The Category A listed Britannia Panoptican in Glasgow is the oldest surviving music hall in the world, and has launched an appeal to help rescue the historic stage, asking for donations to ‘sponsor a plank’ (with donors names etched into the history of the stage) to help secure the future of the venue.
Judith Bowers of The Britannia Panoptican writes:
What music hall or theatre would be complete without a stage; a simple platform it may seem, but upon it stands hopes and dreams, tragedy and comedy, love and passion – all of life glimpsed on simple wooden boards. The Britannia has seen it all and more!
But where is our stage now? Where once upon a long time ago the greats of the music hall delighted and appalled 1,500 hard-working folk every show. Where Stan Laurel made his fumbling début and Sir Harry Lauder dodged a barrage of well-aimed rivets. Where Cary Grant (as Archie Leach) showed off his acrobatic skills and in times of crisis Glasgow’s men and women were recruited. Where is it? It is buried beneath a 1960’s toilet and now the time has come before it is too late to rescue what survives of that hallowed and historic set of boards. Become a part of history and let your name live on through time etched on the floor of the stage for future stars to entertain.
For £100 you can help bring the stage back to life by sponsoring a plank. Your name will be hand-etched onto the board you sponsor so your name will forever be placed beside the stars that trod the boards in the Britannia’s heyday. If you don’t have £100 but you still want to help, donations of any amount can be made to the ‘Raise the Stage’ fund via our PayPal donation button at the top of this page adding the note ‘Raise the Stage’. If you don’t want to pay online, cheques can be made payable to ‘Friends of Britannia Panopticon and sent to: ‘Raise the Stage’, Britannia Panopticon Music Hall, 1st Floor, 117 Trongate, Glasgow, G1 5HD.
In exchange we will send you a beautiful certificate with our grateful thanks and when the stage is complete, your name will be etched on the board you sponsored and included on the sponsors list in the auditorium. This is an excellent opportunity for anyone who loves Glasgow’s history and the performing arts to be a patron to one of the most unique venues in the world.
View the history of the building and some of the theatrical and musical artists who have played the venue
Theatres Trust information on the Britannia Panoptican
