond the tower, along the side, is an unexpectedly charming series of Arts and Crafts bow windows in the upper floor. The Empire was purchased by the Sunderland Corporation in 1960 - one of the first local authorities to take the initiative of giving a new lease of life to an ailing commercial touring theatre. At the time of writing (1998) the theatre has already undergone a number of enlargements including new dressing rooms, and a study on its further enlargement and full restoration has been undertaken. For the Milburns’ quite different later work, see the Empires in Edinburgh (now the Festival Theatre), Southampton (now the Mayflower), Liverpool and, in London, the Dominion.

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• Other names
  Civic Theatre
• Events
  • Owner/Management: Richard Reed, general manager
  • Owner/Management: Reginald Birks, director and licensee
  • Owner/Management: A E Barnes, resident manager
  • Owner/Management: Harry Esden, resident manager
  • 1907 Use: continuing
  • 1907 - 1922 Owner/Management: Richard Thornton, managing director
  • 1907 Design/Construction:
    • John Taylor (Birmingham) - Consultant: Plaster Decorations
    • Mcculloch & Co (Sheffield) - Consultant: Stage Equipment
  • 1907 Design/Construction:
    • William & T R Milburn - Architect
  • 1944 - 1962 Owner/Management: Jesse J S Challons, resident manager
  • 1970 Owner/Management: Edwin Royston Todds, director and licensee
  • 1972 Owner/Management: continuing Sunderland Empire Theatre Trust Ltd, owners
  • 1978 Owner/Management: Until when not known. Russell Hills, director
  • 1987 Owner/Management: Until when not known. Colin Angus, director and licensee
  • 1989 Alteration: construction work during reopening of gallery
    • Tyne Theatre Construction (Jack Dixon) - Architect
• Capacities
  • Original: 2700
  • Later: 1972: 1600
  • Current: 1850
• Listings
  • Grade II*
• Stage type
  • Proscenium rake 1:19.5
• Dimensions
  • Building dimensions: Auditorium 80ft long, 82ft wide
  • Stage dimensions: Depth: 12.8m (42ft) Width: 22m (72ft)
  • Proscenium width: 10.5m (34ft 6in)
  • Height to grid: 18.34m
  • Orchestra pit: 12.5m x 2.13m x 1.3m accommodates up to 100
• Unreliable anecdotes
  Note misapprehension in Curtains, first edition, concerning supposed staircases from first balcony to stalls