London Haymarket Theatre

There’s been a theatre in a part of the Haymarket since 1720. The first one was called The Little Theatre in the Haymarket. The present theatre was designed by John Nash and opened in 1821. It was designed so that the front Corinthian portico could be seen from St James Square. The auditorium was rebuilt twice. The first time it was rebuilt was in 1979 (reopened on January 31, 1880). The interior then was completely reconstructed 15 years later (reopened on January 2, 1905) and the 1905 theatre is the one that is seen today. More alterations were made between 1939 to 1941 which included; the construction of the large bar area under the stalls seating area. In 1994 about 1.3 million dollars was spent in a major reconstruction of the theatre. In the 1730s Henry Fielding produced a number of satires that attacked both political parties and the Royal Family which so incensed the government of the day that censorship of plays by the Lord Chamberlain was introduced in 1737 - the act was not repealed until September 1968. At this theatre Lily Langtry made here debut in 1881. Oscar Wilde's “An Ideal Husband and A Woman of No Importance” both premiered here. The theatre has a reputation for presenting good serious plays. Also the list of actors and actresses who have appeared there over the years reads like a who's who of the British acting establishment. Disaster struck The Theatre Royal Haymarket during the evening performance of When Harry Met Sallyon on May 15^th, 2004. Towards the end of the evening's performance, the central chandelier in the auditorium came away from the ceiling. Although it was stopped from falling too far by safety chains, some decorative auditorium plaster work fell onto the audience below. Thankfully nobody was seriously injured. Because of that a couple of performances where cancelled. Some interesting things that have occurred in the London Haymarket are in the year 1729 the play Hurlothrumbo ran 30 nights and was the theatres success. Also in the year 1873 the new concept of having matinees and morning performances was introduced.

Sources:

http://www.londontheatre.co.uk/londontheatre/westendvenues/haymarket.htm

http://www.trh.co.uk/history_page1.php

http://www.theatre-royal-haymarket.com/