Edinburgh’s Festival and King’s Theatres Through Time

The Festival and King’s Theatres are two of Scotland’s most historic theatrical venues and both have their own engrossing stories to tell. This book highlights their milestone moments and recollects the innumerable celebrated performers that created the legacies of the theatres. The King’s Theatre, the ‘Grand Old Lady of Leven Street’, first opened its magnificent art nouveau doors to welcome the public into its sumptuously decorated auditorium in December 1906. The opening-night show was a festive production of the pantomime Cinderella, and the panto tradition has continued at the King’s ever since.

The glass frontage of the Festival Theatre forms a glowing night-time landmark on Nicolson Street, and encloses a magnificent auditorium which dates back to 1928. It stands on Edinburgh’s longest continuous theatre site, dating as far back as 1830. This book traces the history of the site from its earliest days, through its time as the Empire Palace, its reconstruction as the Empire and its final transformation into the Festival Theatre.