NOSTALGIA: History of Chester Music Hall

Nov 10 2011 by Jo Henwood, Chester Chronicle

A PLAY opens in Chester next week set in Chester Music Hall at the end of the 19th century.

Theatre in the Quarter’s Star of Wonder opens at St Thomas of Canterbury Church in Parkgate Road on Thursday, November 17, at 7.30pm before a tour of Cheshire and Lancashire.

Set in 1899 it tells the story of how the lives of a small group of music hall performers are affected by the introduction of a new act – an acclaimed female magician called Isis, the Star of Egypt.

Thanks to the website www.chesterwalls.info and an email from David Ellis, the Chronicle is able to cast more light on the real Chester Music Hall, which was on Northgate Street and St Werburgh Street in the building that now houses the high street chemist Superdrug.

The building was originally constructed in 1280 as a chapel to St Nicholas and in 1855 became the home of The Chester Music Hall, redesigned by architect James Harrison.

Charles Dickens gave a talk here in 1867 and later described it: “The hall is like a Methodist chapel in low spirits, and with a cold in its head.”

Many other famous names gave lectures, including explorer Roald Amundsen and Winston Churchill, who spoke on the Boer War in 1901.

Films were shown from the early part of the 20th century and from 1915 it was known as Music Hall Pictures. Chester Music Hall Ltd reconstructed the hall and ran the cinema from 1921.

The first film was Charles Chaplin’s The Kid and Chester’s first ‘talkie’ was The Singing Fool starring Al Jolson in 1929.

The music hall closed in April 1961 with Never on Sunday, a fitting end as the building never had opened on a Sunday.

Star of Wonder is at St Thomas of Canterbury Church from November 17-19. For tickets, call 01244 372084. For further information, visit www.theatreinthequarter.co.uk