P1000413 The Saville Theatre was built by Messrs Gee, Walker and Slater to the designs of the architects Messrs T. P. Bennett and Sons in consultation with Bertie Crewe. The Theatre opened on the 8th of October 1931 with 'For The Love Of Mike' a play with music by H. F. Maltby. The Theatre was built on three levels, Stalls, Dress Circle, and Upper Circle, with two boxes and had a capacity on opening of 1,426. The Stage was 31' 6" Wide by 30' 6" Deep. The front of the Theatre was imposing and had a sculptured frieze by Gilbert Bayes running along it for nearly 40 meters, representing ‘Drama Through The Ages.’ This is still to be seen on the building today and according to the Theatres Trust 'has been described recently (1998) as ‘perhaps the most significant sculpture of the 1930s on a prominent building.’ The Saville Theatre's opened on October 8th 1931, was damaged in the Blitz of 1941 during the run of 'Up and Doing' but was soon restored and operating again, and the production reopened afterward to achieve the overall run of 603 performances.'The stalls bar and saloon lounge adjoining, will please the public, special care has been exercised in their equipment and decoration. The bar, which has mural paintings by Mr A. R. Thompson, is 18 ft by 54 ft in front of the counters, while the lounge, which is also decorated by the same artist, is 42 ft by 40 ft. There is a sort of shopping arcade in and about the lounge, as in the up-to-date hotels, and it is quite big enough for tea dances or concerts. So comfortable, indeed, are the lounge and the bar at the Saville, that it is to be feared that something more than a warning bell will be necessary to clear them.' Programme for 'Spread It Abroad' which opened at the Saville Theatre in 1936 and ran for 209 performances.The Theatre was damaged in the Blitz of 1941 during the run of 'Up and Doing' (Shown Left) but was soon restored and operating again, and the production reopened afterwards to achieve the overall run of 603 performances.

Notes This is me, when I used to be a science laboratory technician at my secondary school. This is part of the old Prep Room, which got knocked down in 2004 to make way for a new lab. The new Prep Room isn't as cosy and as ancient, and Newham Council have since been and gone, removing the radioactive block thing sitting on the windowsill of the equipment room, which was slowly killing us all without our knowledge. It probably explains the headaches Simon and I used to get when we used to stand by the sink all day and do the backlog of glassware washing on the Friday - we used to think it was just the white spirit. Happy days.