Gate (i) & (ii)

• Theatre ID
  2399
• Built / Converted
  1925
• Dates of use
  • 1925 - 1926: (i)
  • 1927 - 1940: (ii)
• Current state
  Demolished
• Current use
  demolished
• Address
  (i) 28 Floral St (ii) 16a Villiers St, Westminster, London, WC2, England

Details

The Gate (i) was a club theatre opened by Peter Godfrey and Molly Veness in the top floor of a warehouse in Covent Garden in October 1925. In 1927 it moved to a new theatre (ii) formed in one of the railway arches under Charing Cross Station, formerly occupied by Gatti's Music Hall (the remaining Gatti's arches were later taken over by the Players' Theatre (i) q.v.). Godfrey tried to forge a link with Terence Gray's Cambridge Festival Theatre but failed, and, in 1934, he handed over to Norman Marshall, who had been Gray's producer. After a series of distinguished productions, including some West End transfers, the theatre closed in 1940, was damaged in the blitz the following year and never reopened. A new theatre was constructed in carcase and was, for many years visible as an empty brick shell in front of and to the right of the Players' Theatre. Although reopening as the Villiers Theatre was announced in 1966, it was never completed as either a theatre, or as was one time proposed, a night club. It was demolished in the extensive remodelling of Charing Cross Station in the late 1980s. A drawing of the theatre in the 1930s shows a shallow arched ceiling with what (surprisingly) appears to be a roof light and a plain, rectangular proscenium framing a low and shallow stage. Pilasters on the walls probably dated from an earlier occupation.

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• Other names
  Gate Theatre Saloon, Gate Theatre Studio, (never opened) Villiers Theatre
• Events
  • 1925 - 1926 Use: (i)
  • 1927 - 1940 Use: (ii)
  • 1925 - 0 Design/Construction: Gate (i) conversion of a warehouse (architect unknown).
  • 1927 - 0 Alteration: Gate (ii) conversion of railway arch (architect unknown).
  • 1960 - 1969 Alteration: (new theatre, never completed)
  • 1925 Owner/Management: Peter Godfrey
  • 1933 Owner/Management: Norman Marshall
• Capacities
  • Original: (i) 96
• Listings
  • Grade Not listed
• Stage type
  • Proscenium flat
• Dimensions
  • Building dimensions: (ii)c.55ft x 30ft internally