King's Theatre, Portsmouth

The Kings Theatre opened on 30 September 1907 with a production of Charles 1 followed by 2 further of Sir Henry Irving's Works. The theatre stayed in the control of its original owners, The Portsmouth Theatre Company, until 1964 when it was purchased by Commander Reggie & Mrs Joan Cooper. In 1990 it was sold again to Hampshire County Council.

In 2001, after a successful campaign by AKTER (Action for Kings TheatrE Restoration) to keep the theatre open, the theatre was purchased by Portsmouth City Council and leased to the Kings Theatre Trust Ltd who undertook the restoration the building.

The present day theatre has a seating capacity of 1600 and a computerised booking system. Much of the backstage area is still fully manual, allowing it to retain the tag of a traditional hemp house, though powered flying bars have now been installed to allow large scale productions.