Surrey Theatre
Names
- Surrey Theatre
- Royal Circus and Equestrian Philharmonic Academy
- Royal Circus for Horsemanship
- the Royal Circus
Street/Area/District
- Blackfriars Road
Maps & Views
Descriptions
from Lockie's Topography of London, by John Lockie (1810)
Circus, Royal, for Horsemanship,—Blackfriars-road, is nearly facing the Obelisk, about ⅔ of a mile on the right from Blackfriars-bridge.
from London Past and Present: Its History, Associations, and Traditions, by Henry Benjamin Wheatley and Peter Cunningham (1891)
Surrey Theatre (The), south end of the Blackfriars Road, was opened November 7, 1782, by Messrs. Hughes and Charles Dibdin, in opposition to the elder Astley. It was originally called the Royal Circus and Equestrian Philharmonic Academy, and was long an unsuccessful speculation.
And burnt the Royal Circus in a hurry,
(Twas called the Circus then, but now the Surrey).
Rejected Addresses.
The interior was rebuilt in 1799, and the whole theatre burnt, August 12, 1805; the insurance had run out, and there was a consequent loss of £25,000. The new theatre, built at a cost of £14,500 from the designs of Rudolph Cabanel, jun., was opened Easter Monday, 1806. Elliston, who held it from February 1809 to March 1814, changed its name to The Surrey. Tom Dibdin was lessee from 1816 to 1822, and quitted it, a loser of £18,000 by the speculation. He was well acquainted with all the London theatres, and he said of the Surrey that "the house itself is without exception the best constructed, both for audience and actors, in or near the metropolis."2 Subsequently Mr. Davidge acquired a handsome fortune by his management; and later, under the management of Mr. Creswick, it obtained some distinction for the performance of the legitimate drama. This theatre, like its predecessor, was destroyed by fire, January 30, 1865; and the present, erected at a cost of £25,000 from the designs of Mr. J. Ellis, was opened on December 26 of the same year.
John Palmer, the actor (d. 1798), was stage manager, and played in the second theatre (1789) while a prisoner within the Rules of the King's Bench. His salary, £20 a week, and the way in which he squandered his money, are said to have suggested the clause in the then Debtors' Act, which made all public-houses and places of amusement out of the Rules.