Theater Royal (Birmingham)

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Theater Royal
The Theater Royal 1780
location
Address: New Street
City: Birmingham
Coordinates: 52 ° 28 ′ 45 ″  N , 1 ° 54 ′ 1 ″  W Coordinates: 52 ° 28 ′ 45 ″  N , 1 ° 54 ′ 1 ″  W
Architecture and history
Opened: 1774
Spectator: 2000 places
Architects: Saul (first construction), George Saunders and Charles Norton (reconstruction 1794), Samuel Beazley (reconstruction 1820)
 
  • Demolished in 1956
  • Old name "New Street Theater"
Das Theater, c. 1774–1779, watercolor, attributed to Hubert Cornish
Theater poster announcing January 1845

The Theater Royal , until 1807 the New Street Theater , or New Theater for short , was a 2,000-seat theater on New Street in Birmingham , England . It opened on June 20, 1774 and demolished in December 1956.

First construction

The first theater was commissioned by Richard Yates for £ 4,000 and built by architect Thomas Saul . The auditorium offered space for around 2,000 people. As can be seen in an early drawing, the theater was built as a rear extension of the existing "Shakespeare Tavern". The Shakespeare Tavern, also called "Bragg's Vaults" after its owner dynasty, survived all subsequent theater fires and was finally demolished in 1902. She also changed places. The tavern was initially on the front of the theater, later it was behind or under the building.

Second theater

On August 17, 1792, the theater largely burned out. Only the new facade and portico , added in 1780 by the architect Samuel Wyatt , remained. The reason was assumed to be arson, as attempts had previously been made to set fire to the building. The reconstruction took place quickly. The name of the house previously known only as "New (Street) Theater" was renamed Theater Royal on August 1, 1807 after it was granted a Royal Patent .

Third theater

On the night of January 6th to 7th, 1820, the theater burned again. The first alarm was sounded at one o'clock after guests returning home to a nearby celebration noticed the flames breaking out of the building. At three o'clock the roof collapsed. One suspected cause was that the cotton wool soaked with light explosives from the theater muskets , which was used in the Pizarro drama, which was still on that evening , could have triggered the fire by spontaneous combustion . However, an arson was ultimately assumed. No one was injured during the fire, but during the reconstruction work, a horizontal cast-iron cross member broke in the remaining roof area at the level of the stage. The falling components injured several construction workers, one of them fatally. It was then decided to continue the construction work without the use of heat-sensitive cast iron beams. The remaining cast iron supports were removed. In 1885 the tower of the Schnürboden was replaced by a new construction. Another interior renovation took place in 1889. This included a new wallpapering of the balconies and upholstery of all seats and a carpet was laid in the parquet.

Fourth theater

The Shakespeare plaque from the original front of the Theater Royal

In 1902 the theater was completely demolished, and with it the Shakespeare Tavern, which had existed since the first theater was built and also before. Only two large Coade stone medallions remain from the front of the theater, depicting David Garrick (on the left of the viewer) and William Shakespeare . They are on display in the Library of Birmingham .

The new building that has now been completed was designed by the architect Ernest Runtz (1859–1913) with a new facade in Adam style. The cost was £ 50,000. The client was the Theater Royal Birmingham Ltd. On December 16, 1904, the new house was opened with a production of the pantomime 'Babes in the Wood', a children's fairy tale. The auditorium of the new Theater Royal was designed with four levels, parquet floors and three balconies and had a capacity of 2,200 people. The stage was 14 meters deep and 22 meters wide and the orchestra pit held 17 musicians. The building is five stories high, with a street height of around 18 meters and a total height between 21 and 22 meters. The main walls were made of red brick, decorative elements were made of Bath Stone in the semiclassical style of the time of George III. manufactured. There was a colonnade with four shops. The seven meter wide main entrance opened the way to the box office and from there it went left and right to the parquet spaces, balconies and 18 boxes. There were also other entrances and exits. The colors of the interior were green, white and gold.

The theater gave free shows for wounded soldiers during the First World War. 30,000 veterans were able to enjoy this. The theater also remained open during the Second World War.

Final demolition

The last performance was given on the evening of December 15, 1956 with a piece by the musical and comedic theater group (Concert Party) Fol-de-Rolls . A member of the troupe, Howarth Nuttall , later said of it, "They started tearing down the theater in the background while the show was on." The Mayor of Birmingham Ald. EW Apps gave the farewell speech and shortly afterwards the building was completely demolished. A Woolworth department store was built on the site of the Theater Royal between 1958 and 1964, but it now houses various other shops. New Street is now also a restricted traffic area at this point .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b theater history on arthurlloyd.co.uk
  2. ^ Part of the old plan drawing of the theater in the Harvard University library
  3. ^ World Newspaper, August 17, 1792
  4. ^ John Alfred Langford in 'A Century of Birmingham Life or A Chronicle of Local Events from 1741 to 1841' Volume 2, pp. 260-261 online
  5. ^ Pizarro, play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan based on "The Spaniards in Peru" or "Rolla's Tod" by August von Kotzebue . Romantic tragedy in five acts. Leipzig 1796
  6. ^ Report of the Scottish newspaper Caledonian Mercury (1720–1867) of January 13, 1820
  7. ^ Newcastle Courant of May 27, 1820.
  8. ^ Building News and Engineering Journal of November 25, 1904
  9. ↑ Birmingham Post, December 17, 1956

literature