The Sans Souci Theatre was a 500-seat

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

located on Leicester Place, just off

Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester ...

in the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and London boroughs, borough in Inner London. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It occupies a large area of cent ...

. It was built in 1796 by

Charles Dibdin Charles Dibdin (before 4 March 1745 – 25 July 1814) was an English composer, musician, dramatist, novelist, singer and actor. With over 600 songs to his name, for many of which he wrote both the lyrics and the music and performed them himself, ...

, and replaced eponymous former music rooms he had leased for performances, off the Strand.'Leicester Square, North Side, and Lisle Street Area: Leicester Estate: Leicester Place', Survey of London: volumes 33 and 34: St Anne Soho (1966), pp. 480-86
Date accessed: 25 March 2007

History

Early years

Charles Dibdin, a dramatist, musician and painter, had leased rooms near Southampton Street, off the Strand for musical recitals. The lease on these premises came due, and Dibdin found a location on a newly built street near Leicester Square that better suited his purposes. This location was surrounded by three structures that were immediately able to fulfil the part of walls for his theatre; and the interior of his existing rooms filled the space between perfectly. This enabled the new theatre to be built in only twelve weeks, to his personal design and supervision, at a cost of £6,000. The opening night was on 8 October 1796. The theatre was simple but elegant, with some of the interior decoration by Dibdin himself. Charles Dibdin by Thomas Phillips

From 1796 to 1804, Dibdin gave three performances a week, playing and singing his songs and performing in his plays and other entertainments (especially his entertainment, ''The Whim of the Moment''). He wrote about 1,000 songs for the theatre, especially patriotic songs that inspired naval personnel during the naval war with France.Information about Dibdin and the theatre
/ref> Frederick Schirmer obtained a licence for the performance of 'Musical and Dramatical Interludes in the German Language' for one year from 22 June 1805. Schirmer called the theatre ''The German Theatre''.

Henry Francis Greville Lt-Col. Henry Francis Greville (10 August 1760 – 13 January 1816) was a British impresario. Early life and military career He was the son of Member of Parliament Fulke Greville and poet Frances Greville. In 1777 he was appointed an ensign in the ...

obtained another one-year licence for 'Plays and Entertainments performed by Children' in March 1806. He called the theatre ''The Academical Theatre''.

Decline

On 4 July 1807 Dibdin leased the premises to Thomas Cane of the Strand,

hosier Hosiery, also referred to as legwear, describes garments worn directly on the feet and legs. The term originated as the collective term for products of which a maker or seller is termed a hosier; and those products are also known generically as h ...

, for sixty three years at an annual rent of £298. Dibdin, himself, subsequently became involved in financial difficulties and died in 1814. From 1808 to 1828, the rate books show that the premises were occupied as a warehouse by B. Carder and Company, army clothiers and tailors. In the early 1830s the theatre and shop appear to have been occupied by a Mr. Smythson, a dramatic agent and theatrical general

factotum Factotum may refer to: *A handyman, employed as a servant * ''Factotum'' (novel), a 1975 novel by Charles Bukowski * ''Factotum'' (film), a 2005 film adaptation of the novel *Factotum (arts organisation), an arts organisation based in Belfast *fact ...

. From 1832, occasional benefit and other performances were given, the theatre being sometimes called the ''Sans Souci'' and sometimes the ''Vaudeville Subscription Theatre''. The rate books for this period give the occupant as Benjamin Palmer, but in 1835 he is described as 'Lost Insolvent'. In the following year the theatre was bought by Isaac Newton, a linen draper occupying adjoining premises in Leicester Square, who intended to use it as an annex to his shop. In 1841 it was occupied by a restaurateur, and from 1844 to 1857 the premises were known as the ''Hôtel de Versailles''. The theatre was finally demolished in or before 1898, when ''Victory House'', the headquarters of the NSPCC, was erected on the site.

Notes

{{Reflist

References

*Mander, Raymond & Mitchenson, Joe. ''The Lost Theatres of London''. New York: Taplinger Publishing Company: 1968.
'Leicester Square, North Side, and Lisle Street Area: Leicester Estate: Leicester Place', Survey of London: volumes 33 and 34
St Anne Soho (1966), pp. 480–86, Date accessed: 25 March 2007 *Dibdin, Charles, ''The Professional Life of Mr. Dibdin written by Himself'', 1803, vol. IV.

External links

Images of the exterior and interior of the theatre
Theatres completed in 1796 1807 disestablishments in England Former theatres in London Former buildings and structures in the City of Westminster 1796 establishments in England