Page 12 - Palace Theatre @ 100
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The Designer
Described as a miniature opera house of classic design
and seating, at that time 660, it boasted every modern
facility of the day. The auditorium was built on two
levels, with stalls and one balcony, with one large box
Redditch Arts Council on either side. Mr H K Hayles, a potteries entrepreneur,
Newsletter July 1969 was the Managing Director of the company, the
Redditch Palace Ltd. and it appears that the cost of
‘My own recollections building the theatre (which was cited as £9,000) may
begin at the pantomime, have been raised by private subscription.
probably 1919. There
were several glittering The theatre architect chosen by Mr Hayles was a
fairies who dazzled my 4 leading exponent of theatre design, Mr Bertie Crewe.
year old gaze
When Mr Hayles engaged the services of Mr Bertie
It cannot have been Crewe to the build Redditch's Palace Theatre, he was
more than a year or two engaging one of the most dynamic architects of the
after this when I started 1890's -1900's. Crewe specialised entirely in theatres
visiting the Palace and, subsequently, cinemas.
regularly, but by then it
had become a cinema. By the time he came to design the Palace he had been
involved in over 40 theatre building projects, and was
I recollect that when the at the height of his architectural powers. As an architect
Palace showed the Syd his body of work was prolific having been involved in
Chaplin film of the planning or collaboration of nearly 200
“Charley’s Aunt”, the theatres/cinemas, including many in London. The
orchestra played Palace was designed by Crewe as a live theatre and
furiously, over and over also for cinema use, as it had its own purpose built
again, a popular song ‘Bioscope’ box.
called “I’m One of the
Nuts from Barcelona.”’
William Robert
(Bertie) Crewe
(1864-1937) (on
extreme left) -
Palace Theatre
Architect, with
his partner
Henry Kay, and
his wife.
Courtesy: PGH Kay Collection Hughes.
1913
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