Marie Lloyd : Locations

Normansfield Theatre

Several on-stage and backstage scenes were filmed at the Normansfield Theatre in Teddington.

The theatre was built in 1879 as an entertainment hall attached to the Normansfield Hospital. The hospital had been established in 1868 by Dr John Langdon Down to care for people with what later came to be known as Down's Syndrome - it was Dr Langdon Down who had identified the syndrome. Normansfield provided up to 150 patients at a time with a worthwhile and fulfilling life, in contrast to the way those with learning difficulties were often treated at the time.

The theatre, originally known as the Normansfield Assembly Hall, was used both for entertainment and for Sunday church services. Although the hospital, which closed in 1997, is lying empty and neglected awaiting redevelopment, the theatre has been better cared for. It has been renovated and is under the control of the Langdon Down Centre Trust. (See the link to their website below.) Like Hoxton Hall, Normansfield is a Grade II* listed building.

Much of the original Victorian painted scenery stored in the theatre has survived and was taken to the Winchester School of Art for conservation in 2003-5. It has now been returned to the theatre and some of it was used in the TV drama. (See the link at the bottom of the page for more information and pictures about the renovation.)

The exterior of Normansfield Theatre.	The interior.

The scenery on the stage in the photograph top right was used in the pantomime scene.
Percy buys Marie some new songs. In this scene (above) the backcloth is raised, showing the area behind the stage, a scene dock - see the photograph on the right.
The wings. Marie comes onto the stage to sing "Hold your hand out naughty boy", after the scandal about her problems with her first husband Percy breaks.
While Marie is onstage during the pantomime (see picture further up), a dancing girl comes off stage. This is a staircase that leads from the back of the stage down to the sub-stage area.
The girl passes Percy further down the stairs, and he follows her. The area at the foot of these stairs is used as a dressing room. There is a similar flight of stairs and dressing room on the other side of the stage (not used in the filming).
Marie is looking at Bernard Dillon, who later becomes her third husband. This is a short corridor that's also in the sub-stage area beneath the stage. To the left of Marie is the door to the stairs where Percy was loitering in the scene above.
Above left, Bernard Dillon looks back at Marie. This is the same corridor as above, but the view is in the other direction.
	Another scene in the corridor, looking in the same direction as above. These two are peering in through the door on the left (above), watching Percy's 'infidelity' with the dancing girl.

Locations Introduction | Pictures of Hoxton Hall

Links

Langdon Down Centre official website
Winchester School of Art page about the conservation of the scenery from Normansfield

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