Press Releases

TO CELEBRATE PETER PAN'S 100th ANNIVERSARY, STEP BEHIND-THE-SCENES AT HIS ORIGINAL LONDON THEATRE

Issued : 5 December 2003

More backstage tour dates announced!

As Peter Pan celebrates his centenary in 2004, the Duke of York's Theatre in London's West End has lifted the curtain on 100 years of backstage secrets with a series of fascinating behind-the-scenes tours.

Come and see where Peter Pan made his first ever flight, stand on the same stage where Charlie Chaplin, Noel Coward and Sir John Gielgud performed and hear about the ghost of a woman that stalks the theatre to this very day...

Recently celebrating its own 100th Anniversary, the Duke of York's has a captivating history. In 1904, it hosted the debut stage version of Peter Pan. It was also where Puccini found the inspiration for Madame Butterfly and where the well-known actors' union Equity held its inaugural meeting. Constructed at a cost of £21,000, the theatre was the dream of former actress and subsequent property tycoon Violet Melnotte, who was dubbed a madwoman for building the venue in the middle of a slum. Her influence remained until the 1930s and it is her ghost that has been seen around the theatre.

On the tour, you will venture under the stage to see some of the original machinery which
gave Peter Pan his first flight. You'll visit the Royal Retiring Room (known as the Poison Parlour in the 1930s because it was such a hotbed of gossip) and you will also hear the eerie stories of the costume that tried to kill and the now non-existent iron door which can still be heard slam shut...

The Duke of York's Theatre on St Martin's Lane is currently home to the urban thriller Sweet Panic starring Jane Horrocks. It is also the London headquarters of the Ambassador Theatre Group which runs 10 other West End venues. The tours are led by actor and Acting Box Office Manager Stephen Reynolds.

FORTHCOMING TOUR DATES:
DECEMBER 2003
Thursday 18th December at 12:00pm, Saturday 20th December at 12:00pm
JANUARY 2004
Saturday 3rd January at 11:00am, Saturday 10th January at 11:00am, Thursday 15th January at 12:00pm, Saturday 15th January at 11:00am
FEBRUARY 2004
Thursday 5th February at 12:00pm

Tours last approx. 90 minutes.
Cost: £5 per person - this includes tea / coffee afterwards.

TICKET HOTLINE: 020 7369 1771
For group bookings (15 people or more): please call 020 7369 1717
Details are correct at the time of press, but maybe subject to change.

ENDS
For further information, pictures and to arrange press visits, please contact John Chittenden on 01483 545822 / johnchittenden@theambassadors.com

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