[3] The building, constructed of bluestone with white facings, was officially opened by the Governor of New Zealand Lord Liverpool on 7 April 1914.

[4] In 1960 due to a growing enrolment University of Otago opened a bigger Student Union building and the Allen Hall fell into disrepair until the theatre department took it over.

Molière's Les Femmes Savantes, Goethe's Faust, Euripides Medea and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas were notable productions.

[1] In addition to lunchtime theatre and plays staged by staff and students Allen Hall sometimes hosts visiting productions.

[12] The pair received a raucous welcome from the packed crowd, the overflow from which was accommodated in the canteen, and Olivier "held the spellbound attention of his audience for about half an hour, in a manner which some of the lecturers present must have envied.

"[11] Many notable creative practitioners began their careers at Allen Hall, including comedians Jeremy Elwood and Te Radar, film makers and writers Duncan Sarkies and Matthew J. Saville, and actor Edwin Wright who is now based in Auckland.

[1][13][14][15] Playwright Roger Hall received the University of Otago's Robert Burns Fellowship in 1977, after which he was appointed to teach a new course entitled "Theory and Practice of Playwriting".