Surrey Theatre
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The Surrey Theatre began life in 1782 as the Royal Circus and Equestrian Philharmonic Academy, one of the many circuses that provided contemporary London entertainment of both horsemanship and drama. It stood in Blackfriars Road, in the London Borough of Lambeth, which was then an entertainment centre.
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[edit] History
The Royal Circus was opened on 4 November 1782 by the composer and song writer, Charles Dibdin (who coined the word "circus")[1], aided by Charles Hughes, a well-known equestrian performer. The entertainments were at first performed by children with the goal of its being a nursery for young actors. Delphini, a celebrated buffo, became manager in 1788 and produced a spectacle including a real stag-hunt. Other animal acts followed, including the popular dog act Gelert and Victor, lecture pieces, pantomimes and local spectacles. The popular comedian, John Palmer, then ruled at the theatre until 1789[2].
It continued in use until 1810, although it had a troubled existence, being burnt down in 1799 and 1805. Rebuilt in 1806 by the Italian architect of the Old Vic, Rudolph Cabanel, it was converted into a theatre by Robert Elliston, who gave it the name by which it was thereafter known. Elliston determined to perform Shakespeare and other plays. To avoid trouble with the law, which did not allow dialogue to be spoken without musical accompaniment except at two patent theatres (reviewers noted that the Lambeth streets teemed with prostitutes), he put a ballet into every such production,[3] including Macbeth, Hamlet, and Farquhar's The Beaux' Stratagem.
Elliston left in 1814, and the Surrey became a circus again until Thomas Dibdin reopened it as a theatre in 1816. The arena where the equestrian exercises had been displayed was converted into a large pit for spectators, and the stables became saloons[4]. Fanny Fitzwilliam and Sally Brook starred in melodramas, but the theatre had little success overall. John Baldwin Buckstone made his first London appearance at the theatre, on January 30, 1823, as Ramsay in The Fortunes of Nigel. George Holland also appeared at the theatre, in 1826.
When Elliston returned in 1827, the theatre's fortunes changed, with the production on 8 June 1829 of Douglas Jerrold's melodrama Black-Ey'd Susan, which with T. P. Cooke as William, the nautical hero, had a run of over 300 nights (which was extraordinarily successful for the time). Elliston himself made his last appearance at this theatre on 24 June 1831, twelve days before he died. Osbaldiston then took over, and among other plays produced Edward Fitzball's Jonathan Bradford; or, the Murder at the Roadside Inn, which ran for 260 nights. Productions of Dickens dramas, among others, followed. Ira Aldridge, the first successful black actor, appeared here in the 1840s[5]. C. Z. Barnett's adaptation, A Christmas Carol; or, The Miser's Warning played in 1844. Richard Shepherd, who succeeded Alfred Bunn in 1848, remained at the theatre until 1869 and established its reputation for 'rough-and-tumble' transpontine melodrama.
On 30 Jan. 1865 the theatre was burnt down, but a new theatre, seating 2,161 people in four tiers, opened on 26 Dec. 1865. Little of note took place until 1881, when George Conquest took over, staging sensational dramas, many of them written by himself, which proved extremely popular, and each Christmas an excellent pantomime.
The Surrey prospered until his death in 1901, but thereafter went rapidly downhill, along with the rest of the Lambeth entertainment district (except for the Old Vic), until in 1920 it became a cinema. It finally closed in 1924, and the building was demolished in 1934.
[edit] References
- Arthur Lloyd music hall & theatre history
- "Blackfriars Road: The Surrey Theatre and Surrey Chapel" in Old and New London: Volume 6 (1878), pp. 368-83. Accessed on 03 March 2007.
- Information about local entertainments, including the Surrey
- Profile of the theatre
- Article about the theatre, requires registration
- From the Oxford Companion to Theatre 4th edition 1983
[edit] External links
[edit] Further reading
- Knight, William G. A Major London 'Minor': The Surry Theatre 1805-1865. London: STR, 1997.
- Shepherd, Thomas Hosmer and James Elmes, Metropolitan Improvements; Or London in the Nineteenth Century London: Jones & Co. (1827-1831); Reissued, New York: Benjamin Blom (1968), pp. 134 et. seq. ISBN 0405089635
- Raymond, George. Memoirs of Robert William Elliston, Comedian. Olivier (1946)[6]
