The Theatre Royal was a

patent theatre The patent theatres were the theatres that were licensed to perform "spoken drama" after the Restoration of Charles II as King of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1660. Other theatres were prohibited from performing such "serious" drama, but ...

located in

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

, Ireland.

History

The Theatre Royal had already existed in 1750s, but it was moved from its original location near today's Princes Street to the Pembroke Street building by the local actor Spranger Barry in 1760. It was modelled on the Crow Street Theatre,

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. In 1766 when he left for London, Barry controversially left his son Thomas Barry as manager of the theatre, but his tenure lasted for less than a year. The theatre was destroyed by fire on

April Fool's Day April Fools' Day or April Fool's Day (rarely called All Fools' Day) is an annual custom on the 1st of April consisting of practical jokes, hoaxes, and pranks. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fool " at the recipient. Mas ...

1840. In 1853 it was rebuilt, and in the 1860s it was refurbished under the direction of Sir John Benson, and re-opened on 26 December 1867. In 1875 the theatre was sold to the postal service and Cork's GPO opened on the site in 1877. The last three plays performed were James Sheridan Knowles' '' Virginius'';

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

''; and John Wilson's ''Belphegor''.

Description

An 1867 description from the ''

Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'', founded by Herbert Ingram and first published on Saturday 14 May 1842, was the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. The magazine was published weekly for most of its existence, switched to a less freq ...

'':

References

Theatres in Cork (city) Theatres completed in 1760 1760 establishments in Ireland Organisations based in Cork (city) {{Ireland-theat-struct-stub