Teatro Reina Victoria, Historic theatre in Gran Via, Madrid, Spain
Teatro Reina Victoria is a theatre on Carrera de San Jerónimo in central Madrid, with a modernist facade decorated with stained glass by Maumejean and Talavera ceramic tiles. The auditorium seats over 600 people and retains its original early 20th-century fixtures throughout the interior.
The theatre was designed by architect José Espelius and opened in 1916, taking its name from Queen Victoria Eugenie, the wife of King Alfonso XIII. Over the following decades, it became one of the main venues for Spanish theatrical life in Madrid.
The Teatro Reina Victoria built its reputation on zarzuela, a Spanish form of musical theatre that mixes spoken dialogue with song and was hugely popular in Madrid during the 20th century. Visitors today can still feel that theatrical identity in the layout of the stage and the design of the seating area.
The theatre sits on Carrera de San Jerónimo in central Madrid and is easy to reach by metro or on foot from nearby landmarks. Getting there a few minutes early gives you time to look at the lobby decorations before the doors to the auditorium open.
Before the building became a theatre, the site housed an English brewery that served as a regular meeting place for Madrid's literary figures. Writers such as Benito Pérez Galdós and Jacinto Benavente gathered there long before any stage was built.
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