Huge fires failed to close Worcester's Theatre Royal

TWICE during its 174-year history, Worcester's Theatre Royal suffered devastating blazes which could have spelled its final curtain.

The fires - in 1877 and 1912 - came as bitter blows to the people of all classes in the Faithful City, who looked on the theatre in Angel Street as their primary place of professional live entertainment and drama. Luckily, however, the theatre re-emerged as a revitalised phoenix from the ashes of both fires.

The first catastrophic fire was in November 1877. Berrow's Worcester Journal reported: "Shortly before half-past 7 o'clock on November 23, the fire had raged so furiously in its destructive work that it had caused the roof to fall in with a tremendous crash, which was followed by immense clouds of sparks rising into the air, and with awful grandeur illuminating the heavens."

Suz Winspear, in her book Worcester's Lost Theatre, adds that the inside of the theatre had been "just a red chasm of flame. The gallery and circle were completely destroyed and the heat was so intense that the metal columns supporting them had buckled. Within a very short time, from the entrance doors to the back of the stage, nothing remained but the bare walls enclosing glowing heaps of burning debris."

Despite the building being virtually gutted, a re-building plan was soon put in hand, and the theatre reopened less than a year later - in October 1878.

The second disastrous blaze was on the night of Sunday, February 18, 1912, and the appalling aftermath can be seen in the dramatic photograph - above - from the Berrow's Journal pictorial archives.

In its edition of February 24, 1912, Berrow's reported: "By one of the most serious fires of the last decade, Worcester's Theatre Royal was nearly destroyed.

"The fire started on Sunday night, shortly after 11 o'clock, at the back of the stage. A little smoke was detected issuing from the building but by the time the fire was discovered, it had obtained a great hold on the light flimsy materials that go to make up the stage properties. Flames shot into the air to a great height.

"One of the first at the scene was Mr Alfred Sayce junior, the second officer of the Norwich Union Fire Brigade. who lives practically next door to the theatre, and he was quickly joined by the City Police Fire Brigade under the Chief Constable.

"The Norwich Union and City Police brigades obtained water from about a dozen hydrants but for a long time their united efforts made little impression on the fierce blaze. They tried to confine it to the stage but the fire-proof curtain did not keep back the flames from the auditorium, and these then spread to the theatre's roof, destroying much of it. Burnt timbers covered the stage, and only charred rafters were left in the roof, through which the night sky was visible.

"Eventually, the fire brigades managed to subdue the fire but the dress circle, though not harmed, was full of blackened ashes."

Berrow's Journal reminded readers just how much more serious the blaze could have been.

"Behind the theatre are the historic Berkeleys Almshouses and, though there was a danger at one time to these being caught by the flames, this was averted by the prompt action of the two fire brigades."

Suz Winspear says that the entire faade and front-of-house area of the theatre were untouched by the fire, giving no clue from Angel Street of the scenes of devastation behind.

Berrow's Journal stated that the damage was estimated at between £7,000 and £8,000, though fortunately the Theatre Royal Company had the building fully insured. Interestingly, the theatre's insurance policy had been provided through Watkins & Sayce, insurance brokers, of Angel Place, Worcester.

Alfred Sayce junior, one of the first on the scene, was a partner in Watkins & Sayce and lived over its Angel Place premises, close to the Theatre Royal. As second officer of the Norwich Union Fire Brigade, he might well have been more earnest than most in his endeavours to limit the damage caused by the fire!

Not so lucky over insurance, however, was the theatre's lessee, Arthur Carlton, the well-known and highly successful Worcester impresario, who later became Mayor of Worcester, a cinema proprietor too, and a knight of the realm. All the lavish costumes he had bought for the three latest pantomime productions at the theatre - Aladdin, Cinderella and Robinson Crusoe - went up in flames and were not insured.

Memory Lane has previously featured the Sayce family. Mrs June Sayce and her late husband Willie have donated three acres of land alongside their home in Bath Road, Worcester, for the building of a £4 million Acorns children's hospice.

Willie Sayce's grandfather, Alfred was Captain of the Norwich Union Fire Brigade for about 20 years and a partner in the insurance brokers firm of Watkins & Sayce.

However, it was his son, also Alfred, who was first on the scene of the Theatre Royal blaze. In fact, Mrs June Sayce says that at one stage there was fear for his life when he did not re-appear from the smoking building with the rest of the fire crews.

A beam had fallen close to him, and melted lead from the roof had dripped on to his uniform, but he eventually came out unscathed. Son Willie possessed his father's dented helmet and also lead which, in melted form, had been on his uniform.

Within days of the 1912 blaze, Berrow's Journal was able to assure Worcester's theatre-going public that: "The proprietors of the devastated property have instructed Mr Vernon Rowe to prepare plans for its re-building. It is, of course, impossible to state how soon the work will be completed."

The Theatre Royal did, in fact, re-open ahead of schedule in August 1912, less than six months after the blaze.

Sadly, it was to be a case of no return for the Theatre Royal when it was devastated for an unlucky third time - by demolition workers in the late 1950s when it was pulled down to make way for redevelopment and of the most unsympathetic kind.

* LOCAL surfers will be pleased to hear they can now find some of the writings of Worcester historian, the late Bill Gwilliam posted on the internet

This is thanks to another local historian, Pam Hinks, who has painstakingly set up a website in Bill's honour and filled with extracts from his writings on the history and personalities of the Faithful City.

The site is www.worcesterpeopleandplaces.co