Royalty Theatre, Corner of Sauchiehall Street and Renfield Street, Glasgow - Later, The Lyric Picture Palace / The Lyric Theatre

The Music Hall and Theatre History Website		Homepage - Site index - Contact me

___________________________________________________________________________________________ The Royalty Theatre, on the corner of Sauchiehall Street and Renfield Street, Glasgow Later - The Lyric Picture Palace / The Lyric Theatre Glasgow Index Above - The Royalty Theatre, Glasgow when in use as a Cinema showing silent films under the name of The Lyric Picture Palace, Circa 1914 - Courtesy Graeme Smith
The ROYALTY THEATRE, on Sauchiehall Street at the corner of Renfield Street, came into existence in 1879 because, two blocks away, the Theatre Royal, Hope Street, Cowcaddens went on fire in February that year. The Central Halls Company was building its complex of offices, shops and a hall, all designed by the architect James Thomson, and got approval to include a theatre, starting on the first floor, which opened in December 1879. It was designed by a young Frank Matcham, one of his first commissions. Right - Poster for Horatio and Arthur Lloyd, and Katty King, at the Royalty Theatre, Glasgow in 1884. Click to Enlarge. The poster is one of a large collection of original Lloyd Posters collected since the mid 1800s by members of the family and found recently after being lost for 50 years. To see all these posters see the Poster Index here... The first lessee, for six years, was Edward Knapp, former manager of the Theatre Royal, and the Royalty became famous for its comedies, plays and opera and thrived in contrast to the Theatre Royal, which reopened in 1880. The second lessees from December 1885 were Mr Howard and Mr Wyndham who ran the Edinburgh Royal Lyceum from 1883 and Newcastle Theatre Royal, also from 1883. The theatre switched to electricity in February 1888 a few years after the larger and luxurious Gaiety in Sauchiehall Street which competed with a quality fare of pantomimes, plays and opera. The Royalty was one of the four founding theatres of Howard & Wyndham Ltd when the company was created by Michael Simons at the revived Theatre Royal in 1895. The Royalty continued as the main Glasgow base of The D`Oyly Carte Opera, and from 1909 added to its fare fixed seasons each year of repertory plays performed by the newly formed Scottish Playgoers Ltd., led by Alfred Wareing. When Howard & Wyndham`s lease ended in 1913 the Central Halls Company showed silent films using the name Lyric Picture Palace. Left - Programme cover for the Royalty Theatre in 1882 - Courtesy Graeme Smith. During World War I the Glasgow United YMCA bought the whole Royalty complex, making it a Hostel for Soldiers and Sailors, and after the war restarted the theatre as the LYRIC THEATRE, with its own Lyric Orchestra under the auspices of the YMCA. Although small in size it was a favourite of professional and amateur companies until it was demolished at the end of the 1950s.
The above text was written and kindly sent for inclusion on the site by Graeme Smith, and is from his new book 'THE THEATRE ROYAL: Entertaining a Nation', Details here... Horatio Lloyd, Arthur Lloyd's Father, and Katty King, Arthur's wife, are known to have performed here 1884.