Stars wish seaside theatre a happy 100th birthday

The first time Alfie Boe played the Embassy Theatre on Skegness seafront, he felt like a pop star.

"I remember turning up and there was like a funfair, I think, going on next door, and I was singing away," the singer recalls.

"All I could hear were these screams from the funfair, from the rides, and I was thinking this must be what it's like being a pop star, having people scream.

"Because my audience don't scream when I sing. So it felt pretty cool."

Like the funfair, the Embassy is as much a part of Skegness's culture as fish and chips, amusement arcades and donkey rides.

This week, the grand old venue is celebrating its 100th birthday, as the Secret Lincolnshire podcast has been discovering.

"It was originally the Embassy Theatre Ballroom, or La Piazza. It's had many different incarnations," explains Pollyanne Trapmore-Shaw, the manager.

"We're still on the same site. If we go down into the bowels of the building, you can actually still see the old sea wall, because of land grabs and erosion and what have you."

In 1978, the theatre survived a devastating storm, which swept away sections of the nearby pier.

"The embassy complex at the time suffered a great deal at that but it was the one that really rose from the ashes," Trapmore-Shaw says.

Today, the venue has 1,081 seats.

"When it's full, it bounces," says Brendan Bugg, the sales and marketing manager, who has agreed to give us a look through the archives.

He pulls out a box full of photos of performers who have played here over the decades. The first is Norman Wisdom, then comes Rick Mayall.

"David Essex, Lenny Henry, that's Barbara Dickson, isn't it?" he says. "Max Bygraves... I could sit and look through this for hours."

One of the most famous names connected with the venue is Sir Ken Dodd, the late comedian, who brought his Happiness Show to the Embassy for 45 consecutive years.

His widow, Lady Anne Dodd, has many fond memories of their time spent here.

"He did love Skegness. He loved all the east coast people. He also said you get the best fish and chips," she says.

"Long, windy roads on some of the journey, but it was always worth it. Fabulous audiences, all from the Midlands."

Sir Ken would play two shows a day and always gave his fans their money's worth.

"You used to have to come off stage and walk through a public area to get to the dressing rooms," Lady Anne recalls. "You know, with two houses, Ken's second house would be queuing to get in because he did slightly overrun a bit.

"Coming off stage from the first show, he'd plough through the second audience waiting there. 'Oh, give us an autograph' [they'd say], so he'd delay everything even further."

Bugg takes us backstage to dressing room number one, which he describes as "the big one".

"Everybody that is great and good in British entertainment has stood in this room," he says.

"Comedians from the 20s, 30s, the 40s, right up to the present day, from West End tours, the cast of [the musical] Six, Jason Donovan, Jimmy Carr, Sarah Millican.

"It also has a full en suite, so the artist can chillax after the show, take a shower and take a breather."

Not everything has always gone to plan for the headliners, however.

In 2023, the theatre experienced one of its most bizarre moments when the comedian Joe Pasquale was impaled by his own moose antlers in a freak accident.

"When everybody mentioned Skegness, I just say that was nearly my demise," Pasquale says.

"Luckily, I'd just watched the new Mission Impossible film with Tom Cruise. I managed to twist in mid-air and land in the middle, and the only thing that got impaled was the back of my leg.

"The next day, it's all over the papers and it said 'legendary comedian has near-death experience'.

"I wondered who that was. I started reading and it was me," he jokes. "It was the best publicity I've ever had and all came from a moose in Skegness."

Bugg leads us down to the bowels of the theatre, the oldest part.

"We're going back to 1926. We are under the oldest part, original construction.

"This is the old seawall, the iron work and the girder work and the flooring that's been here for 100 years."

This year, the theatre is due to welcome Francis Rossi, of Status Quo fame, Leo Sayer and Elkie Brooks, among others.

Trapmore-Shaw says they will mark their birthday in style.

"This building is so special to so many and we are so excited to be able to take it not just out of its first hundred years but well into its next hundred years.

"People need entertainment, they need theatre and they need that connection. This is very much a place for the people."

Alfie Boe is among those raising a glass for the centenary.

"I'll definitely be celebrating it and commending them for their service to entertainment," he adds.

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