Home to The Shaw Festival, the second largest theater company in North America, the Royal George Theatre’s demolition has stirred up nostalgia for many. As the doors opened for one last visit January 31, locals and artists gathered to honor the history of the Queen Street jewel box.
Constructed in 1913 on the site of a blacksmith shop after the First World War, The Royal George Theatre originally served as a temporary home for troops, lectures and entertainment but over the past century has evolved into a historical and sentimental landmark for artists, patrons and locals.
The first location of the Royal George was a bit further down from the present-day location, where George Reid opened a small theater that he named The Royal George. After it burnt down, he purchased The Kitchener Theatre from Mrs. N.M. Norris and changed its name to The Royal George.
During the depression the theater suffered losses and eventually sold to new owner John A. Allen, who renamed it The Brock in the late 1930s. By the next decade it had changed owners yet again and become known for "Foto Nite", a large raffle-type event that incentivized theatergoers with winning the pot if their name was called while in the theater.
For almost 40 years, The Brock had a good run being well managed by dedicated husband and wife duo Dewey and Nancy McCourt until Dewey's passing. It was then sold to the Canadian Mime in the 1970s, but that was short lived until The Shaw Festival came to town. The Shaw Festival, the second-largest theater group in North America, purchased the theater around 1980 and have since kept ownership.
Despite being a small theater, seating just 315 people, it remains home to the growing company which has posed infrastructure issues such as flooding due to the original clay "speed" tile structure and multiple accessibility issues. Additionally, any calls for restoration over reconstruction proved to be unsuccessful as the current city building codes would not permit it. This prompted the demolition and reconstruction plans for the building which the Ontario government has assigned $35 million toward the project, which is anticipated to be completed in late 2028.
Executive Director and CEO of The Shaw Festival, Tim Jennings, has high hopes for the future of the theater and what it will mean for the local and theater community in terms of accessibility and accommodations.
“It's designed so that a person with mobility issues can work or visit in any part of the building, including all the technical galleries, the catwalks, the grid, all these design spaces, the basements," Jennings shared. "Rick Hansen Foundation here in Canada is the set the standards, the very highest standards. And there is no nobody who's reached the gold certification yet in the theater industry, and so we're aiming to be the first.”
With the theatre already bringing in close to $7 million a year in direct revenue and generating close to $70 million yearly for the downtown community, new upgrades are sure to garner more financial benefits for the community.
Apart from the business aspect, the memories of the theatre's past and the meaning to locals will be just as long lasting as the building itself. Locals like Niagara-On-The-Lake author and unofficial historian Jim Smith, who was born just a block away from the theater and still resides there, shared his memories and continues to preserve the history of the theater through his recollections and writings. Smith shared how locals, like himself, remember the Royal George.
"I have many very fond memories of going to the Brock Theatre. Special times were as a very small boy my dad took me and we sat up in the balcony. At Halloween we were treated to ten free cartoons then a parade of costumes down the aisles for a costume judgement. Then up on stage went the first, second and third winners," Smith recounted. "On our way out of the theatre we were handed a tin of candy and a small bag of candy."
Though a bittersweet memory for some, like Smith, there remains high hopes and expectations for the future of the theatre and its reconstruction.
