Dame Edith Evans on the stage

The reopening of the Theatre was celebrated on May 5th 1963 with a gala performance led by Dame Edith Evans reading the prologue. Dame Sybil Thorndyke read the epilogue. Both the prologue and the epilogue were written by Ivor Brown, a former editor of the Observer. Brown was a drama critic on the Observer and Chairman of the British Drama League between 1954 and 1962.