Barnes Theatre

This hall situated in Barnes, Church Street has gone under many names over the last century. "Barnes Theatre" for this page is merely a term of convenience!

It's known that the first few productions of BROS were put on at this small site which has been a successful modern recording studio for several years now.

BYFELD HALL and the BARNES THEATRE

The building in Church Road, SW13, which has housed the Olympic Sound Studios for the past forty years or so, was built in 1906 as the Byfeld hall, on the site of the gardens of the former Byfield House.

Originally intended to be available for meetings, lectures, social events, concerts, amateur theatricals, etc., it early became the venue for cine-variety under various names including the Barnes Picture House.

Perhaps the highest point in its history came when Philip Ridgeway renamed it the Barnes Theatre, during 1925 and 1926. He presented a range of plays including a notable production of Thomas Hardy's own dramatisation of Tess of the D'Urbervilles, starring the young Gwen Ffrangçon-Davies, who scored a great personal success in the title role, 'watershed' productions of Chekhov plays directed by Theodore Komisarjevsky, whose casts included Jeanne de Casalis, Martita Hunt, Ernest Milton, the emerging talents of 22-year old John Gielgud, Jean Forbes-Robertson, 19-year old Robert Newton and Charles Laughton, making his professional debut with Claude Rains in Gogol's The Government Inspector.

Later the building was used mainly as a cinema under the names the Barnes Cinema Theatre (1928), the Ranelagh (1930/40), the Plaza (1943/51) and the New Vandyke (1952/53).

For further information please contact Graeme Cruickshank joycruickshank@tiscali.co.uk