Theater Royal Haymarket

Full-page advertisement in the London Illustrated Almanac from 1872

Theater Royal Haymarket, around 1900

Haymarket Theater about 1910

The Theater Royal Haymarket (also Haymarket Theater ) is a theater on London's Haymarket .

history

It was founded by John Potter in 1720 as the Little Theater , alluding to the larger King's Theater (now Her Majesty's Theater ), which was also located on Haymarket. Played by changing theater troupes, there was greater success from 1729. In 1731 the theater was closed after the performance of a politically controversial play and reopened in 1734.

After the Licensing Act of 1737, the Little Theater could no longer perform spoken theater and switched to other entertainment. In 1766 the operator Samuel Foote was granted a license to perform during the summer months when the Patent Theaters were closed.

In 1820 the last performance took place in the Little Theater building. It was replaced the following year by a larger theater designed by John Nash in the neighborhood, which still exists today. 1847-1853 various structural changes were made, in 1871 the interior was refurbished by George Somers Clarke (1822-1882). In 1880 the auditorium was completely rebuilt by Charles John Phipps (1835-1897), in 1905 the interior was rebuilt by Charles Stanley Peach (1858-1934) and Stanley Davenport Adshead (1868-1946). The last renovation took place in 1994.

The theater has 888 seats. The lot it stands on is part of the Crown Estate .

Surname

The theater is often misunderstood as the Haymarket Theater or Theater Haymarket . In fact, the theater is called the Theater Royal . Haymarket is an additional location to distinguish the theater from the theater of the same name. In London there are or were two other theaters called Theater Royal , on the one hand the Theater Royal Drury Lane and the Theater Royal Covent Garden , the predecessor of the Royal Opera House .

Current display

The musical Sweet Charity has been performed since May 4, 2010 .

Important world premieres

• Henrik Ibsen : Master Builder Solneß (December 7, 1892)
• Oscar Wilde : A Woman Without Matter (April 19, 1893)
• Henrik Ibsen: Klein Eyolf (December 3, 1894)
• Henrik Ibsen: When We Dead Awake (December 16, 1899)
• William Somerset Maugham : The Circle (1921)

Web links

Commons : Theater Royal Haymarket  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• The theater website (English)

Coordinates: 51 ° 30 ′ 31 ″  N , 0 ° 7 ′ 54 ″  W.