Theatre Royal Drury Lane

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Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Main Entrance now on Catherine Street, Westminster, London

Above - The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in November 2008 whilst in production for Lionel Bart's 'Oliver', which began previews at the Theatre in December 2008 and opened on the 14th of January 2009.

There have been four Theatres built on the site of the present 'Theatre Royal Drury Lane. The first was built by the dramatist Thomas Killigrew under charter from Charles II, and opened on May the 7th, 1663. This was very successful but was destroyed by fire in 1672.

The second Theatre, on the site of the first, is thought to have been built by the architect Sir Christopher Wren and opened in 1674. This is the Theatre which David Garrick ran with great success for 30 years from 1774. Garrick was followed by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, with such notable Thesbians as Sarah Siddons and John Philip Kemble taking the stage. This second Theatre was demolished in 1791.

The Third Theatre Royal, Drury Lane was constructed between 1791 and 1794 by Henry Holland and was billed as a "Fireproof Theatre," but sadly burnt down only 16 years later in 1809.

An original Bill for The Fourth Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, March 5th 1818. Just 6 years after it opened. The Forth and present Theatre was designed by Benjamin Wyatt and opened in 1812. This is the Theatre where Edmund Kean ruled with huge success for many years. The Theatre went into decline after his departure but was revived in 1879 by Augustus Harris.

Left - An original Bill for 'Bride of Abydos,' and 'Midnight Hour' with Edmund Kean at the fourth and present Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, dated March 5th 1818, which is just 6 years after it opened. In 2012 the Theatre will be celebrating its bicentenary.

Right - Plan of the exits from the Theatre - From a Drury Lane programme of 1887 - Click to enlarge.

The following decades saw the beginning of the great Drury Lane spectaculars, and annual pantomimes with Dan Leno. And in the 1900s the legendary actors Henry Irving, Ellen Terry and Johnston Forbes Robertson took the Theatre by storm.

In 1922 the auditorium was radically reconstructed by Emblin Walker, Jones & Cromie. The Theatres Trust says of this present auditorium: 'this is the last auditorium to be designed in the rich fin-de-sièe manner established by Matcham, Sprague & Crewe.'

Right - A Pre 1907 seating plan for the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. - Click to enlarge.

In the Second World War Drury Lane became the headquarters of ENSA, the Entertainments National Service Association, and afterwards has been home to a string of highly successful musicals, usually on a huge scale.

Ginger Rogers cutting the Baddeley Cake during the run of ''Mame' - From the personal collection of Alec Marlow, former Master Carpenter at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane - Courtesy Phil Davis. This is where 'My Fair Lady' with Rex Harrison first opened and ran for five years, and where 'Miss Saigon' is notable for being the longest run at Drury Lane, ten years in all.

The Baddeley Cake

The Baddeley cake is named after Robert Baddeley who was a popular actor at Drury Lane for many years until he died in 1794 during the run of his most celebrated part, Moses in 'School for Scandal.'

Right - Ginger Rogers cutting the Baddeley Cake during the run of ''Mame' - From the personal collection of Alec Marlow, former Master Carpenter at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane - Courtesy Phil Davis.

The Baddeley Cake during the run of 'South Pacific' - From the personal collection of Alec Marlow, former Master Carpenter at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane - Courtesy Phil Davis. Baddeley left instructions that on the death of his wife 'certain monies' were 'to go to the society established for the relief of indigent persons belonging to Drury Lane Theatre.'

Left - The Baddeley Cake during the run of 'South Pacific' - From the personal collection of Alec Marlow, former Master Carpenter at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane - Courtesy Phil Davis.

The Baddeley Cake during the run of 'Mame' - From the personal collection of Alec Marlow, former Master Carpenter at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane - Courtesy Phil Davis. And amongst other requests he also left provision that the interest from £100 be used on the Twelfth Night of every year for the purchase of a cake, with wine and punch, for the Drury Lane Company in residence to partake of in the Green Room of the Theatre so that they might remember him.

Right - The Baddeley Cake during the run of 'Mame.' The man on the left of the photo is William F. Budd. He was secretary of the Theatre Royal Fund and had worked at the Lane, and was stage and Comapny Manager there for the production of Gone With The Wind. - From the personal collection of Alec Marlow, former Master Carpenter at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane - Courtesy Phil Davis.

Remarkably this tradition has survived and Baddeley is indeed celebrated and remembered each year on the 6th of January to this day.

The Cake made to celebrate the Theatre's Tri-centenary year, 1963, which also celebrated the long run of 'My Fair Lady' which opened at the Theatre in 1958 and ran for 5 years. - From the personal collection of Alec Marlow, former Master Carpenter at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane - Courtesy Phil Davis.

Above - The Cake made to celebrate the Theatre's Tri-centenary year, 1963, which also celebrated the long run of 'My Fair Lady' which opened at the Theatre in 1958 and ran for 5 years. This may also have been a Baddeley cake but I'm not sure about that, perhaps you know - From the personal collection of Alec Marlow, former Master Carpenter at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane - Courtesy Phil Davis.

There is much information on this World famous Theatre already in existence, in a great many places, so the rest of this page will attempt to show images and text that may not be so well known.

One of the carpenters who worked at the Theatre from 1946, and who went on to become Master Carpenter there until retiring in 1974, was Alec Marlow.

Alec is thought to have worked on around 12,000 performances at the Theatre and was responsible for helping to build and maintain sets for countless famous productions at the Theatre during his years including 'Pacific 1860', 'Oklahoma', 'Carousel', 'South Pacific', 'The King and I', 'Plain and Fancy', 'Fanny', 'My Fair Lady', 'The Boys from Syracuse', 'Camelot', 'Hello Dolly!', 'The Four Musketeers', 'Mame', 'The Great Waltz', 'Gone with the Wind', 'No No Nanette' and 'Billy'.

Right - Alec Marlow at work on a set at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane - From the personal collection of Alec Marlow, former Master Carpenter at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane - Courtesy Phil Davis.

Alec died in February 2009, aged 102, and his son in law, Phil Davis, has kindly written a biography of him and sent it in for inclusion on this site along with many of Alec's personal photographs to illustrate it, plus many of the images on this page.

Alec Marlow's biography can be found on the site here.

The Staff Bar

Above and Below - Three photographs of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane staff enjoying a drink in the Theatre's staff bar which was situated in the basement of the Theatre and which is now the lighting department's crew room and workshop - From the personal collection of Alec Marlow, former Master Carpenter at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane - Courtesy Phil Davis.

Personal recollections of the Theatre Royal

I have worked at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane myself off and on for many years. T.C. King, Father in law to Arthur Lloyd, and my Maternal Great Great Grandfather was a Drury Lane Tragedian in the mid 1800s, and my Paternal Great Great Grandfather, Horatio Lloyd, who was Arthur Lloyd's father, visited the Theatre on many occasions and writes about it in his Autobiography of 1886, which is a fascinating and contemporary account of a working actor in the mid 1800s. In one section he writes about seeing Kean and Liston at Drury Lane. I have included extracts of this along with the images below, which I think help to bring the story of his, and this famous historic Theatre, to life.

"Amongst the greatest and the most popular performers of the other sex whom I have seen and remember, are - or rather were, for it must be about 20 years since the last survivor of them departed- Charles Kemble, Charles Young, Ward, Fawcett, Jones, William Farren, the elder; Blanchard, Tyrone Power, Harley, Mcready, the elder Chas. Matthews, Terry Yates, T. P. Coocke, James Wallack, John Reeve, Wright, Buckstone, Robert Keeley, Knight, Liston, and the immortal Edmund Keen.

Right - Photograph of the Drury Lane auditorium before 1922 reconstruction. Note Horatio's 'two shilling Gallery' can be seen top left. Click to enlarge.

The two last named I saw for the first time at Drury Lane, on the same evening. First Kean as Richard III., and then Liston as Lubin Log, In the favourite farce of those days, "Love, Law, and Physic." I can never forget the intense delight which afforded me.The magnificence of the theatre, the delightful music, the crowded auditorium, and the grand acting produced by a combination which enraptured my young brains. Subsequent to this I visited "Old Drury" regularly once a week.

Right - Drury Lane's 1922 and present auditorium. Horatio's 'two shilling Gallery' (see image above right) is now hidden behind extended roof plasterwork. M.L. 2004. Click image for many more pictures.

Every Monday evening found me quietly ensconced in the right-hand corner of the front seat of the two shilling gallery, (Shown Above Right) anxiously awaiting the rising of the great green curtain. It was here and thus that I so often witnessed the performances of the two great stars I have mentioned-Liston more particularly. Although poor Kean's powers were evidently on the wane in the eyes of those who had enjoyed his earlier years, there was no such drawback in my case.'

Right - Picture taken inside the present Drury Lane roof void showing what's left of Horatio's 'two shilling Gallery shown in images above right'. M.L. 2004.

I had never seen him in his prime, and in all he said or did now I could see no fault, but everything to admire. Liston took me captive completely. I saw him in all his popular parts, and consider him the most glorious low comedian I ever saw and listened to. He must have been made expressly for a comedian.

Right - Fragment of original wallpaper from Horatio's 'two shilling Gallery' which still survives in the Drury Lane roof void. M.L. 2004

He was remarkably ugly-that is to say, in so far as the physiognomy was concerned. Plump cheeks, one larger than the other, a turn up nose, and a twist on one side of the mouth-these were his leading facial features. But he was a tall gentlemanly man, with a very handsome figure. His face alone made the audience roar with laughter before he spoke a word.He would come on the stage and stand silently looking at them, as if overcome with surprise, mingled with disgust at their rudeness.

Right - The ancient substage machinery which used hydraulics to lift and lower the stage in various ways, Grade I listed. Click to see more substage photos taken in 2006, and also many photos taken in 2008 of the Lifts in action again after many decades lying silent.

The Long Dock behind the stage at Drury Lane. This is used for temporary storage of equipment and for the cast and crew to get from one side of the stage to the other during performances. Then when he had got them almost into convulsions by his simple power of facial expression, he would begin muttering to himself, turn his back to them, and walk up the stage. This was the last straw; for the reason that the exhibition of the unusually ample proportions in the rear with which Nature had been pleased to endow him was considered by his faithful patrons to be the acme of humour. With this sort of pantomime he would keep them into fits for five or six minutes without uttering a word. I repeat that I consider him to be the greatest low comedian I ever beheld. It was no acting; it was the man himself- nature- and that made his drolleries so acceptable."

Text in quotes above from Horatio Lloyd's Autobiography 1886.

Right - The Long Dock behind the stage at Drury Lane. This is used for temporary storage of equipment and for the cast and crew to get from one side of the stage to the other during performances. Leading off from this to the right is the 'Paint Frame,' where backdrops for many shows are still created.

For a great deal of information, history, and images of The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane see this page on People Play UK

View from the roof

Above - 360 view of London from the roof of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane - Click to enlarge.

Below are a selection of interesting programmes for The Theatre Royal Drury Lane - Click the covers to see details.

The Whip

Above - Postcard showing a scene from 'The Whip' 1909
Click for more images and details of this production.

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, bomb damage 1940

The Stalls and Circle of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, the morning after the bomb hit the Theatre during the scond world war. From the book 'Pillars of Drury Lane' by W. Macqueen Pope 1955 - Courtesy Piers Caunter.

Above - The Stalls and Circle of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, the morning after the bomb hit the Theatre during the second world war. From the book 'Pillars of Drury Lane' by W. Macqueen Pope 1955 - Courtesy Piers Caunter.

Caption reads 'Members of the Drury Lane staff amongst whom the nosecap of the bomb fell when an H.E. hit the theatre in 1940. These men were actually sleeping in the wrecked room and escaped undamaged. The inscribed nosecap is seen amongst them.' From the book 'Theatre Royal Drury Lane' by W. Macqueen Pope 1945 - Courtesy Piers Caunter.

Above - Caption reads 'Members of the Drury Lane staff amongst whom the nosecap of the bomb fell when an H.E. hit the theatre in 1940. These men were actually sleeping in the wrecked room and escaped undamaged. The inscribed nosecap is seen amongst them.' From the book 'Theatre Royal Drury Lane' by W. Macqueen Pope 1945 - Courtesy Piers Caunter.

The actual nosecap of the bomb, now displayed in the one of the Theatre's corridors. - M.L. 2004

Above - The actual nosecap of the bomb, now displayed in the one of the Theatre's corridors. - M.L. 2004

The Romance of London Theatres by Ronald Mayes

No. 110. Drury Lane (1660-1809)

From a London Pavilion Programme 1930

In 1660 the Master of the Revels issued a permit to Thomas Killigrew and Sir William Davenant to "erect two companies of players . . . and to build two houses or theatres. Davenant's letters patent eventually made their way to the hands of John Rich who built Covent Garden Theatre. Killigrew purchased from the Earl of Bedford a forty-one years' lease of a piece of ground situated in the two parishes of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, and St Martin`s-in-the Fileds.

During the building of the theatre Killigrew's Company performed in a temporary building in Bear Yard, near Lincoln's Inn Fields. The New Theatre in Drury Lane was built at a cost of fifteen hundred pounds, the dimensions of which were one hundred and twelve feet by fifty-nine feet. It was opened in 1663 with Beaumont and Fletcher's comedy, "The Humorous Lieutenant," of which Pepy's writes, " a silly play 1 think-only the spirit in it that grows very tall and then sinks again to nothing, having two heads breeding upon one, and then Knipp's singing did please us."

To this period also belongs that incarnation of frolic and merriment, Nell Gwynne. It is popularly supposed that as a child she sold oranges in the pit of Drury Lane and made her way to the stage at the early age of fifteen. Pepys tells us that lie kissed her.

The second. theatre built by Sir Christopher Wren was opened on March 26th, 1674. Here for many years Thomas Betterton held sway. Silvertone Betterton first served his apprenticeship at the "Cockpit," and was a universal favourite at old Drury. He took a farewell "benefit" here in 1709, when in his seventy-fifth year, finally retiring from the stage and dying in 1710.

Early 20th Century Postcard of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane . The theatre is next intimately associated with Colley Cibber, manager and dramatist, and for twenty-seven years Poet Laureate. During this period we have James Quin, for long the favourite tragedian of the town, Macklin and Peg Woffington.

Cibber was followed by David Garrick who was there from 1747 to 1776. Garrick restored Shakespeare, which had been grossly neglected and introduced several improvements in stage display. Sheridan next comes to the front as manager, presiding over such great actors as Mrs. Siddons, John and Charles Kemble, and John Henderson. The theatre was pulled down in 1791 and rebuilt three years later.

Left - Early 20th Century Postcard of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane

The Kembles were the principal attraction at Drury Lane until they withdrew in 1803, when the fortunes of the theatre were seriously affected. We are told that Sheridan's translation of "The Death of Rolla," brought him in £25,000 in five weeks.

Drury Lane Theatre was destroyed by fire in 1809, when Sheridan was at the House of Commons. He left and went to a little coffee house opposite his property and drank a bottle of port with his friend Barry, coolly remarking, "it was hard if a man could not drink a glass of wine by his own fire." The Romance of London Theatres by Ronald Mayes - From a London Pavilion Programme 1930.

Working at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in the 1940s and 1950s by Alan Chudley

Backstage at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane by Jimmy Needle - From the personal collection of Alec Marlow - Courtesy Phil Davis. During the war years Drury Lane was the headquarters of ENSA, an organisation that provided professional entertainment for the armed forces, the vast stage at that time was largely partitioned off as offices. My fist visit to Drury Lane was in the summer of 1946 when much to the delight of the Drury Lane staff, ENSA had been disbanded and Drury Lane was set to return to its rightful use as a public theatre. The purpose of my visit was to purchase some of the ENSA lighting equipment then being sold off, our transport was a very small borrowed grocers trade van and we were trying to get a switchboard into that van. Walter McQueen Pope the Drury Lane publicity man and historian was walking along Russell Street with some other gentlemen, one of whom said to Mr McQueen Pope; "Five shillings says they do not make it Walter," Egged on by Walter we finally got the switchboard into the van, I was to learn later that the gentlemen was our sovereign King George V1, and that the bet was honoured.

Right - Backstage at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane by Jimmy Needle - From the personal collection of Alec Marlow - Courtesy Phil Davis.

During the 1951 Festival of Britain I was involved under the direction of Mc Queen Pope to show American visitors over Drury Lane on Sundays. Mc Queen Pope used to delight in showing them the green Room, the actors sitting room, where many years ago an Actor named Macklin killed another actor during a quarrel over a wig. The son of the killed Actor fled to the United States and started what was considered to be the first American Theatre. Mc Queen pope would show the American tourists the fireplace where the killing took place any proudly announce; "That is where your Theatre started"

About that time I was one of a gang of casual workers whose task it was to replace the lighting control at Drury Lane with a brand new Strand Electric Organ Consul, up to then, "Okalahoma" the current show, was lit by a motley collection of switchboards which included a "Moy" board installed early in the 20th century plus a Strand Grand Master board installed for "Cavalcade" during the 1930s plus several portable hired Strand potables boards.

Later under the direction of Lou Walton, the Drury Lane master carpenter, I was engaged as a casual on several Drury Lane fit-ups which included "Fanny" in which one of the famous stage bridges was used to provide a underground nightclub, sadly "Fanny" was not a success and a lot of people lost a lot of money.

This article was kindly written for the site by Alan Chudley.

The Drury Lane Charter

A 1949 Copy of the Drury Lane Charter of 1663 currently displayed in the basement of the Theatre's backstage area Photo M.L.

Above - A 1949 Copy of the Drury Lane Charter of 1663
currently displayed in the basement of the Theatre's backstage area - Photo M.L.

Plan of the Theatre

Cross section of the Theatre from an architect's drawing displayed in the basement of the Theatre's backstage area Photo M.L.

Above - Cross section of the Theatre from an architect's drawing
displayed in the basement of the Theatre's backstage area - Photo M.L.

The Basement

Deep in the bowels of the Theatre are ancient passageways, parts of which may contain elements of the earlier Theatres on the site. Photo M.L.

Above - Deep in the bowels of the Theatre are ancient passageways,
parts of which may contain elements of the earlier Theatres on the site - Photo M.L.

The Follow Spot Box

Above - At the highest point of the Theatre at roof level and to the rear of the balcony is the Follow Spot Box, here you can see one of three spots used on 'The Producers' and beyond the glass; a balcony chandelier.

A Cartoon

A Cartoon drawn by Jimmy Needle during the run of 'Hello Dolly' at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. The cartoon seems to be suggesting that the Theatre staff were at the time fed up with American productions taking over the Theatre - From the personal collection of Alec Marlow - Courtesy Phil Davis.

Above - A Cartoon drawn by Jimmy Needle during the run of 'Hello Dolly' at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. The cartoon seems to be suggesting that the Theatre staff were at the time fed up with American productions taking over the Theatre - From the personal collection of Alec Marlow - Courtesy Phil Davis.

The Theatre is currently owned and run by Really Useful Theatres.

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