Jordan
JORDAN – THE LAND OF T.E. LAWRENCE
FOR DISCERNING TRAVELLERSSpeak to an expert or request a brochure:
020 7593 2284 quote XSP http://www.kirkerholidays.com
Archaeologist and classical historian Dr Neil
Faulkner, author of the acclaimed recent book
‘Lawrence of Arabia’s War’ will lead Kirker’s
Cultural Tour to Jordan this autumn.
Including the spectacular sites of Petra
and Roman Jerash, the itinerary will
also visit locations associated particularly
with Lawrence, from the ‘Seven Pillars
of Wisdom’ at Wadi Rum, to the former
route of the Hejaz Railway.What’s included:
rReturn flights from Heathrow to Amman
rAll transfers by air-conditioned vehicle
r8 nights’ accommodation with breakfast and dinner
rA group visa for Jordan (UK passport holders)
rAll sightseeing, entrance fees and gratuities
rThe services of Kirker Tour Lecturer, Dr Neil Faulkner
Departs 6 October 2017 - price from £2,895 per personwithout the necessity for vision-restricting
pillars, and so seating capacity was greatly
increased. He also sited the ventilators six
feet above the ground, allowing fresh air
to flow without accompanying draughts.
Matcham had flair and panache and a won-
derful eye. He could make a 3,000-seater
auditorium feel intimate, but he was also
technically very accomplished.
He is probably the greatest of all theatre
designers, although little is known about
his personal life and, as his offices were
destroyed by German bombers, there are
few professional records of his work left.
Nor are most of the theatres he
designed and saw built still standing. Bombs,
developers, demolition, decay and philistine
civic authorities saw to that throughout the
20th century.
More than 40 Matcham theatres have
gone, from London and Glasgow, Brighton
and Bolton, Stockport and Southport, Shef-
field and Salford and Stoke-on-Trent and
more. But those that remain are fully appre-
ciated and have been restored to their former
glory. We are more enlightened about conser-
vation now and National Lottery money has
greatly helped. Go to a Frank Matcham The-
atre — to see a performance, of course, but
also to admire, rejoice in and be thankful for
the wonderful building itself.G
o inside the Everyman Theatre,
Cheltenham, preferably when it is
empty. Look round. Look up. And
there it is, with its elegant decorated and
gilded curves, rising to the ornate cupola,
panelled in duck-egg blue. Look at the pro-
scenium arch, the swagged red curtains
with seats to match. The chandelier above
the stalls. It is perfect. The lines please the
eye, painting and gilding are to just the right
degree of ‘Over the Top’.
You could equally well go to the
King’s Theatre Glasgow or His Majesty’s
Theatre Aberdeen, the London Coliseum,
the Theatre Royal Wakefield or the Gaiety,
Dublin, and do the same thing. Even before
anything happens on stage, you are having
a theatrical experience. You are in a Mat-
cham Theatre.
Frank Matcham was born in 1854 in
Devon, went to London and was appren-
ticed to the consulting theatre architect to
the Lord Chamberlain’s Office. By 25, he
had completed his first solo theatre design,
and was soon training two other young men
in the profession.
Between them, between 1890 and 1905,
they designed more than 200 theatres. Mat-
cham was not a man of many parts — he
was the master of one — though he did
design the magnificent (and now carefullypreserved) County Arcade, Leeds. Theatre
owners were delighted not only by the gran-
deur and elegance of Matcham’s designs;
they also liked that his theatres were more
profitable, thanks to the new steel cantile-
vered design of which he was a pioneer.
These meant that balconies could be
built out into the body of the auditoriumElegant and gilded: the Everyman in CheltenhamNOTES ON ...
Frank Matcham
By Susan Hill