The history of the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh involves two sites. The first building, on
Princes Street, 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. This was opened 9 December 1769 by actor-manager
David Ross.
Mary Bulkley performed here during the 1780s.
[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Bulkley née Wilford; other married name Barresford, Mary, by John Levitt]
/ref> In July 1792 Harriet Pye Esten
Harriet Pye Esten or Harriet Pye Scott-Waring born Harriet Pye Bennett (1760s? – 1865) was an English actress and briefly a theatre manager.
Life
Esten was born in Tooting in or around the 1760s. She was the daughter of housekeeper Anna Maria ...
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 The theatre had been run by Stephen Kemble but he lost the rights to perform which were withdrawn by Esten's lover Douglas Hamilton, 8th Duke of Hamilton
Douglas Hamilton, 8th Duke of Hamilton, 5th Duke of Brandon and 2nd Baron Hamilton of Hameldon, (24 July 1756 – 2 August 1799) was a Scottish peer, nobleman, and politician.
Life
Hamilton was born at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the son of ...
. In 1794 Esten returned the rights to Stephen Kemble to perform in Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
in exchange for £200 a year.Henry Siddons
Henry Siddons (4 October 1774 – 12 April 1815) was an English actor and theatrical manager, now remembered as a writer on gesture.
Life
Siddons was the eldest child of Sarah Siddons, and was educated at Charterhouse School, being intended ...
. It went into a period of decline under his control, but following his death in 1815 was revived by his wife, Harriet Siddons
Harriet Siddons (née Murray; 16 April 1783 2 November 1844), sometimes known as Mrs Henry Siddons, was a Scottish actress and theatre manager.
Edinburgh referred to her as "Our" Mrs Siddons to distinguish her from her English mother-in-law ...
and her brother William Henry Murray
William Henry Wood Murray (1790–1852), a Scottish actor, manager and theatre owner in Edinburgh, was a friend of Walter Scott and particularly associated with dramatisations of Scott's Waverley (novel), Waverley Novels.
Life
Born in Bath, So ...
who controlled the theatre until 1851.
The theatre was at its peak from 1815 to 1850, and it was rebuilt in 1830.
The first theatre was demolished in 1859 to make way for the building of the General Post Office.
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
Robert Henry Wyndham (8 April 1814 – 16 December 1894) was a British actor-manager. From 1851 to 1875 he was actor-manager in Edinburgh, where notable plays of the day were performed and where Henry Irving's early career took place.
Early car ...
. 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 formed in Glasgow in 1895. From the 1920s Howard & Wyndham 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 ...
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.
References
External links
Playbills of the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh
from National Library of Scotland
Arthur Lloyd
{{Authority control
Theatres in Edinburgh
Former theatres in Scotland
1769 establishments in Scotland