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_____________________________________________________________________________________________ Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Main Entrance now on Catherine Street, Westminster, London
Above - The Theatre Royal Drury Lane in March 2007 during production for the London Premier of 'The Lord Of The Rings' - The Theatre will be home to Lionel Bart's 'Oliver' later in the year with Rowan Atkinson as Fagin, previewing from the 12th of December 2008 and opening on the 14th of January 2009.
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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. 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.
Left - An original Bill
for 'Bride of Abydos,' and 'Midnight Hour' with Edmund
Kean at the fourth and present Theatre Royal, Drury 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 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. |
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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. The Theatre is currently owned and run by Really Useful Theatres. 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. T.C. King, Father in law to Arthur Lloyd, and my Great Great Grandfather was a Drury Lane Tragedian in the mid 1800s. I often work at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane myself and my other 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 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 - Ancient substage machinery which used hydraulics to lift and lower the stage in various ways, no longer functional but Grade I listed. Click to see more substage photos.
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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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Above - 360 view of London from the roof of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane - Click to enlarge. |
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Below are a selection of interesting programmes for The Theatre Royal Drury Lane - Click the covers to see details.
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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 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. This article was kindly written for the site by Alan Chudley. |
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Above - Cross section of the Theatre from an architect's drawing
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Above - Deep in the bowels of the Theatre are ancient passageways, |
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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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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
Forth and present Theatre was designed by Benjamin Wyatt and opened
in 
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.
