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___________________________________________________________________________________________________ The 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.
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Right - A Plan of the exits from the Theatre in 1887, and a seating plan for the Theatre before 1907 - Click the thumbnails to enlarge.
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. 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 - Will Evans in costume as the Baroness in a Drury Lane Pantomine in 1920 - Kindly sent in by his Grandson Bill Evans. Will Evans was famous in his day for comedy sketches and pantomime characters, and was the son of Fred Evans, a clown in the Grimaldi tradition. 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.' 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. 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. |
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The Drury Lane production of 'The
Armada' in 1888
Text edited from 'The Pillars of Drury Lane' by W. Macqueen Pope, 1955. - Armada Coin very kindly donated by Alan Harvey. |
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The Drury Lane production of 'The Whip' 1909
Above - A Postcard showing a scene from 'The Whip' 1909 Click here for more images and details of this production |
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A selection of interesting programmes for The Theatre Royal Drury Lane
Sins of Society 1907 - Centenary Programme of EveryWoman 1912 - Ben Hur 1902 - Pleasure 1897 Click the covers to see the programmes in detail |
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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.
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.
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. |
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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.
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. |
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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.
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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. |
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Right - Photograph of the Drury Lane auditorium before 1922 reconstruction. Note Horatio's 'two shilling Gallery' can be seen top left. Click to enlarge.
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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.
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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. |
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Right - Fragment of original wallpaper from Horatio's 'two shilling Gallery' which still survives in the Drury Lane roof void. M.L. 2004
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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. |
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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 |
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View from the roof
Above - 360 view of London from the roof of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane - Click to enlarge. |
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Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, bomb damage 1940
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.
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.
Above - The actual nosecap of the bomb, now displayed in the one of the Theatre's corridors. - M.L. 2004 |
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The Romance of London Theatres by Ronald Mayes No. 110. Drury Lane (1660-1809) From a London Pavilion Programme 1930
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.
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. |
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Working at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in the 1940s and 1950s by Alan Chudley
Right - Backstage at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
by Jimmy Needle - From the personal collection of Alec
Marlow - Courtesy Phil Davis. This article was kindly written for the site by Alan Chudley. |
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Plan of the Theatre
Above - Cross section of the Theatre from an architect's drawing
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The Basement
Above - Deep in the bowels of the Theatre are ancient passageways, |
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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. |
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A Cartoon
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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Adelphi Aldwych Apollo Apollo Victoria Arts Cambridge Comedy Criterion Dominion Drury Lane Duchess Duke Of Yorks Fortune Garrick Gielgud Haymarket Her Majesty's London Coliseum London Palladium Lyceum Lyric New Ambassadors New London Noel Coward / Albery Novello Old Vic Palace Peacock Phoenix Piccadilly Playhouse Prince Edward Prince of Wales Queen's Royal Opera House Savoy Shaftesbury St. Martin's Trafalgar Studios / Whitehall Vaudeville Victoria Palace Wyndham's |
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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.
A
production of outstanding merit in every way at Drury Lane was 'The
Armada,' produced in 
The
famous Bowls scene on Plymouth Hoe was reproduced—after the picture
by Seymour Lucas—and there was a perfectly marvellous reproduction
of the English Fleet fighting the Armada, which drew volleys of applause.
The little matter of defeating the Armada being over, the hero went
to Spain to get his girl. She was in the hands of the Inquisition and
was condemned to death. There she stood, in the next scene, tied to
the stake, with the howling populace all about her and the deadly torches
about to be applied to the pyre, whilst the priests chant the miserere.
And then, through the throng, burst the hero and his gallant crew. In
a fight they cut down the Spaniards and cut loose the girl. And so back
to England, with a knighthood for the hero from the sword of Queen Bess
and a pageant of her triumphant progress to St. Paul's—a happy
wedding —red fire—the final curtain and a delighted and enthusiastic
audience. No better piece of stagecraft was ever seen than that battle
with the Armada. To advertise this play Harris issued tens of thousands
of little metal coins, of brass, and about the size of sovereigns. On
one side it said '1588 The Armada 1888'—surrounded by the words
'Drury Lane Theatre Every Evening'. On the other there was a representation
of a sea fight, surrounded by the words `Augustus Harris, Lessee and
Manager 1888'. Thousands of those little 'coins' still exist and people
write to Drury Lane concerning them and ask if they have any value.
Except as curios, they have none. These words may reach the eyes of
those who may come across one—and are thus answered.
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.'
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.' 
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. 
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 
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.
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."
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 
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.
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.
