Just sharing some photographs and some London History from my
weekend shoot at The Apollo Theatre London - its also featured in todays
Evening Standard - Enjoy!
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/apollo-theatre-gets-a-striking-new-false-ceiling-as-it-prepares-to-reopen-after-it-collapsed-9216013.html
Nimax Theatres commissioned me to photograph the newly refurbished Apollo Theatre London. It
was a great privilege to spend time exploring this fabulous theatre - probably
one of the most authentic interiors I have photographed recently. Nimax
Theatres have successfully completed a magnificent and sensitive refurbishment.
After the collapse of the ceiling in December, it is especially great to see
the theatre re-opening tonight 26th
March 2014 with
the show Let the Right One In
For Photography usage please contact me at siobhan@siobhandoran.com
The Apollo Theatre: History and Information (text taken from the Apollo Website)
The West End's Apollo
Theatre is a Grade II listed theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in
the City of Westminster, London. Designed by architect Lewin Sharp for owner
Henry Lowenfield, it was the fourth legitimate theatre to be constructed on the
street. The Apollo's doors opened on 21 February 1901 with the
American musical comedy The Belle of Bohemia. The production was followed by
John Martin-Harvey's season, including A Cigarette Maker's Romance and The Only
Way, an adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities.
The Apollo Theatre was the
first in London to be built in the Edwardian period, it was
renovated by Schaufelberg in 1932, and a private foyer and ante room were
installed to the Royal Box. The sculpted work on the stone fascia is by T.
Simpson, the building is of plain brick to the neighbouring streets. The
Apollo Theater has a first floor central loggia, inside there is a
three galleried auditorium with elaborate plasterwork.The theatre seats 796,
and the balcony on the 3rd tier is considered the steepest in London.
The Stoll Moss Group purchased the Apollo
Theatre in 1975 and sold it to Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Really Useful
Group and Bridgepoint Capital in 2000. Nica Burns and
Max Weitzenhoffer purchased the theatre and several others in 2005,
creating Nimax Theatres, which still owns the venue.
Past Shows
The Apollo Theatre has played host to a
number of different types of theatre and a range of world-famous acting talent
throughout its history, stretching back to its origins in the early 20th
century when it opened with a selection of Edwardian musical comedies and light
operas such as Kitty Grey (1901) and Véronique(1904).
After these early beginnings a parade of plays and novel adaptations from the
best of British and international writers graced the stage of the Apollo, with
productions of Ivor Novello’s A Symphony in Two Flats (1929),
Robert Sherwood’s Pulitzer Prize-winningIdiot’s Delight (1938),
Terrence Rattigan’s Flare Path(1942) and Noël Coward’s Private
Lives (1944) all winning popular and critical acclaim.
From the 1970s through to the 1990s the
theatre continued to be a showcase for fantastic writing and acting talent,
seeing performances from names like John Mills, Vanessa Redgrave, Zoe
Wanamaker, Peter O’Toole and Penelope Keith over the decades. Since 2005 the
theatre has been owned by the Nimax Theatres chain, and in more recent years
there have been successful productions of both new and classic plays with star
actors in the leading roles, such as Rosamund Pike in Summer and Smoke (2006),
Jessica Lange in The Glass Menagerie (2007), Josh Hartnett
in Rain Man (2008) and James McAvoy in Three Days of Rain (2009).
The Apollo Theatre recently hosted David Suchet in Eugene O’Neill’s Long
Day’s Journey into Night and productions of Twelfth Night and Richard
the III starring Mark Rylance. The National Theatre’s highly
acclaimed production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the
Night-Time ran at the theatre from March 2013 – December 2013.
Let the Right One In,
an onstage adaption of John Ajvide Lindqvist’s Swedish Horror Novel, opens
at the Apollo Theatre on 26th March 2014.
