On July 23, 1894, Blackpool turned out in its full fin-de-siècle finery for the Grand Theatre’s first performance. The theatre was illuminated with dazzling electric lights, and the opening-night programme for Hamlet was printed on pure silk perfumed with ‘Tower’ bouquet. Today, it is celebrating its 125th birthday. The Stage described, in great detail, the “splendid temple of the drama” with its handsome entrance foyer and retiring rooms “fitted up in the most luxurious and tasteful style”. It noted the ‘capacious’ cantilevered auditorium with its sweeping balconies and unimpeded views, modern dressing rooms with hot and cold running water, and its large stage with “space sufficient to work the most elaborate productions”.
The Grand, built in nine months and at a cost of £20,000, was the work of Frank Matcham but the brainchild of entertainment entrepreneur Thomas Sergenson, who had previously managed theatres in the resort and who ran a rudimentary circus on the site before the Grand was built.
When Sergenson heard on the grapevine that a tower was to be built on the seafront, complete with a new circus at its base, he decided to turn his compact site into a theatre in Blackpool instead, featuring state-of-the-art facilities and designed by the best theatre architect in the country.
During its early years the Grand, dubbed ‘Matcham’s masterpiece’, attracted some of the biggest stars of the day including Lily Langtry, Ellen Terry, Dan Leno, Mrs Patrick Campbell and Sarah Bernhardt.
Source: The Grand history: Matcham’s masterpiece celebrates 125 years