The theatre originally opened in 1913 as Crane's Music Hall.
The Crane Brothers' music store had been trading for several years when they
opened the music hall above their store on Hanover Street in central Liverpool.
The Concert Hall was conceived as a showcase for instrumental recitals, but
took the form of a theatre and was used, as such, though it was known as the
Crane Hall until 1938. Over the first few years, many amateur drama groups
staged productions there, thus leading to its renaming as the Crane Theatre in
1938.
The auditorium was reached from a corner entrance by a wide
curving staircase with dark polished wood dado, which set the style of the
interior created with mahogany and plaster splendour reminiscent of the luxury
liners.
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| The Crane Building on Hanover Street Liverpool |
The theatre was reached through pairs of mahogany doors. The
interior, almost square, had a flat panelled ceiling, with centre cluster of
lights, walls with fluted Ionic pilasters, modillioned cornices and busts of
famous composers in wreaths. There was a small balcony with panelled front; urn
decorations above the doors were echoed in the square proscenium decoration at
the sides. The lower parts of the walls were panelled with polished mahogany
with a Greek frieze and the plasterwork
decorated ivory on a deep green.
Little changed over the next twenty years, until in 1960 a
bar was opened in the theatre's box office area. However, the theatre was threatened
with closure in 1966. In 1967 the theatre was purchased from the Cranes by
Liverpool Corporation, who decided that the theatre should be run "by
local people for local people". To reflect the city's maritime history the
name of the theatre was changed again, this time to the Neptune Theatre, after
Neptune, the Roman god of the seas and central character in Marc Lescarbot's
"Theatre of Neptune in New France" (Canada's first European play,
written and performed in 1606).
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| The former Neptune Theatre Stage |
However, the future of the Neptune was not as secure as
first seemed. A fall in the number of amateur drama groups led to a drop in
shows. The corporation, by now named Liverpool City Council, suggested closure
again in 1993. This caused a huge outcry around the city and many performers,
including Dame Judi Dench, were part of the campaign to keep the theatre open.
In order to attract audiences, a professional pantomime Snow White was staged
in the theatre. This proved to be a huge success, with a professional panto
then being held every year in the theatre. However the Theatre closed non the
less and was closed for more than 6 years and
after a long legal wrangle between the council and the lessee is
now once again open and has been
re-named after Liverpool’s most successful music entrepreneurs and Beatles
Manager, Brian Epstein. The 'Epstein Theatre' has undergone a £1.2m
refurbishment of the foyer, bar and 380 seater auditorium. Joe Flannery, 81, a
lifelong friend of Brian Epstein has donated a large photograph of Brian which
hangs in the theatre bar.
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| Epstein Theatre New £1million Refurbishment |
