The Theatre Royal, Exeter was the name of several

theatres Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communica ...

situated in the

city centre A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the Commerce, commercial, Culture, cultural and often the historical, Politics, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely e ...

of Exeter, Devon, England in the United Kingdom.

Early theatres and fires

The name "Theatre Royal" was first applied in Exeter by the mid-1830s to what had previously been the Bedford Circus Theatre, in premises dating from 1821. This theatre building was a replacement for one of 1787 which had burnt down the previous year. This building was completely gutted by fire in 1885. Although it was reconstructed for other purposes, the name "Theatre Royal" was transferred to new premises on the corner of Longbrook Street and New North Road. The new theatre was built by the Exeter Theatre Company to the designs of C. J. Phipps and opened in 1886.

Fire disaster

The theatre is best remembered for the disaster during a dramatisation of ''Romany Rye'' (a melodrama by Wilson Barrett) on 5 September 1887, which became the worst theatre fire in British history. Fire broke out backstage where

gas lighting Gas lighting is the production of artificial light from combustion of a fuel gas such as methane, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, coal gas (town gas) or natural gas. The light is produced either directly by ...

ignited some gauze. The number of exits from the gallery of the auditorium proved to be inadequate and in the resultant panic amongst the audience 186 people died. A national appeal for donations for the victims’ families raised £20,763 and the event was influential in the introduction of safety precautions for public buildings. There is a

memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects such as home ...

to those who died in the fire in Higher Cemetery, Heavitree, made by local sculptor Harry Hems.

The last theatre

The Theatre Royal was rebuilt, opening in 1889 with a performance of '' The Yeomen of the Guard'' by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. The new building had lighting by electricity and a safety curtain. During its lifetime the theatre presented melodrama,

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

and ballet as well as drama. Every Christmas of its 20th century existence saw a pantomime. For a period in the 1950s it showed

CinemaScope CinemaScope is an anamorphic format, anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its cr ...

films. The Theatre Royal was closed in 1962 and demolished to be replaced by an office block. Although attempts to save it were unsuccessful, they did lead to creation of the

Northcott Theatre The Northcott Theatre is a theatre situated on the Streatham Campus of the University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon, England. It opened in 1967 and was run until 2010 by the Northcott Theatre Foundation, when the company ceased operating after a pe ...

Early theatres and fires

Fire disaster

The last theatre

References

Further reading