5 August 2009: The Empire Theatre, Edinburgh

Nicolson Street in Edinburgh has been a setting for theatrical entertainment for nearly 200 years. A series of circuses that began performing there in the early nineteenth century was replaced by the Alhambra music hall in 1860, and in 1892 the Empire Palace Theatre was built on the same site to a design by Frank Matcham.

In 1911, the illusionist the ‘Great Lafayette’ accidentally set fire to the stage with a torch, burning down the Empire and killing ten people, including Lafayette himself.  The theatre was rebuilt after the fire but was later demolished in 1928, and a new Empire was constructed by the renowned theatre designers W & T R Milburn.  Although much of the original Milburn auditorium remains, the theatre was to undergo yet another transformation, and in 1994 was reopened with an expansive glass facade as the Edinburgh International Festival Theatre.

The theatre is now one of the main venues for the Edinburgh International Festival, which was first founded in 1947 and was the inspiration for the Fringe Festival, along with many of the other festivals in the city. Held every August and September, they have made Edinburgh the setting for the largest arts event of its kind in the world.