Watford Palace Theatre

Located in Watford, Hertfordshire, today a district to the outer northwest of Greater London. The Palace Theatre of Varieties was opened in 1908. Seating was provided for 546, with 240 in the orchestra stalls, 132 in the pit stalls and 174 in the dress circle. The proscenium is 28 feet wide, and the stage 16 feet deep. There were three dressing rooms and three chorus rooms which could accommodate 20 artistes.

In 1910, the facade was completely reconstructed to what is seen today. A gallery with 250 seats was added above the dress circle, and a box was added at dress circle level on each side of the proscenium, which increased the seating capacity to 800. The Watford Palace of Varieties began to screen films as part of the variety programme, even becoming a full time cinema briefly from 27th June 1910 to 30th July 1910, and then back to variety theatre programming.

In later years, it became a repertory theatre, and in recent years has hosted touring productions as well as producing its own shows. The Watford Film Society has a monthly screening of a classic film.

Recent comments (view all 2 comments)

CSWalczak on April 21, 2012 at 9:30 pm

There are three pictures of theatre as it looks today on this webpage.

Ian on April 26, 2012 at 11:16 am

Some more photos of the Watford Palace here:–

EXTERIOR IN 1980

INTERIOR FROM STAGE IN 2010

INTERIOR TO STAGE IN 2001

The modern lighting fixture is hugely controversial!