Theatre Royal

The Broughton Street site had a long performance history, starting with a circus in 1788 which was followed by a theatre in 1793 and concert hall in 1812. The Royal Patent of the Shakespeare Square theatre was transferred to this site in 1809; between 1811 and 1815 it was mainly a concert hall. A succession of managements and changes of name was interrupted by a fire in 1853. Reopened in 1855 it was completely replaced by the Queen’s Theatre & Opera House in 1857.

The Queen’s was a fine building by David Bryce. It had its entrance in a curved corner with a balustraded balcony at second floor level and a giant Corinthian order rising through the upper two storeys to support a full entablature broken by a small niche which rose into an elaborate attic feature with terms and a crowning sculptural group. In the auditorium, the three tiers of boxes formed a semicircle rather than horseshoe, with ‘an ogee curve outwards’.

The theatre was rebuilt in 1865 after another fire and again, in the same circumstances, to the designs of C J Phipps in 1876. Phipps again rebuilt in 1844, following yet another fire which destroyed the stage. The final reconstruction occurred in 1935 and the last of the theatre’s many fires in 1946. Post-war restrictions on building ensured that it was never rebuilt.