The Q Theatre, seating 490 in 25 rows with a central aisle, was opened in 1924 near Kew Bridge

Kew Bridge

Kew Bridge is a bridge in London over the River Thames. The present bridge was designed by John Wolfe-Barry and opened in 1903 by King Edward VII. The bridge was givenGrade II listed structure protection in 1983.- Location :...

 in west London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 by Jack and Beatie de Leon, and was one of a number of small, committed, independent theatre companies which included the Hampstead Everyman

Everyman Cinema, Hampstead

The Everyman, in Hampstead, London, England opened as a cinema on 26 December 1933.The building was first opened as the Hampstead Drill Hall and Assembly Rooms in the 1880s...

, the Arts Theatre Club

Arts Theatre

The Arts Theatre is a theatre in Great Newport Street, in Westminster, Central London. It now operates as the West End's smallest commercial receiving house.-History:...

 and the Gate Theatre Studio

Gate Theatre Studio

The history of London's Gate Theatre Studio, often referred to as simply the Gate Theatre, is typical of many small independent theatres of the period....

. These theatres took risks by producing new and experimental plays which, although often at first thought to be commercially unviable on the West-End stage

West End theatre

West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...

, later went on to transfer successfully.

Actors including Dirk Bogarde

Dirk Bogarde

Sir Dirk Bogarde was an English actor and novelist. Initially a matinee idol in such films as Doctor in the House and other Rank Organisation pictures, Bogarde later acted in art-house films such as Death in Venice...

, Joan Collins

Joan Collins

Joan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...

, Vivien Leigh

Vivien Leigh

Vivien Leigh, Lady Olivier was an English actress. She won the Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire , a role she also played on stage in London's West End, as well as for her portrayal of the southern belle Scarlett O'Hara, alongside Clark...

, Margaret Lockwood, Barry Morse

Barry Morse

Herbert "Barry" Morse was an Anglo-Canadian actor of stage, screen, and radio best known for his roles in the ABC television series The Fugitive and the British sci-fi drama Space: 1999...

, and Anthony Quayle

Anthony Quayle

Sir John Anthony Quayle, CBE was an English actor and director.-Early life:Quayle was born in Ainsdale, Southport, in Lancashire to a Manx family....

 started their theatrical careers here. Peter Brook

Peter Brook

Peter Stephen Paul Brook CH, CBE is an English theatre and film director and innovator, who has been based in France since the early 1970s.-Life:...

, Tony Richardson

Tony Richardson

Cecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson was an English theatre and film director and producer.-Early life:Richardson was born in Shipley, Yorkshire in 1928, the son of Elsie Evans and Clarence Albert Richardson, a chemist...

 and William Gaskell

William Gaskell

The Reverend William Gaskell was an English Unitarian minister, charity worker and pioneer in the education of the working class...

 directed plays here and the theatre staged the first plays of Terence Rattigan

Terence Rattigan

Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan CBE was one of England's most popular 20th-century dramatists. His plays are generally set in an upper-middle-class background...

 and William Douglas-Home

William Douglas-Home

William Douglas Home was court-martialled in World War II for his refusal to obey orders as a British army officer and later became a successful British dramatist.-Early life:...

.

Opening Night

The new enterprise was originally advertised as "A Bright, Cosy Theatre for the presentation of successful WEST END PLAYS." Opening night was scheduled for September 1924, but the doors finally opened to the public on Boxing Day 26 December 1924 with a production of Gertrude Jenning's The Young Person in Pink. But the occasion was marred by the over-selling of tickets, resulting in a number of disappointed and angry ticket-holders.

Local press retrospective

In April 1992, the theatre critic of the Richmond and Twickenham Times series of local newspapers, wrote the following retrospective to welcome Kenneth Barrow's history of the theatre:

"Jack de Leon was the man of action: a trained solicitor who became a talented playwright, director and charismatic impresario. His wife Beatie yearned to be an actress. But she settled for being one of the most shrewd and astute of theatre managers, a perfectionist and the legendary 'Lilian Baylis

Lilian Baylis

Lilian Mary BaylisCH was an English theatrical producer and manager. She managed the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells theatres in London, and ran an opera company, which became the English National Opera , a theatre company, which evolved into the English National Theatre, and a ballet company, which...

' of her time. 'No experience?' she would say to an aspiring actor. 'Well you know we can't afford to pay you anything, but you've got to start somewhere.'

"Formerly a derelict roller-rink and film studio, their Q Theatre opened on Boxing Day 1924, modelled on the Everyman

Everyman Cinema, Hampstead

The Everyman, in Hampstead, London, England opened as a cinema on 26 December 1933.The building was first opened as the Hampstead Drill Hall and Assembly Rooms in the 1880s...

 at Hampstead, and soon became a focus for new writing. Plays were tried out, went to the West End or were gently forgotten. Dozens of writing careers were launched, although Philip King

Philip King (playwright)

Philip King, a British playwright and actor, was born in Yorkshire in 1904. He is best known as the author of the farce See How They Run . He lived in Brighton and many of his plays were first produced in nearby Worthing. He continued to act throughout his writing career, often appearing in his...

's clerical farce, See How They Run is the only Q discovery to become a classic. The tiny theatre was a scene of triumph, riot, litigation and a disastrous fire.

"It staged its last professional show in February 1956 and then turned to amateur use, finally closing its doors in March 1958 before demolition and replacement by a faceless office block. But in its last decade the upcoming talents included Jill Bennett, Joan Collins

Joan Collins

Joan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...

, Geraldine McEwan

Geraldine McEwan

Geraldine McEwan is an English actor with a diverse history in theatre, film, and television. From 2004 to 2009 she appeared as Miss Marple, the Agatha Christie sleuth, for the series Marple.-Background:...

, Patricia Routledge

Patricia Routledge

Katherine Patricia Routledge, CBE is an English character comedy actress and singer. She is best known for her role as character Hyacinth Bucket in the British television series Keeping Up Appearances and Hetty Wainthropp in the British television series Hetty Wainthropp Investigates...

, Denholm Elliott

Denholm Elliott

Denholm Mitchell Elliott, CBE was an English film, television and theatre actor with over 120 film and television credits...

 and Irene Worth

Irene Worth

Irene Worth, CBE was an American stage and screen actress who became one of the leading stars of the English and American theatre. -Early life:...

, among the thousands offered the chance to exercise their art while finding their feet in the profession. And there is an absorbing coda carrying us on to the creation of the De Leon Drama School in Richmond upon Thames

Richmond upon Thames

Richmond is a town in southwest London, England and is part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is located west-southwest of Charing Cross....

, eventually forming the nucleus of the now thriving Richmond Drama School, part of the borough's Adult Community College.".