A theatre with this name has been in the locality since 1765. The present site opened on 14th July 1834 to a design by Samuel Beazley. In 1904 the facade and portico were retained but the main building was redesigned by Bertie Crewe.
It closed in 1939 and avoided demolition twice. In the 1950s it became a ballroom and was eventually permanently re-opened as a theatre in 1996, specializing in the production of large musicals.
There is a description of a visit to the Lyceum in the 1919 Pilgrimage 2 by Dorothy Richardson (Virago), starting on page 186 with: "Last week when she had had to ask, she had not noticed the words printed on the side of the passage that showed as you came down the Strand. The pavement was clear for moment, and she rounded the near angle and ran home down the passage without slackening her pace, her half-crown ready in her hand, a Lyceum pittite."
Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk
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