The Auditorium
DIMENSIONS
On a certain night in 1790 a German visitor to London, F. W. von Hassell,
having undertaken the various steps outlined above for gaining entry into
the house, finally found himself inside the auditorium of Drury Lane theatre.
What he saw made on him a great impression ; it was "in every respect a
beautiful spectacle — acting, singing, orchestra, scenery, the magnificent
illumination, the crowded house.”43 He was here speaking of the old Drury
bane in, in fact, its final season. On 4 June 1791 it closed its doors for the
last time and was presently undergoing demolition.
What Hassell thought of the size of the auditorium he does not say.
but to a modern theatregoer it is altogether likely that this theatre would
have struck him as being a large one — in a certain way, perhaps almost
too large. At this time its capacity was nearly 2,300. Covent Garden was
even larger: following its reconstruction in 1782 it seated spectators to the
number of about 2,500. And larger still was the opera house, which held
something over 3,000. But it must be remembered that, throughout the
winter, London playgoers had nowhere else to go. Three theatres had to
supply a city that now numbered some 900,000 souls. That, therefore, they
should be able to contain the greatest number of persons as was deemed
feasible is not surprising, even though, as will be discussed in a subsequent
section, the actual percentage of the inhabitants of London who attended
the theatres was relatively small.
The Haymarket, opened regularly every summer after the other
theatres had shut down, was somewhat smaller. Its capacity was about
1,500, which apparently was sufficient to satisfy those playgoers who, unlike
a very large number of Londoners, elected to stay in town between June
and September.44
But as time went on Drury Lane and Covent Garden became even
bigger. The new Drury Lane, opened in the spring of 1794, had a total
43 Quoted in John Alexander Kelly, German Visitors to English Theatres in the Eighteenth
Tzy^on, N.J., 1930, p. 142.
The Haymarket was often popularly referred to as the “Little” Theatre, not primarily
ecause of its actual size, but in order to distinguish it from the other, far larger theatre
situate almost directly across the street, the King’s opera house.
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