The Queen's Theatre was a London theatre established in 1867 on the site of St Martin's Hall, a large concert room that had opened in 1850. It stood on the corner of Long Acre (formerly Charles Street) and Endell Street, with entrances in Wilson Street and Long Acre. The site is within the modern Camden, part of

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

.Walter Thornbury ''Old and New London: A Narrative of its History, its People and its Places. Illustrated with Numerous Engravings from the Most Authentic Sources.: Volume 3''
accessed 1 April 2008 St Martin's Hall contained a 3,000-seat main hall and a 500-seat lecture hall. It was used for musical recitals, lectures and political meetings. The Queen's Theatre, one of the largest in London, had a capacity of 4,000 seats. The theatre closed after barely more than a decade, in 1878. The name Queen's Theatre has been used for other theatres in central London, including the Queen's Theatre, Dorset Garden (from 1685 to 1705), His Majesty's Theatre (from 1705 to 1714), Scala Theatre (during the period 1831–1865) and the modern Queen's Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue (since 1907).

History

St Martin's Hall

St Martin's Hall was built for John Hullah, in 1847, by William Cubitt, from a design by Richard Westmacott. The scheme was financed by subscription and it was built on a parallelogram of land, by wide, connected to a plot on Long Acre ( by ); and consisted of a main hall with connected anterooms, galleries and a 500-seat lecture hall. It was built in the Elizabethan style, with a large domed iron roof. The music hall was capable of seating 3,000 persons and was opened in 1850 by Hullah, the founder of a new "school of choral harmony". In addition to his singing classes, Hullah directed oratorios and concerts, both instrumental and vocal, at the hall. The hall was then used for musical recitals, lectures and political meetings. The German Reed Entertainments were initially presented here in 1855 – known as "Miss P. Horton's Illustrative Gatherings" – before moving to the more intimate Gallery of Illustration and later St George's Hall.

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

first appeared as a public lecturer in St Martin's Hall, in April, 1858, speaking on behalf of the Hospital for Sick Children, in Great Ormond Street. A week or two later, he spoke on his own account. On 26 August 1860, a fire broke out in a nearby coach factory and the hall was destroyed, together with its organ. The hall was rebuilt as a concert hall, opening in 1862. The

First International The International Workingmen's Association (IWA; 1864–1876), often called the First International, was a political international which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, social democratic, communist, and anarchist ...

was founded in St Martin's Hall in 1864. The final musical entertainment was given in 1867.

Queen's theatre

In 1867, a 4,000-seat theatre was built within the shell of the existing building by C. J. Phipps for Henry Labouchère and his partners, with interior decoration by Albert Moore and Telbin. A new company of players was formed, including Charles Wyndham,

Henry Irving Sir Henry Irving (6 February 1838 – 13 October 1905), christened John Henry Brodribb, sometimes known as J. H. Irving, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility ( ...

, J. L. Toole, Lionel Brough, Ellen Terry and Henrietta Hodson. The theatre opened as the New Queen's Theatre, with a production of Charles Reade's ''The Double Marriage'' on 24 October 1867. An early success was ''Dearer Than Life'', by H. J. Byron, with Brough, Toole, Wyndham, Hodson and Irving, coupled with W. S. Gilbert's '' La Vivandière'', a

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

of '' La fille du régiment''. The theatre continued with melodrama, adaptions and classic revivals, dropping the epithet 'new' the following year. Turn-of-the-tide

Initially, the management was run by the actor Alfred Wigan, who also appeared in its productions. By 1868, Hodson and Labouchère were living together out of wedlock, as they could not marry until her first husband finally died in 1887. Labouchère bought out his partners and used the theatre to showcase Hodson's talents. The theatre hosted comedies, such as F. C. Burnand's ''The Turn of the Tide'' (1869, starring Hermann Vezin and George Rignold with Hodson), historical dramas, such as

Tom Taylor Tom Taylor (19 October 1817 – 12 July 1880) was an English dramatist, critic, biographer, public servant, and editor of Punch (magazine), ''Punch'' magazine. Taylor had a brief academic career, holding the professorship of English literatu ...

's ''Twixt Axe and Crown'' (1870), popular revivals of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

(starring such famous actors as Samuel Phelps) and Tommaso Salvini, dramatisations of Dickens novels, burlesques and

extravaganza An extravaganza is a literary or musical work (often musical theatre) usually containing elements of Victorian burlesque, and pantomime, in a spectacular production and characterized by freedom of style and structure. The term is derived from th ...

s. Although the theatre was among the largest and best equipped in London, and featured some of London's most famous stars, it lacked the guidance of an actor-manager of the stature of

or Herbert Beerbohm Tree. In 1877, the theatre became the National Theatre and hosted a series of promenade concerts under Riviere and Alfred Cellier followed by an ambitious dramatisation of '' The Last Days of Pompeii'' ( Lord Lytton's eponymous novel) that was meant to feature a staged eruption of Vesuvius, an earthquake and a sybriatic Roman feast. However, the earth did not quake, the volcano did not erupt, acrobats fell onto the cast below, and the production was an expensive flop. The same year, the theatre was joined by overhead wires to the Canterbury Music Hall in

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger) London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charin ...

, and public demonstrations of the Cromwell Varley telephone were given. Several simple tunes were transmitted and emitted softly from a large drum-like apparatus suspended over the proscenium.''London and Londoners in the Eighteen-Fifties and Sixties''
Alfred Rosling Bennett (1924) Chapter 44 ''The Drama'' (The Victorian Dictionary) accessed 1 April 2008 The theatre was open for little more than a decade, closing in April 1878. The interior was converted into a department store for the "Clerical Co-operative Society" and later occupied by the Odhams Press. The façade remained until redeveloped into a residential block in the 1970s.

Notes

References

*Earl, John and Michael Sell. ''Guide to British Theatres 1750–1950'', pp. 249 (Theatres Trust, 2000) *Sherson, Erroll. ''London's Lost Theatres of the Nineteenth Century'', Chapter IX (Ayer Publishing, 1925) {{ISBN, 0-405-08969-4
''Queen's Theatre''
(Arthur Lloyd theatre history site)

External links

Entertainment in London Former theatres in London Former buildings and structures in the London Borough of Camden 1847 establishments in England Theatres completed in 1850 1879 disestablishments in England Charles J. Phipps buildings Covent Garden