Theatre Royal, Edinburgh
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The history of the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh involves two sites. The first building, on
Princes Street Princes Street () is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland and the main shopping street in the capital. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town, Edinburgh, New Town, stretching around 1.2 km (three quar ...
, opened 1769 and was rebuilt in 1830 by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd. The second site was on Broughton Street.


History

The first Theatre Royal was in Shakespeare Square, at the east end of
Princes Street Princes Street () is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland and the main shopping street in the capital. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town, Edinburgh, New Town, stretching around 1.2 km (three quar ...
. This was opened 9 December 1769 by actor-manager David Ross. Mary Bulkley performed here during the 1780s. In July 1792 Harriet Pye Esten became the theatre manager when she purchased the lease. The theatre had been run by Stephen Kemble but he lost the rights to perform which were withdrawn by Esten's lover Douglas Hamilton, 8th Duke of Hamilton. In 1794 Esten returned the rights to Stephen Kemble to perform in
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
in exchange for £200 a year. In 1809 the theatre was taken over by
Sarah Siddons Sarah Siddons (''née'' Kemble; 5 July 1755 – 8 June 1831) was a Welsh actress, the best-known Tragedy, tragedienne of the 18th century. Contemporaneous critic William Hazlitt dubbed Siddons as "tragedy personified". She was the elder siste ...
's actor son, Henry Siddons. It went into a period of decline under his control, but following his death in 1815 was revived by his wife, Harriet Siddons who took a 21-year lease from 1809 until 1830, then becoming outright owner and leasing to her brother William Henry Murray from 1830 until 1851. The first theatre was closed in 1859 to make way for the building of the General Post Office (which survives but is converted to office use) whose foundation was laid by Prince Albert in October 1861. The theatre was taken over by R H Wyndham around 1860. The royal patent and title was then transferred to the Queen's Theatre and Operetta House in a site in Broughton Street, on an earlier Circus (previously the Adelphi Theatre). The manager of the theatre was Robert Henry Wyndham. It burned down and was rebuilt in 1865, 1875, and 1884, each time retaining the patent. The last architect was Charles Phipps when in 1884 it was leased to Cecil Beryl of the Princess's Theatre, Glasgow. This Theatre Royal became part of
Howard & Wyndham Ltd Howard & Wyndham Ltd was a theatre owning, production and management company named after John B. Howard and Frederick W. P. Wyndham, founded in Glasgow in 1895, and which became the largest of its type in Britain. The company continued well into the ...
formed in Glasgow in 1895. From the 1920s Howard & Wyndham leased it out to Fred Collins, lessee of Glasgow's Pavilion Theatre, as the Theatre Royal Varieties, with the Collins family establishing its wardrobe and production centre adjacent. It was destroyed by fire in 1946 and not rebuilt only due to post-war shortages of building materials.


Notable productions

Edmund John Eyre's dramatic adaptation of
Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...
's narrative poem '' The Lady of the Lake'' (1810) was staged at the Theatre Royal in 1811.Watson, Nicola J. 'Holiday romances; or, Loch Katrine and the literary tourist', in Brown, Ian (ed.) (2012), ''Literary Tourism, the Trossachs and Walter Scott'',
Association for Scottish Literary Studies The Association for Scottish Literary Studies (ASLS) is a Scottish educational charitable organization, charity, founded in 1970 to promote and support the teaching, study and writing of Scottish literature. Its founding members included the Sco ...
, Glasgow, pp. 56 - 69,


References


External links


Playbills of the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh
from
National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS; ; ) is one of Scotland's National Collections. It is one of the largest libraries in the United Kingdom. As well as a public programme of exhibitions, events, workshops, and tours, the National Library of ...

Arthur Lloyd
{{Authority control Theatres in Edinburgh Former theatres in Scotland 1769 establishments in Scotland