Theatre Royal Drury Lane - History
The Theatre Royal in Drury Lane is located on Catherine Street in London. Like most London theatres it is well connected with local transport. Covent Garden is the nearest underground station to the venue with the nearest railway station taking the form of Charing Cross.
A great many theatres have sat on the location on Catherine street, with the first one appearing in 1660. However, fire and general wear and tear has meant that these establishments have come and gone over the years. Fire took the first in 1672, then demolition took the second in 1791 but fire returned and took the third theatre in 1809. Then Benjamin Wyatt designed a theatre that would last for the next two centuries when he oversaw the current Theatre Royal in Drury Lane in 1812.
Throughout the 1800s a whole host of productions hit the venue as the theatre constantly found itself changing hands. The theatre opened with a production of the Shakespearean classic Hamlet and went on to showcase Cataract of the Ganges (1823), The Prisoner of War (1842), A Blot in the ‘Scutcheon (1843), The Queen of Spades (1851), Eugenie (1855), Formosa (1869) and The Shaughraun (1875). By the end of the century and particularly during the last two decades the Carl Rosa Opera Company was able to present its own works to the Theatre Royal crowds, who by this point had become accustomed to productions that were high in spectacle. This was an expectation that would carry over into the twentieth century as shows such as The Whip (1909) and Augustus Harris’ annual pantomime (from 1889) regularly provided audiences with plenty to look at.
And so it was the twentieth century, which was initially characterised by the renovation of 1922, which provided the theatre with a much needed makeover. It reopened with a seating capacity of over 2,200 and the work had allowed it to cope with the enormous demand it had encouraged. The next milestone, or in this case obstacle, was the Second World War, which forced the theatre to close for the duration and reopen in 1946. During the war, the theatre suffered some small damage from a bomb during which time it was the headquarters for the Entertainments National Service Association.
After the war, the successful productions continued, with Noel Coward’s Pacific 1860 starting things off in 1946, followed by Oklahoma! (1946), South Pacific (1951), The King And I (1953), My Fair Lady (1958) and then Monty Python during their popular reunion show. Productions like these saw the theatre through the next two decades and brought it to more recent years. In 1982 Pirates of Penzance opened and has been followed up over the years with the likes of 42nd Street (1984), Miss Saigon (1989 – continuing for a decade), The Witches of Eastwick (2000), My Fair Lady (2001), Anything Goes (2003), The Producers (2004), The Lord of the Rings (2007) and Oliver! (2008). The recent production of Oliver! has wowed audiences with its great performances from the likes of Rowan Atkinson and is set to take the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane into the next decade.
