Old Belfast theatres take centre stage once more in miniature form

Miniature models of Belfast’s lost theatres created by set designer Stuart Marshall are bringing the city’s vibrant theatre history back into the the limelight.

They are part of an exhibition at Ulster University for the Children’s Festival.

Mr Marshall told BBC News NI that the models, which are made from cardboard, have a cross generational appeal.

“Children appreciate the miniature dolls house type model making, adults appreciate the skill that goes into making them, and older people who may remember when some of these places still stood.”

“It all started as a lockdown project,” Mr Marshall told BBC News NI.

“I started working on a model of the Grand Opera House as part of the heritage exhibition and through doing that got interested in looking at all the other theatres that aren’t about anymore.”

The models are “mostly made of different types of cardboard, like mounting card or coloured paper and then they’re glued together”.

“The Hippodrome was the most complicated and detailed one I’ve made, it took me around six weeks to make.”

He said he mostly works from old photographs, but it can be hard to get enough accurate detail because “with a black and white photograph that you can’t move around, it’s basically static”.

When photographs of the old theatres are not available or poor quality, Mr Marshall refers to old newspaper articles which sometimes have written descriptions of what materials the theatre was built from and how it appeared.

Opening in the early 1870s, the Alhambra was Belfast’s first music hall and was a “real spit on the floor type joint”, according to Mr Marshall.

“In the early days, the Alhambra was more of a variety house, and I’ve heard that it wasn’t the most enticing establishment, quite a rowdy place.

“The Alhambra didn’t cater for the more refined clientele,” he added.

A typical bill from the early days of the Alhambra shows performances which “would nowadays be contentious” included events such as a minstrel show and a Japanese troupe.

“I’ve seen other things listed, which were more overtly racist, but that was kind of the way at the time,” he added.

To adapt to the evolution of mass entertainment, the Alhambra converted to a full time cinema house in 1936.

Between the late 1800s and it’s closure in 1959, the Alhambra suffered four separate fires.

The Theatre Royal was Belfast’s original high-end theatre, opening in the late 1700s with a capacity of just over 1,000.

The building was demolished and rebuilt a number of times.

“As these places go, they kept getting burnt down or demolished and rebuilt again – there’s always a renewal aspect to them.”

The Theatre Royal was to be Belfast’s “higher class establishment”, which in the end became “a mixed-use building of shops and place called the ‘boom boom room’, which was like a dance hall upstairs, which then became the starlight ballroom upstairs”.

“Now, there’s a little Starbucks in the corner where the building stood,” he added.

Not to be mistaken with the pub and music hall on Botanic Avenue, The Empire Theatre was situated on Victoria Square and opened to the public in 1894.

According to Mr Marshall, the Empire “operated at a similar time to the Alhambra from the 1890s up until the early 1960s, and then it was it was knocked down.

“It was eventually replaced by a little Woods department store, which has been redeveloped again and again, until finally becoming Victoria Square shopping centre.”

While it did adapt to the growing popularity of cinema, The Empire “stayed true to theatre for all of its life”, Mr Marshall said.

The Hippodrome was “more fiddly [model to make] than some of the other ones”.

Mr Marshall describes how there aren’t too many quality photographs of the Hippodrome, so he “had to use his judgement” when designing the model in terms of colour scheme and scale.

Coming quite late, the “Hippodrome was was built in 1907 originally with a cinema in mind” as to take full advantage of the advent of modern cinema and growing popularity of picture shows.

“And then there was the Ritz…” which opened in 1938.

The Ritz was, according to Mr Marshall, “a giant cinema more or less, but it called itself the Ritz Theatre”. However, it did produce shows as part of the night’s entertainment.

“They would have a brass band, dancers or a ballet, and then a film at the end.”

“It also did huge concerts, people like the Stones, The Beatles and Billy Connolly all performed at the Ritz during their time,” he added.

It was the biggest in Northern Ireland at the time, with just over 2,000 capacity.

The Ritz was damaged by bombs hidden in the seats and the theatres interior and roof was destroyed in 1977.