Jeremy Lewis Interview: First Impressions of the Theatre Royal
Title
Jeremy Lewis Interview: First Impressions of the Theatre Royal
Date
9 August 2017
Description
Oral history interview with local journalist and theatre reviewer, Jeremy Lewis.
What's the story?
Having trained and started his journalistic career in the South East, Jeremy Lewis moved to Nottingham in 1981 to work for the Evening Post.
Following the retirement of eminent local critic Emrys Bryson, Jeremy eventually became the regular theatre reviewer for Nottingham from the mid 1990s, attending many opening nights at the Theatre Royal.
In this interview Jeremy discusses his first impressions of the Theatre Royal from when he first arrived in 1981, particularly noting the "elegance of the interior".
My first experience of the Theatre Royal Nottingham, I can’t remember the play, but I did used to come quite a few times and the first thing that struck me was the beauty of the theatre. I’d been used to going to theatres in the West End quite a lot and certainly back in the late seventies, early eighties, a lot of those quite well known West End theatres were pretty scruffy: they needed a lick of paint, you could see clouds of dust whenever you put your backside into the upholstery. And the first thing that struck me about the Theatre Royal at Nottingham was how beautiful it was. Not just on the outside, but on the inside. The reason for that was that the City Council had bought the place in 1968 and it spent £4 million refurbishing the theatre and turning it from a pretty poorly equipped theatre into one that’s very well equipped. Certainly the backstage facilities improved no end. But people, the paying customers, noticed the elegance of the interior. You know, the green velour, the gold paint. And in 1981, when I first went, that lick of paint was only a few years old, so the theatre looked terrific and, I should say, it still does.
Following the retirement of eminent local critic Emrys Bryson, Jeremy eventually became the regular theatre reviewer for Nottingham from the mid 1990s, attending many opening nights at the Theatre Royal.
In this interview Jeremy discusses his first impressions of the Theatre Royal from when he first arrived in 1981, particularly noting the "elegance of the interior".
My first experience of the Theatre Royal Nottingham, I can’t remember the play, but I did used to come quite a few times and the first thing that struck me was the beauty of the theatre. I’d been used to going to theatres in the West End quite a lot and certainly back in the late seventies, early eighties, a lot of those quite well known West End theatres were pretty scruffy: they needed a lick of paint, you could see clouds of dust whenever you put your backside into the upholstery. And the first thing that struck me about the Theatre Royal at Nottingham was how beautiful it was. Not just on the outside, but on the inside. The reason for that was that the City Council had bought the place in 1968 and it spent £4 million refurbishing the theatre and turning it from a pretty poorly equipped theatre into one that’s very well equipped. Certainly the backstage facilities improved no end. But people, the paying customers, noticed the elegance of the interior. You know, the green velour, the gold paint. And in 1981, when I first went, that lick of paint was only a few years old, so the theatre looked terrific and, I should say, it still does.
Type
Oral interview
Location of item
Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall Nottingham
Rights
Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall Nottingham
Contributor
Interviewers: Valerie Rogers & Sally Smith
Transcriber: David Chilton
Transcriber: David Chilton
