Did you know?

The Victoria Theatre was built before electricity, so for the first 50 years the performances would have been lit by limelight. Theatre technicians with very long poles with a wick on the end would come to the edge of the gallery with their lighting cue, put it into the lamp, and ignite the chemical compound in the lamp. The lamp would then glow onto the performance below. Different chemicals in the lamps would create slightly different colours. This lighting technique is the basis for the phrase “take the limelight”.