Groundlings Theatre

Built in 1784, Groundling Theatre is a unique building steeped in history with secret doors and hidden rooms. It was formerly known as “The Old Benny”, the first free school for impoverished children. Starting out as a boys only school, with a very disciplinary attitude to education, the downstairs was the classroom and the upstairs was used by high society for meetings, theatre and concerts.

In 1837 the school expanded to include girls and later a junior school was formed in 1873.The school closed in 1939 on account of World War II and it said that a Nazi sympathizer shone a torch from the rooftop to indicate to bombers seeking to bomb Portsmouth Dockyard. The school closed in 1962 and became a youth training centre before becoming the Groundlings Theatre in 2010.

The theatre was frequented by Queen Victoria and in 1812 Elizabeth Dickens went into labour with Charles Dickens when attending a dance in the building. The building still retains a lot of it’s original features such as floorboards and fireplaces.


NOTES
Staff refuse to walk the building alone at night. Are you brave enough to investigate in the dead of night with only a torch to find your way around? Groundlings is reported to be very haunted and ghost sightings have often been reported.