BACKGROUND
HISTORY OF THEATRES IN ILFORD
ILFORD
HIPPODROME
Like many
London suburbs, Ilford expanded rapidly with the rise of the Railway.
By 1909 it was a large community, certainly large enough to support a
Theatre. The Ilford Hippodrome opened on November 8th, 1909. The
building was designed by Frank Matcham and cost £35,000 to build. It
had 2,500 seats and a further 500 standing places.
The
Hippodrome survived for 35 years – during some of which it was
forced to show films as interest in live Variety waned – and finally
met its end during a performance of the pantomime on January 12th
1945. It was destroyed in the blast from a V2 rocket. One person was
killed and over a hundred were injured. (A further fifteen people were
killed in the housing immediately behind the theatre).
THE
LITTLE THEATRE
The town was
left without a theatre for nine years, during which Ilford Town Hall
served as a stopgap. A "permanent" home was created in 1954
when a building close to the High Road was converted into The Little
Theatre. This small venue, used exclusively by amateurs, was
demolished in 1968 to make way for a supermarket.
THE
CRANBROOK THEATRE/ILFORD PLAYHOUSE
There were
plans to build a brand new theatre alongside the Town Hall, but it was
clear these would take several years to reach fruition. Accordingly,
the local Council took a seven year lease on a disused Church and
created a temporary theatre in Cranbrook Road called The Cranbrook
Theatre. Again, this was used exclusively by amateurs.
The new
Theatre was ready within six years, and was to be called the Kenneth
More Theatre. The KMT would be used for amateur and professional
shows, and the town’s leading amateur company felt the
"professionalism" of the new venue would seriously damage
the spirit of amateur theatre. The Renegades Theatre Company decided
not to move into the KMT and negotiated their own lease on the
Cranbrook Theatre. They renamed it the Ilford Playhouse, and for the
next ten years kept it running in opposition to the KMT. They finally
lost the venue to redevelopment in June, 1984.
THE
KENNETH MORE THEATRE
Ilford’s
civic theatre, the Kenneth More, opened on the very last day of 1974
with a preview of "The Beggar’s Opera". There were further
previews on January 1st and 2nd, and the official opening was on
January 3rd, 1975.
The theatre
seated 365 and was fully equipped with a fly-tower and all the latest
"state of the art" equipment. It also contained a 50 seat
Studio Theatre for experimental work. The building cost £500,000.
In the
years since then the KMT has been very successful. It has balanced its
commitment to amateur theatre by providing 26 weeks each year for
local amateur companies. The remaining half of the programme has
consisted of a mixture of visiting professional shows and professional
in house productions.
Several in
house productions have then gone on to undertake national tours,
beginning with a 26 week tour of "Hair" in 1978. Its major
touring success was the KMT production of "The Rocky Horror
Show" which toured the UK non-stop between 1983 and 1989, and in
1990 undertook a European tour.
The KMT also
created a company of young opera singers, and a company specialising
in contemporary musicals, earning a considerable reputation for its
operas and its productions of works by Stephen Sondheim.
