2 Audley Square
Mayfair, London W1K
UK
Founded in 1994, THE COURSE offers art history lectures, opera and literature courses, guided museum visits and London walks.
More than any other country on the planet, Britain has pooled its constitutional, financial and cultural forces within its capital. In this series of 6 lectures and 6 accompanying walks we will show HOW LONDON BECAME THE GREATEST CITY ON EARTH. Lecturer, Harry Mount, will explore how, over 2,000 years, London has dealt with six of those forces: the monarchy; the law; religion; finance; entertainment; and education. The story of the Reformation, of constitutional monarchy, of Shakespearean theatre, of the public school, of the common law, the story of Britain…. They can all be told through London’s unique collection of buildings.
ENTERTAINMENT LONDON
This lecture (18 January 2017) and walk (25 January 2017) will explain how entertainment has changed in the capital – from Shakespeare’s Globe to the government-sanctioned Theatres Royal in Drury Lane and Haymarket. We will examine the growth of Theatreland in the C19th when plays were no longer controlled by the Lord Chancellor. The boom in theatre construction was led by Frank Matcham in the late C19th and he built in any style, from arts and crafts to Roman Imperial to Indian. He was also a master of construction techniques. By using tough, lightweight steel, he decreased the size of the supporting structure, leading to much better sightlines. A second entertainment boom came in the C20th with the spread of the cinema – particularly the art deco Odeon style.