Alexandra Palace

The HLF project presented a fantastic opportunity to explore the evolution of entertainment at Alexandra Palace. It began with the days of Victorian spectacle when people travelled to the venue to see zoos, circuses and stunt shows as well as music, theatre and pantomime, moving through a conversion of the theatre into one of the first dedicated picture houses, and on to the invention of broadcasting, where entertainment was transmitted to the people through the ‘new’ miracle of television.

Within the palace is a huge Victorian theatre which in its prime hosted countless large-scale performances, spectacles and church services. Charcoalblue worked alongside Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios to re-open the theatre to the public whilst retaining its rich and varied history. The auditorium has been sensitively re-worked to create a flexible space that can host performances and events ranging from 500 seat in-the-round drama, to 1,000 seat concerts and events. The introduction of a flexible seating system that can be hidden or removed works alongside the historic fabric of the performance space, so that it can be once again enjoyed by audiences along with an overhead suspension system behind the decorative plaster ceiling.