Joseph Wyatt (1788 – 20 July 1860) was a theatre owner and manager, in the early years of theatre in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia.

Life

Wyatt became prosperous as a

haberdasher In British English, a haberdasher is a business or person who sells small articles for sewing, dressmaking and knitting, such as buttons, ribbons, and zippers; in the United States, the term refers instead to a retailer who sells men's clothing, ...

Pitt Street Pitt Street is a major street in the Sydney central business district in New South Wales, Australia. The street runs through the entire city centre from Circular Quay in the north to Waterloo, although today's street is in two disjointed sec ...

, Sydney, and in 1833 he sold the business and invested in property. From April 1835 he was one of six lessees of the Theatre Royal in George Street, the first commercial theatre in Sydney. From May 1836 he was sole lessee."Barnett Levey's Theatre Royal"
The Dictionary of Sydney. Retrieved 31 January 2019. Interior of the Royal Victoria Theatre

In 1836 he planned another, larger, theatre in Sydney, the Royal Victoria Theatre. The foundation stone was laid on 7 September of that year, and the new theatre in Pitt Street, , opened on 26 March 1838,"Royal Victoria Theatre (Sydney)"
Australian Variety Theatre Archive. Retrieved 31 January 2019. with William Dind co-manager. In the same year Wyatt bought the Theatre Royal from the widow of its owner

Barnett Levey Barnett Levey (1798 – 2 October 1837) was a Jewish English–Australian merchant and theatre director. Levey was born in London and migrated to Sydney in December 1821 as the first free Jewish settler. From 1826 Levey had joined concerts as a s ...

, who had died the previous year. That theatre burned down in 1840. The population of Sydney was small in relation to the size of the Royal Victoria Theatre, so that a proper repertoire could not be built up: there were frequent changes of programme, leading to poorly rehearsed performances. In March 1841 Wyatt sailed for England to recruit actors, returning in January 1843. The new actors engaged faced opposition from the Sydney actors, and the ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

'' commented on 25 January 1843: "Of the twelve brought out by him from England there is not one equal in ability to the leading members, male or female, of the old company". Wyatt eventually sacked some of his actors. In May 1843 he opened another, the City Theatre, on

Market Street Market Street may refer to: *Market Street, Cambridge, England *Market Street, Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia * Market Street, George Town, Penang, Malaysia *Market Street, Manchester, England *Market Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia ...

, adjacent the Crown and Anchor Inn (later Roberts's Hotel). It was previously a shop, but long enough to accommodate a stage and seating for a few hundred patrons. Several good productions were mounted there, but the theatre did not pay, and after a few years became an auction mart. Wyatt sold the Royal Victoria Theatre in 1854. He built a new theatre in Sydney, the Prince of Wales Theatre, on

Castlereagh Street Castlereagh Street is a major street located in the Sydney central business district in New South Wales, Australia. The street runs in a north-to-south, in a one way direction only. Description Castlereagh Street's northern terminus is at the ...

, at a cost of about £30,000. It had a dress circle, upper boxes and gallery, and was said to seat about 3,000. It opened on 12 March 1855."Prince of Wales Theatre"
The Dictionary of Sydney. Retrieved 31 January 2019. "It was soon apparent," wrote an obituarist, "that ''two'' theatres would ''not'' pay in Sydney... he was at length compelled to take the benefit of the Insolvent Act.""Music and Drama"
''

The Sydney Mail ''The Sydney Mail'' was an Australian magazine published weekly in Sydney. It was the weekly edition of ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' newspaper and ran from 1860 to 1938. History ''The Sydney Mail'' was first published on 17 July 1860 by Joh ...

'', 28 July 1860. Page 5. He sold the theatre at a heavy loss in 1858. He died on 20 July 1860, and was buried at

Camperdown Cemetery Camperdown Cemetery is an historic cemetery located on Church Street in Newtown, an inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The cemetery was founded in 1848 and was for twenty years the main general cemetery for Sydney, with the ...

. An obituarist wrote, "in his dealings with the public and the professionals during the twenty-five years he was connected with the theatres, emanaged to secure the respect of both".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyatt, Joseph 1788 births 1860 deaths Australian theatre owners Australian theatre managers and producers 19th-century Australian businesspeople