The Buxton Stage
Colin Wells, illustrated by Rose Shawe–Taylor
Unlike Frank Matcham’s Edwardian gem, Buxton’s first recorded theatre was clearly no architectural masterpiece. In 1790 Colonel John Byng derided it as a “mean, dirty, boarded thatched house” and a lady visitor told her sister that “but for the words Pit and Boxes over the door, it would be mistaken for a barn”.
From these inauspicious beginnings to today’s beautifully restored Opera House, Colin Wells, local historian and archivist at the Opera House, looks at the history of theatre in the small Peak District spa town. The cast list ranges from early, debt–ridden actor–managers to the remarkable Lilian Baylis, who brought her Old Vic company north for the first Buxton Festival.
| cover | hardback | |
| dimensions | 170x120mm, 154 pp, 10 b&w illustrations | |
| price | £12.95 (list) | £8.50 (website) |
| ISBN | 1 902173 023 | |