Buxton Opera House

The Buxton Opera House was built in 1903 and designed by Frank Matcham, who designed the London Palladium, the London Coliseum and many other theatres throughout the UK. The first production at the theatre was Mrs Willoughby’s Kiss. The Opera House ran as a successful theatre, receiving touring companies until 1927, when it was turned into a cinema. Silent films were shown until 1932 when the theatre was wired for sound and could present "talkies". The Opera House also became the venue for an annual summer theatre festival from 1936 to 1942, two of them in conjunction with Lilian Baylis and her London-based Old Vic company. People who performed at the theatre include the actor Alec…

The theatre complex also includes the adjacent Victorian Pavilion, the 369-seat Pavilion Arts Centre (rebuilt in 2010; formerly the Paxton Theatre and earlier known as the Playhouse Theatre and The Hippodrome). There the Literary and Dramatic Societies of Buxton College and Cavendish Grammar School staged annual performances of either Shakespeare, such as Hamlet (1966), Coriolanus (1968) and Macbeth (1970), or modern works, such as Bertolt Brecht's Life of Galileo (1967) and Dylan Thomas's The Doctor & the Devils (1969). It also includes the Octagon Hall auditorium (built in 1875), as well as a two-storey restaurant with a bar and gift shop. The arts centre stage area can be converted into…