The King’s Theatre was built on Leven Street by the famous Edinburgh builder, William Stewart Cruikshank.
Andrew Carnegie laid the foundation stone in 1905, and the theatre opened a year later with a performance of Cinderella. The exterior of the building was designed by Lanarkshire builder James Davidson, and the lavish interior was designed by J.D. Swanston.
Soon after, the theatre was bought by Howard & Wyndham, who managed a chain of theatres in different cities. The King’s became their headquarters, where AGMs were famously held on Christmas Eve – guaranteeing minimal interference from shareholders!
Howard and Wyndham sold the theatre to the city council in 1966 and it was managed by the council until July 1998, when the day-to-day operation was passed to the Festival City Theatres Trust.
The Theatre originally had and three circles with 2,500 seats. The present Upper Circle bar area was originally a Billiard
Room and there were shops either side of the entrance at street level. The top circle was declared unsafe and removed in the 1950s.
In 1985 the city council invested £1.25 million to completely overhaul the interior. The present seating capacity is 1350.
The King’s Theatre was built as a variety theatre and has hosted such stars as Stanley Baxter, Rikki Fulton and Jimmy Logan, Sarah Bernhardt, Anna Pavlova, Laurence Olivier, Katherine Hepburn, Sean Connery, Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland.
The annual panto in now an Edinburgh institution, and the King’s is an integral part of the Edinburgh International Festival.
There is more history on the theatre website, the Council website and on Wikipedia.
