Malvern Theatres - Biography

Biography - Malvern Theatres

UK

A rather 'complex' story for this current and historic complexes before. Theatres in the title so a group of venues not just one place!
Where a flyer or tour advert states 'Theatres' we can only use that, unless more info forthcoming.
A bit like The Fairfield Halls (plural) in Croydon but perhaps more complex!
A quick visit to the official website and looking at other pages shows how the area developed. Malvern Forum search goes direct to same website.
The story begins in 1845 as The Assembly Rooms, changing to The Festival Theatre (800+) in 1929 with The Winter Gardens (900+) openning in the park nearby. These two soon became as Malvern Theatres (ver 1).

Closures due to WWll, and refits in the early 60's and 70's brought about the 1980's version;-
1 - The Festival Theatre
2- The Winter Gardens
3- Great Malvern Priory, (600+), Church Street, Malvern, WR14 2AY.
4 - Martin Rogers Theatre, (450), possibly at Malvern College, as a 2022 college page shows a Rogers Theatre (273) there.

With The Winter Gardens closing in 1990 an entirely new complex was built in the late 1990's bringing (ver 3);-
1 - The Festival Theatre (850), bigger; plays, classical; musicals.
2 - Forum (600?), music performance.
3 - Cinema (400)
4 - Banquet Room (350), conference; weddings; private funtions.

This is not definitive and only my summary from info I have found on-line. I think more details could be sought by calling the venue itself one day.

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