Like the famed Horsemen of the Apocalypse there have been not one but four establishments named the Theatre Royal in Dublin since the first incarnation opened in Smock Alley in 1662. That particular version was managed in the 18^th century by Thomas Sheridan, father of the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan who proved his Colganesque powers of persuasion by enticing the likes of David Garrick and Peg Woffington over to Dublin to perform.

That manifestation of the Theatre Royal closed in 1787. It wasn’t until 1822 that another theatre of that name opened in Hawkins Street. It had 2000 seats and cost a gargantuan £50,000 to build. Its first claim to fame was that it became the scene of one of the most famous riots in a Dublin theatre – placing a decent third after the Abbey’s Playboy of the Western World disturbances of 1907 and the Plough and the Stars convulsions of 1926.

This particular flap has gone down in history as The Bottle Riot – it happened in December 1822 and was sparked by the perception that the Lord Lieutenant, Marquess Wellesley – brother of the Duke of Wellington – was insufficiently interested in keeping Catholics in their proper place. A disaffected spectator, spotting the Viceroy in his box, threw a bottle and then a rattle at Wellesley – presumably the latter projectile had come from his pram. As a result fighting broke out among the Orange and Green members of the audience. For the record, the play on stage, which became a bit of an irrelevance really, was Goldsmith’s She Stoops To Conquer. This was, in effect, how the Lord Lieutenant chose to react to the missile attack. In a bit of extreme over-reaction for the attack on his exalted personage he had three of the rioters charged with conspiracy to murder. Juries in Dublin at the time being overwhelmingly unionist, the charges did not stick.

Before Theatre Royal 2 burned to the ground in 1880 it had hosted, among others, Paganini, Jenny Lynd and the original Tyrone Power.

TR3 opened in 1897 on the site of its cremated predecessor – it too had a seating capacity of over 2000. One of its claims to fame was that, in 1906, a young Charlie Chaplin performed there as part of an act called The Eight Lancashire Lads. The other seven have never been heard of since. It was demolished in 1934.

TR4 – the final horseman, was an impressive art deco building which could house almost 4000 paying patrons. Not that it did so with sufficent regularity. It was at a disadvantage because of its size and the lively competition from the nearby Gaiety and Olympia theatres. One of its most famous fixtures was its dance troupe, the Royalettes. Despite attracting international acts of the caliber of Gracie Fields, Jimmy Durante, George Formby, Max Wall and Judy Garland – and despite doubling as a cinema – the theatre found it hard to make ends meet.

The fourth and final Theatre Royal finally closed its doors in 1962, three hundred years after its Smock Alley incarnation. The magnificent art deco building was demolished and replaced by the magnificent multi storey office block Hawkins House home to the magnificent Dept of Health.

The second Theatre Royal, opened its doors 192 years ago, on this day.  

OTD-DT-18.7.1822 – The new Theatre Royal in Dublin opens

Like the famed Horsemen of the Apocalypse there have been not one but four establishments named the Theatre Royal in Dublin since the first incarnation opened in Smock Alley in 1662. That particular version was managed in the 18^th century by Thomas Sheridan, father of the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan who proved his Colganesque powers of persuasion by enticing the likes of David Garrick and Peg Woffington over to Dublin to perform.

That manifestation of the Theatre Royal closed in 1787. It wasn’t until 1822 that another theatre of that name opened in Hawkins Street. It had 2000 seats and cost a gargantuan £50,000 to build. Its first claim to fame was that it became the scene of one of the most famous riots in a Dublin theatre – placing a decent third after the Abbey’s Playboy of the Western World disturbances of 1907 and the Plough and the Stars convulsions of 1926.

This particular flap has gone down in history as The Bottle Riot – it happened in December 1822 and was sparked by the perception that the Lord Lieutenant, Marquess Wellesley – brother of the Duke of Wellington – was insufficiently interested in keeping Catholics in their proper place. A disaffected spectator, spotting the Viceroy in his box, threw a bottle and then a rattle at Wellesley – presumably the latter projectile had come from his pram. As a result fighting broke out among the Orange and Green members of the audience. For the record, the play on stage, which became a bit of an irrelevance really, was Goldsmith’s She Stoops To Conquer. This was, in effect, how the Lord Lieutenant chose to react to the missile attack. In a bit of extreme over-reaction for the attack on his exalted personage he had three of the rioters charged with conspiracy to murder. Juries in Dublin at the time being overwhelmingly unionist, the charges did not stick.

Before Theatre Royal 2 burned to the ground in 1880 it had hosted, among others, Paganini, Jenny Lynd and the original Tyrone Power.

TR3 opened in 1897 on the site of its cremated predecessor – it too had a seating capacity of over 2000. One of its claims to fame was that, in 1906, a young Charlie Chaplin performed there as part of an act called The Eight Lancashire Lads. The other seven have never been heard of since. It was demolished in 1934.

TR4 – the final horseman, was an impressive art deco building which could house almost 4000 paying patrons. Not that it did so with sufficent regularity. It was at a disadvantage because of its size and the lively competition from the nearby Gaiety and Olympia theatres. One of its most famous fixtures was its dance troupe, the Royalettes. Despite attracting international acts of the caliber of Gracie Fields, Jimmy Durante, George Formby, Max Wall and Judy Garland – and despite doubling as a cinema – the theatre found it hard to make ends meet.

The fourth and final Theatre Royal finally closed its doors in 1962, three hundred years after its Smock Alley incarnation. The magnificent art deco building was demolished and replaced by the magnificent multi storey office block Hawkins House home to the magnificent Dept of Health.

The second Theatre Royal, opened its doors 192 years ago, on this day.