Inside Alexandra Palace's restored Victorian theatre – open for the first time in 80 years

Well, they’ve seen a thing or two, Thalia and Melpomene. The daughters of Zeus and muses of comedy and tragedy respectively have been standing in their elegant niches flanking the proscenium arch at Alexandra Palace’s grand theatre since the 1870s.

Since then it has burnt down twice – along with whole Palace, the first time 16 days after its opening - hosted stars of panto, music hall and opera, become a hospital, a Catholic chapel for wartime refugees and interns, an early cinema, a test venue for Gracie Fields and a props store for the BBC (and yes, there were Daleks).

There they are still, the muses, gazing impassively over a theatre beautifully restored and reinterpreted in contemporary faux-ruinous style - and now under sail with its first season featuring everyone who means something to Londoners, from Gilbert and George to the BBC Concert Orchestra and Singers.

The theatre, dark since the 1930s, has had its late Victorian bone structure rebuilt, from rare flying machinery backstage to a cinema projection box built directly into the upper balcony - a few years before Edwardian safety requirements banned such things.

It has the air of a long-buried Roman villa, with strong arches and peeling, variegated terracotta walls, remnants of elegant plasterwork, decorative mouldings sometimes still there, sometimes not, and battered columns with extravagant capitals. The curving rows of seats are fabulously re-plushed in a shade of blush champagne and the stage curtain is theatrical red, although during construction a multi-coloured plush curtain was discovered, dating from the 1920s and now awaiting conservation funding.

This re-opening is symbolic in many ways. Ally Pally, as it’s affectionately known, has been a place for the people right from the start, despite its many setbacks. It sits on almost 200 acres of former farmland that just escaped housing development way back in 1862, a narrow squeak that triggered support from the local community (still there today) and resulted in the opening of ‘The People’s Palace’ a decade later in 1873.

Park and Palace were named after a people’s princess, Alexandra of Denmark. The former housed tearooms and a hall containing Cody’s Kites – some of the earliest flying machines in history – and staged famous firework displays. The latter’s offering was eclectic, from ‘Electric Animated Pictures’, or early films, to a roller rink, tea dances and organ recitals. The BBC began regular television broadcasts here in 1936. Stand on its terrace, overlooking the park, and the best view in London is yours for the taking.

Many remember the 1988 fire raging through the vast halls, throwing the television transmitter, which survived, into skeletal relief. It’s a fine achievement for Haringey Council, with further funding from the National Lottery and hundreds of local donors, proudly commemorated on the Donor Board, to reopen their theatre 30 years on.

There are many other bits of the Palace waiting to be restored, from the blackened colonnades along the eastern half of the terrace to the deserted labyrinth of BBC studios and offices dating back to the early years of British television - surely a museum in waiting. This is step one, and if it’s successful, perhaps there are more treats in store.

Alexandra Palace’s Christmas Carnival runs until December 16 and includes many events in the theatre, including a series of Christmas films presented by Luna Cinema and Horrible Histories Live On Stage. Gareth Malone and Alfie Boe are already sold out. For tickets see alexandrapalace.com/whats-on/

London’s best restored theatres

Wilton’s Music Hall, E1

This East London institution, tucked down an alleyway off Dock Street, Wapping, can claim to be the ‘oldest grand music hall in the world’. It has survived everything from the Cable Street Riots to the death of the docks and re-opened its charming theatre after an award-winning restoration project in 2016. Great bar. Great programming.

Bridewell Theatre, EC4

This tiny theatre was built in 1994 in a Grade II-listed, century-old printers’ institute, on top of the public swimming pool (whose drying room was planned, bizarrely, by that little-known design duo Charles Dickens and Baroness Burdett-Coutts). It hosts visiting productions and stages 45-minute daytime shows by the Lunchtime Theatre.

Criterion Theatre, W1

Glamorous Second Empire-style theatre, opened in 1874 beneath the eponymous restaurant on Piccadilly Circus. It evaded demolition in the Seventies and has been in the hands of a charitable trust since 1992, when its interior was redecorated by Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. Restoration continues during its busy programme of shows.

The Rose Playhouse, SE1

And the first theatre on Bankside was…no, not The Globe, but the Rose, whose Tudor foundations were discovered during construction of an office building in 1986 and flooded for preservation purposes. Thanks to a ‘Save the Rose’ campaign it is inching towards rebirth, and regularly stages shows by visiting companies around the water.

Brick Lane Music Hall, E16

Like Bridewell, this is not precisely a theatre restoration, but is a theatre in a restored building that is the nearest thing London has to a working music hall. It first opened in 1992 in the workers’ canteen in the Truman Brewery on Brick Lane, hence the name, moving into St Mark’s Church in Silvertown in 2003. Check out the annual panto.