The grand theatre opened in 1895 and it hosted a lot of music hall shows. One amazing fact – a circus appeared there in the 1930s and one of the tigers got loose and badly mauled a man cleaning its cage. There were chaotic scenes but finally it was recaptured three hours later – and the show went on. The building was demolished in 1960.
These photographs are from the Picture Sheffield collection.
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1. Beautiful setting
The theatre's ornate auditorium in 1932 (ref no s01634) Photo: Picture Sheffield
2. Comedy stars
Bernard Delfont presents "Hollywood's greatest comedy couple Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy" at Sheffield’s Empire Theatre, 1954. This is the tour featured in the 2018 film Stan & Ollie (ref no y13429) Photo: Picture Sheffield
3. Old-fashioned glamour
The Empire auditorium, c. 1920 (Picture Sheffield ref no s01635) Photo: Picture Sheffield
4. Famous duo
Elsie and Doris Waters, radio's Gert and Daisy, performing at the Empire Theatre, 1950s (Picture Sheffield ref no P00210) Photo: Picture Sheffield