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The Grand Theatre Blackpool

You are in 1905 A Year in Perspective

1905 A Year in Perspective

In September 2002, Andrew Gladwell presented the theatre with a bound volume of Grand Theatre programmes for 1905 that he had purchased from a London antique shop. His gift coincided with the celebrations associated with repainting the auditorium ceiling and restoration of the plasterwork – Phase One of the Glorious Grand Restoration.

We are pleased to present a complete chronology of performances for 1905. Programmes for all 57 productions are archived on this page, in descending date order from 24 December 1904 to 6 January 1906.

1905 was the year of first publication of the New York show business newspaper Variety, and saw the deaths of actor-manager Sir Henry Irving, first knight of the British theatre, and Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. Herbert Beerbohm Tree established an annual Shakespeare festival, and Harley Granville Barker, pioneer of the future National Theatre and the nascent repertory theatre movement, wrote The Voysey Inheritance.



1905 was manager Thomas Sergenson's eleventh year running the Grand Theatre. He could negotiate with over 150 touring companies on the road in Britain, a much healthier theatre industry than today! The companies, which in this year included the first visits of George Edwardes' redoubtable company, always shared financial risk with Sergenson on a share of box office receipts of between 55 and 65 per cent. They brought the Grand a weekly change of farces, melodramas, musical comedies, classical plays, society drama and pantomimes to this 'No 1' theatre, year round. The programmes demonstrate an enormous range and quantity of shows, mostly originating in London. The weekly shows were augmented by occasional 'flying matinees' - starring Sarah Bernhardt and Mrs Patrick Campbell, then George Robey in 1905. These artistes toured with a minimum of decor and effects, speeding to Blackpool on the direct rail link from London, before proceeding to Manchester or Liverpool to give an evening performance.