INTRODUCTION
THE LONDON STAGE
The Playhouses: Location and Description
THEATRE ROYAL, DRURY LANE (1674-1791)
n
!0 CHANGES are known to have been made ؛n tire structure
of the Drury Lane tlreatre. Its continuance as a Tlreatre Royal
was ratified on 25 April 1732: "at a hearing before the Lfordj
Chaircellor, L(ord) Clriefjustice Raymond, and Baroir Coirryirs,
tire Court unanimously agreed, that the Patent granted by his Majesty to
It Wilks, c. Cibber, and Barton Booth, Esq; for tire Play-House in Drury-
Lane, was a lawful Grant; and it passed the Broad Seal accordingly.”؛
؛The Patent is for 2r years. "i
THE KING’S OPERA HOUSE IN THE HAYMARKET (1705-1789)
lire opera house also continued without chair ge, but some notices appear
concerning its size and capacity. At a production iir 1732, the author of
The German spy noted tlrat "The Stage was now above roo Foot long,
40 Foot broad, and 32 Foot high."3 The reporter may have been tire victim
Daily Post, 1]
Açt'sV
"
ا
Genest, Some Account of tb، Engjisb Stage from be
Resta-
ration ;660 1830
؛
Ill (Bath, 1832), 336.
; 27
ح*سج
ع
April, as quoted by the Grub *. Journal of 4 May 1732.
by Richard Southern In "Lediard and Early 18 th Century Scene Design,”
Theatre Notebook, II (April 1948), 54