The King’s Edinburgh – A History

The King’s Theatre, Edinburgh was built in 1905 by Edinburgh
builder, William Stewart Cruikshank. Andrew Carnegie laid the
foundation stone and the Theatre was opened in 1906 with a performance
of Cinderella and managed by A Stewart Cruikshank.

Initially the programming of the theatre was undertaken under contract by Howard & Wyndham and A
Stewart Cruikshank became a Director (and in 1928 Managing Director) of
this company which managed a chain of theatres in Britain rivalling
Moss Empires. Moss Empires were the owners of The Empire Palace
Theatre, which is now the Edinburgh Festival Theatre, the King’s sister
theatre.

JB Howard and Fred Wyndham founded the company in 1883 when they
built the Royal Lyceum Theatre both having trained in Edinburgh under
William Murray at the Theatre Royal. The King’s Theatre became the
headquarters of Howard & Wyndham and they held their board meetings
there and famously their AGM on Christmas Eve – which guaranteed
minimal interference from shareholders!

After A Stewart Cruikshank retired, his son Stewart inherited the
Managing Directorship. Howard and Wyndham sold the Royal Lyceum Theatre
to Edinburgh Council in 1965 and after Stewart Cruikshank’s death in
1966 a similar deal was done with the King’s Theatre. The Royal Lyceum
was subsequently managed by a Trust but the local authority managed the
King’s Theatre until July 1998 when the operation merged with the
Festival Theatre and Festival City Theatres Trust now manages both
Theatres.

The Theatre originally had Stalls and three circles – Dress, Family
and Gallery. The Gallery was uncomfortable and latterly unsafe and was
removed in the fifties reducing the Theatre to three levels with
additional seating at the back of what is now called the Upper Circle.
The present seating capacity is 1350.

The interior décor is very ornate with nine boxes either side of the
proscenium and there are fine examples of Edwardian stained glass in
the foyer doors. The present Upper Circle bar area was originally a
Billiard Room and there were shops either side of the entrance at
street level. A major refurbishment was undertaken in the mid 1980s
when new seating was installed at every level.

The King’s Theatre was built as a variety theatre and has a long
tradition of pantomime with such stars as Stanley Baxter, Rikki Fulton
and Jimmy Logan. There is also a long tradition of amateur operatic and
musical work in Edinburgh which for some years now has taken place at
the King’s Theatre.

There are plans currently in motion for a new refurbishment of the
King’s Theatre, to bring this much loved Edinburgh theatre back up to
it’s former glory, to allow another century of top class drama and
pantomime.

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