The Old Lantern Theatre

[John bycroft 0]

Does anyone remember the old Lantern Theatre on Kenwood Park Rd, when it was a derelict?  My sister and I and one or two other childhood friends found our way in through a basement window, and claimed it as our den.  This would have been about 1957.  We didn't know it was a theatre and called it our Haunted Picture Palace.  We loved going there.  Pam, my sister, would take a broom and a mop and clean up one of the rooms at the back.  She also brought some old curtains over to make it homey.   One day though,  we found a note on the table in 'our' room saying that the old theatre was going to be renovated  and, although we were invited to help with this, we never went there again (believing that we'd probably get into trouble for breaking in).  My sister and I had a brilliant childhood together. 

[Lemmy117 15]

Interesting you called it a Haunted Picture House. A few years ago my wife used to do music hall shows there with a local group and part of her act was with our small terrier dog. He would often go walkabout, and always ended up on the small balcony intently staring at a particular seat up there. It turns out the person who built it always used to sit up there watching the show!

 

Nigel L

[John bycroft 0]

Spooky!  In truth, we didn't have any spooky experiences but just called it that because it made it more exciting.  I have never been back since its rebirth but would love to do so.  When was it that you last visited there?

[Lemmy117 15]

Probably five or six years ago now, it is quite nice inside, very well restored and they do regular performances by various groups, or at least up until the pandemic they did.

[sadbrewer 20]

Would I be right in saying it was originally known as the Chalet Theatre?

[oscar2157 12]

Only trivia'...  I remember the old 'Lantern theatre as a derelict.. we would play around there during dinner break from Sharrow lane school..  a pal got inside for a nosy around.. I recall shouting a very authoritative sounding  ''Oi''  through a hole in a door..  my pal scurried out terrified.

[Janet24 59]

My parents used to go regularly to productions at the Lantern Theatre - they loved it.This would be late 1960s,maybe early 1970s,I think.

[John bycroft 0]

You must have discovered the place at about the same time as my sister and me.  Shame that we didn't run into each other although that could have resulted in gang warfare (I was about 11).

[TheLantern 10]

Well this is an interesting post. We always enjoy seeing people's memories of the theatre, especially the early days.

 

We've just refurbished the bar/foyer and put some photographs on the wall of the day the theatre renovations started back in 1957. We did get through the pandemic and we have shows on once again. 

 

If anyone would like to come and visit, to have a look at your old 'den', let us know.  We're not there all the time as the theatre is entirely run by volunteers but we can arrange something. We're still working on the buildings at the back, the old stable block, which are our dressing rooms. I'm guessing those are the ones that John is referring to in the original post. We've put the story of the theatre on our website now, along with some pictures: https://www.lanterntheatre.org.uk/our-story

 

You can email us at info@lanterntheatre.org.uk or through the contact forms on our website.

 

 

 

 

On 13/06/2021 at 16:59, sadbrewer said:

Would I be right in saying it was originally known as the Chalet Theatre?

Yes, we were originally known as The Chalet theatre when the Webster family built the venue back in 1893. When Dilys Guite and her friends renovated the building back in 1957, we reopened with the new name.

 

On 12/06/2021 at 21:59, Lemmy117 said:

Interesting you called it a Haunted Picture House. A few years ago my wife used to do music hall shows there with a local group and part of her act was with our small terrier dog. He would often go walkabout, and always ended up on the small balcony intently staring at a particular seat up there. It turns out the person who built it always used to sit up there watching the show!

 

Nigel L

We bet that was seat L1

 

On 13/06/2021 at 13:26, Lemmy117 said:

Probably five or six years ago now, it is quite nice inside, very well restored and they do regular performances by various groups, or at least up until the pandemic they did.

We reopened in November 2021 and we have shows coming up throughout 2022 and beyond. We were actually closed for 600 days in total over the pandemic so it's good to be back!

Edited March 10, 2022 by TheLantern

[Cody's Granddad 52]

I have been in this theatre years ago maybe 10 or more but can't remember why I was there.

I have not seen a show there maybe it was a CTC meeting.

However I will take a look at the shows available and pay another visit