History

In a nutshell...

sarah — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 10:29:56 +0100

Wilton's is the world's oldest and last surviving grand music hall.

Here, in the 1850s and 60s, classical overtures, dance, circus acts, opera, choral, and folk songs were enormously popular, long before "old time music hall" evolved. John Wilton built this theatre behind his public house, The Prince of Denmark in 1858, in Graces Alley, E1. The pub was locally famous as the first to use beautiful mahogany fittings and became known as The Mahogany Bar. Wilton's was described as the "Handsomest Room in Town" and "A Temple to Apollo".

A sun-burner chandelier with 300 gas jets and 27,000 cut crystals dominated a mirrored hall where George Leybourne (Champagne Charlie) sang. Rumour has it that the first ever Can-Can was performed and promptly banned at Wilton's. The auditorium remains incredibly intact - the original cast iron 'barley sugar' pillars support a papier-mâché balcony under paper roses set in a vaulted roof. In Wilton's day, 1,500 people used to cram into the music hall to hear the top acts - artistes from the Covent Garden were lured over in full costume to perform late night favourite arias. Today the hall has a licence to seat 300 people.

In 1880 John Wilton died, aged 60. Wilton's continued as a music hall for a few years after.

Then the hall was taken over by the East End Mission of the Methodist Church in 1888 and kept the name The Old Mahogany Mission until 1956. In the first dockers' strike of 1889 it served 2,000 meals a day to the strikers and was the HQ for the people of the East End who gathered to stop Mosley's fascists in the famous 1936 Battle of Cable Street, and in World War II gave shelter to a badly blitzed community. In 1956 Wilton's was sold and used as a rag warehouse.

In 1964 Sir John Betjeman campaigned to make Wilton's a listed building to save it from demolition. Wilton's was given a Grade II * (grade two star) listing. Many people have helped in saving Wilton's - they include Laurence Olivier, Peter Sellers, Rory Bremner, Liza Minelli, Roy Hudd and Christopher Biggins. For many years it was owned by the GLC and then the London Music Halls Trust.

However the building has been neglected and is semi-derelict. At the current state of decline it will cease to be accessible in the next two to three years. Wilton's comprises of a terrace of Georgian houses including the original pub and the music hall which is built across the back yards of the houses.

In 2004 the newly formed Wilton's Music Hall Trust began a stabilisation drive to open the building to the public to experience and appreciate the heritage of Wilton's through a variety of mediums such as performances, heritage education, guided tours and events.

To make a donation to the building appeal please click here or see our support page.

Press Archive

sarah — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 10:27:23 +0100

London's most beautiful 'lost' theatre Daily Mail

"Wilton's is quite simply unique" Rory Bremner

... you realise what British theatre has been missing. The Sunday Times

Remarkably low-price tickets admit you to world-beating presentations The Daily Telegraph

Bold and accessible pricing policy Evening Standard

Past productions and events

sarah — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 10:23:01 +0100

Sunday Afternoon Concert

Soprano Valerie Saint Martin Piano Per Rundberg

The First Commandment | Mozart

Presented by the Classical Opera Company Director Bill Bankes-Jones Conductor Ian Page

Pierrrot Lunaire | Schoenberg

Presented by Transition Company Director / Video Designer Netia Jones Conductor Ryan Wigglesworth Soprano Claire Booth

A Life in Numbers Presented by Transition Company

Differences in Demolition

Composer Nigel Osborne Presented by Opera Circus, City of London Festival and Wilton's Music Hall

Spitalfields Festival

Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno | Handel

Presented by Transition Opera Director / Designer Netia Jones Conductor Christian Curnyn Producer Wilton's Music Hall

Correa nel Seno Amato | Scarlatti

Presented by Transition Opera Director/Designer Netia Jones Conductor Christian Curnyn Soprano Claire Booth Producer Wilton's Music Hall

The Taming of the Shrew | William Shakespeare

Director Nick Hutchison Designer Annie Gosney Lighting Hansjorg Schmidt Producer Wilton's Music Hall and angels

Uncle Vanya | Anton Chekhov adapted by David Mamet

Director Hugh Fraser Designer Charlie Cridlan Lighting Nick Holdridge Producer Wilton's Music Hall and Ann Pennington

Amadeus | Peter Shaffer Director / Designer John Doyle Musical arranger and Supervisor Catherine Jayes Lighting Ace McCarron Producer Adam Spiegel Productions and the New Ambassadors Group

Orlando | Handel

Director Netia Jones Conductor Christian Curnyn Design TWINGROUP.ORG Company Early Opera Company

Performances | Brian Friel

Director Lou Stein Designer Liz Cooke Lighting by Hansjorg Schmidt Producer Wilton's Music Hall and Lou Stein Associates

Leningrad Siege | Jose Sanchis Sinisterra

Director Mark Rosenblatt Designer Ben Stones Company Out of the Box Volpone | by Ben Jonson Director Joss Bennathan Designer Caroline Bird Company Present Moment Measure Exhibition

Spitalfields Festival

The Soldier's Tale | Stravinsky

(part of the City of London Festival) Company Academy of St Martin in the Fields

Fidelio Trio Concerts

Macbeth | William Shakespeare

Director Max Stafford-Clark Company Out of Joint

Immodesty Blaize

Producer Andrew Sutton Piano Rod Melvin

The LifeBlood | Glyn Maxwell

Director Guy Retallack Designer Dora Schweitzer

The Silverlake | Kurt Weill

Conductor Charles Hazlewood Director Gordon Anderson Translated by Rory Bremner

The Beggar's Opera | John Gay

Conductor Charles Hazlewood Director Jonathan Miller New arrangement by Jonathan Lloyd

The Turn of the Screw | Benjamin Britten

Conductor Charles Hazlewood Director Elijah Moshinsky

The Wondrous Tale of Fanferlizzy Sunnyfeet | Kurt Schwertsik

Conductor Charles Peebles Director Netia Jones

The Mysteries | Anon

Director Mark Dornford-May Music Director Charles Hazlewood

Carmen | Bizet

Conductor Charles Hazlewood Director Mark Dornford-May Translator Rory Bremner

Ibali looTsotsi | Based on Gay's The Beggar's Opera

Director Mark Dornford-May Music Director Charles Hazlewood I

n addition to its own work, Wilton’s has hosted two powerful performances by Simon Callow, Shakespeare's Sonnets and Peter Ackroyd's The Mystery of Charles Dickens, which transferred to the West End; as well as Spitalfields Festival, Tara Arts, Oxford Stage Company and Venetian Opera.