Saturday, November 29, 2025
A cultural gem
There is an excellent website here, that goes into some detail as to how this historic and much-loved building became a major hub of culture in Swansea. It records that Frederick Mouillot and H. H. 'Mackenzie' Morell, two entrepreneur actor managers, seized an opportunity to build a Theatre in Swansea in 1897.
They purchased the former Drill Hall in Singleton Street from Colonel Pike, demolished the building, and employed architect William Hope of Newcastle to design the Grand Theatre. The Memorial Stone for the Theatre was laid by Adelina Patti on the 26th of July 1897:
The opening production for the Theatre was 'The Geisha', a Japanese Musical Comedy, on Thursday July 29th 1897, and was the Theatre owners' own production which they mounted to then tour the country.
Early artists to play the Grand were, Fred Terry and Julia Neilson in 'The Scarlet Pimpernel'. In 1914 Sarah Bernhardt appeared on Friday July 10th in 'Nana'. Bernard Shaw's 'Pygmalion', shocked Swansea audiences by the words 'Not Bloody Likely' uttered by Eliza Doolittle in January 1915. Frank Benson's Shakespearean company visited, as did Oscar Ashe with his wife Lily Brayton in 'Spanish Main', and there were visits by the Royal Carl Rosa Opera Company.
By the 1920's Forbes Robertson appeared in 'The passing of the 3rd floor back.' Bransby Williams appeared in 'David Copperfield, Matheson Lang in 'The Wandering Jew' and Tom Walls and Leslie Henson in 'Tons of Money. On February 8th 1924 Ivor Novello, Madelaine Seymour and Hannah Jones appeared in 'The Rat'. By 1926 the musical 'Rose Marie' played, and toward the end of the twenties, 'The Desert Song' played, and Gladys Cooper appeared in 'The Sacred Flame'.
The Grand Theatre's own website takes up the story:
During the theatre's early years (1897 - 1930), the Grand established itself as a venue for the best touring companies and star names of the time, with visits by the likes of Jessie Mathews, Ivor Novello, Forbes Robertson and the first knight of theatre, Sir Henry Irving - whose signature can still be found in the theatre today.
The Grand then entered a turbulent period in its history from 1933 to the early seventies with many successes and many failures including being turned into a Cinema for a fourteen year period, being sadly neglected, and having dwindling audiences mainly thanks to the popularity of television in the 1960's and 70's.
The then local authority (Swansea Corporation/City Council) came to the rescue and took out a long lease in May 1969 before buying the building outright in 1979. The City and County of Swansea continues to own, manage and fund the building today.
A multi-million-pound refurbishment programme from 1983 - 1987 turned the 1000 seat theatre into one of the most technically advanced and aesthetically pleasing venues in the UK at a cost of £6.5m. A further £1m in 1999 and the Grand became the proud 'owner' of a new Arts Wing (opened by Catherine Zeta Jones) that increased the space open to visitors by a third and created a new studio performance area, three exhibition areas, and a rooftop restaurant and terrace.
I attended the opening night of the refurbished Grand Theatre on 17th December 1986 to see the pantomime 'Mother Goose' starring Christopher Biggins and Les Denis. I had only been a councillor for a couple of years and remember that the renovation work was so fresh that some of the paint had not had time to dry.
It is now the home of Michael Sheen's revitalised Welsh National Theatre and as such has a bright future ahead of it.
