Sir Ken Dodd Auditorium at the City Varieties Music Hall in Leeds

National World - LocalTV

We meet Lady Anne Dodd at the City Varieties Music Hall in Leeds as the theatre renames its auditorium in tribute to Sir Ken Dodd.

Transcript

00:00Well, I was thrilled to bits, but I can imagine what Ken would say. He would say,

00:04how tickled I am to have such wonderful news.

00:06The auditorium of the world-famous City Varieties Music Hall in Leeds has a new name.

00:12The Sir Ken Dodd Auditorium is a tribute to the comedian,

00:15singer and actor widely regarded as the last great music hall entertainer.

00:19It's really lovely, heartwarming. It was a place he loved. It was the first place

00:23he ever did a television programme. He was on Good Old Days in 1955,

00:27a long time ago, and he played it quite a few times. So it was very dear to his heart,

00:32this glorious theatre. It's the intimacy of the audience. He used to say, I can get at them.

00:38He loved this venue. It was really special to him. Obviously, he's been called the last great

00:43musical entertainer. So this being the longest continuously running music hall in the country,

00:50it's a very special venue.

00:51It's a Grade II star listed. It's a beautiful gem that's hidden just on the back streets of

00:55Swan Street. Many people walk past and don't realise it's here and they walk into the auditorium

00:58and just are revealed this glorious auditorium inside. The history of it is just so important

01:04to both Leeds, to Brigitte, but also to musical history and variety since the Victorian days.

01:08I met him in the 60s and we actually got together in the late 70s. But from those years, I did come

01:14here each time he played the Good Old Days, which was the last few occasions. And then after that,

01:21we would play it, most years we would play here.

01:24He always sold out. He was legendary, obviously. He still is legendary for how long his performances

01:29went on and it would be a regular one o'clock finish.

01:32The City Variety's premiere of a film charting God's life includes unseen material.

01:37The intention originally was to film how we put an exhibition together and then it grew arms and

01:43legs and it became to filming his legacy. He had mentors. He had comedians who inspired him.

01:49And it's lovely to hear young comedians we've met and he met during these years

01:53who would ask advice or had told me since that they were inspired by him.

01:57Ken's impact on the entertainment business was unparalleled.

02:01I actually think that he was the first kind of modern comedian.

02:04Doddy was the ballet of the entertainment business.

02:07You always give value for money a little bit too much.

02:11I am Kenneth Arthur Dodd, artist, model and failed accountant.

02:15There's still something so special about that live performance when you're in a room full of people

02:20all enjoying the same thing, that connection, that feeling of shared experience is kind of

02:24what's so special about this venue and what it brings to so many people.

02:29One of the things we really want to do as well is just keep it alive today.

02:32So it's celebrating the legacy that Ken Dodd created,

02:35the real craft and skill that he brought to comedy.

02:38And I think so many people have commented on that, it kind of

02:40styles and change, don't they, and tone changes.

02:43But the actual craft of the skill is what people continue to study and learn today.

02:48And he was a master of it.

02:49And that's one of the things we're trying to keep alive today with our training programmes

02:52and our youth theatre and our other acting provision.

02:55So that we can continue this legacy of performance on this fantastic stage

02:58and continue to make audiences laugh.

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