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Amateur theatre was alive in London when the first professional company, led
by Jacob P. Adler, arrived in London in 1883. Within days of their arrival,
Adler enlarged the company with some of the amateur actors and, under the name
of the Russian Jewish Operatic Company, they performed to a large crowd at
Beaumont Hall, Mile End. Over the next two years Yiddish theatre and the
Company flourished. However, the actors were constantly on the move and
conditions were hard.
In March 1886 the first purpose built Yiddish theatre in London, known as the
Hebrew Dramatic Club, was opened in Princes Street, off Brick Lane. This club
soon became the leading venue for Yiddish theatre in Western Europe and its
reputation was widespread. Young people flocked to the Yiddish theatre with
as much devotion as others attended synagogue, until a tragic accident in
January 1887 when a false alarm of fire caused a panic and resulted in the
death of seventeen members of the audience. Following this incident, people
stayed away from the theatre and Adler moved to America, which emerged as the
new centre for Yiddish theatre.
New immigrants and a new generation of Yiddish actors came to London in the
period between 1887 and 1905, and once again Yiddish theatre began to flourish,
notably at the Standard Theatre and Whitechapel Pavilion. At this time Yiddish
music hall was popular. As the Jewish community in the East End took on a more
stable character, a permanent home was needed for Yiddish theatre. Eventually,
in 1906, a successful season of Yiddish plays and operas at the Pavilion Theatre
established it as the new home of Yiddish theatre in London.
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