This
theatre stood in the East Strand,
near the old Globe. The two playhouses were
back to back, and were known as the Rickety Twins. It was badly built
and was probably erected in the hope of compensation when the expected
improvements led to the replanning and rebuilding of the district
around. It had as entrance long narrow tunnels from three thoroughfares,
and was frequently referred to as Theatre Royal, Tunnels. It was so
draughty that the audience could not sit in comfort, and many of them
caught cold.
Right - Programme for the Opera Comique - Circa 1885
- Click for details.
In case of fire its stairs would have occasioned much
loss of life, but, like its companion the Globe,
it was never burned down, for which playgoers of the time had much
reason to be grateful. Its very name was a mistake, for the public
did not take to a foreign title. It opened in 1871,
with a musical play, based on Moliere and called by the clumsy title
of 'The Doctor in Spite of Himself', with music by D'Oyly Carte, which
was a failure. Then the company of the Comedie-Francaise, driven from
Paris by the Franco-Prussian war, played there, their first appearance
outside France in the whole of their history. In 1873
Ristori appeared there, and then followed the famous Gilbert and Sullivan
partnership, which had started at the Royalty
with 'Trial by Jury'. In Nov. 1877
appeared The Sorcerer, followed by H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of
Penzance, and Patience, which was later transferred to D'Oyly Carte's
new theatre, the Savoy. With this the
short heyday of the theatre closed, and the last production was seen
there in 1899.
Text from The Oxford Companion To
The Theatre, 1st Edition - 1951
The
principal front of the "Opera Comique" is in the Strand,
and observant passengers who know the narrowness of the area between
the Strand and Holywell Street will find it difficult to imagine how,
even in London, where now-a-days theatres are edged in among houses
anyhow, an " Opera Comique" can have been formed there.
This frontage, however, is, in truth, nothing but the entrance to
a passage which leads across Holywell Street to a theatre that has
been built between that and Wych Street.
The building, which is, very small, backs on the "Globe,"
and is to a considerable 'extent underground, as will be understood
when we mention that a long flight of stairs in Wych Street leads
down to the stage level, and that the pit, of course, is lower than
that again. The theatre was, opened in 1870,
and has seen several changes of lessees. It is nicely decorated, and
commodiously arranged. Its greatest prosperity has been in the production
of those comic operas with which the names of Messrs. Gilbert and
Sullivan are popularly associated, notably "H. M. S. Pinafore,"
and "The Pirates of Penzance."
Text from 'Old And New London' 1897
Left - Programme for 'Joan Of Arc' at the Opera Comique
in 1891 - Courtesy Ken Claydon
- Click to see entire
Programme.
This
theatre was demolished when London's Aldwych, named after the Old
Wych Street, was constructed. This vast
operation began in the last years of the nineteenth century and was
not finally completed until after the First World War. Four theatres
were demolished during the early stages of the work. The Olympic
Theatre in Wych Street and the Opera
Comique in the Strand were closed in 1899,
the Globe Theatre in Newcastle Street shut
its doors in 1902. This was
followed by the closure of the Gaiety Theatre
in the Strand in June of the same
year.
