Theatre Royal Brighton

A long weekend in Brighton (family get-together) and a chance to meet up with JB who works at the Theatre Royal and who invited us in to see the building. Unfortunately a matinee performance precluded a through poke about but I took a few shots see Extra Photos.

Wikipedia provides a history of the building:
"In 1806 the Prince of Wales (later George IV) gave Royal Assent for the theatre to be built and it opened on 27 June 1807, with a performance of William Shakespeare's Hamlet. The theatre struggled until it was purchased in 1854 by actor Henry John Nye Chart, who engaged theatre architect Charles J. Phipps to begin a programme of expansion and redevelopment.

The theatre improved its reputation and finances, becoming a respected venue. When Henry John Nye Chart died in 1876 his wife took over and continued the success as one of the first female theatre managers.

In 1920 the financial buoyancy of the Theatre enabled the directors to buy adjacent properties and make substantial improvements to the building. In 1923 the Theatre purchased the Colonnade Hotel, now the Colonnade bar and in 1927 the last major structural enlargement was made to the auditorium.

In the mid and later 20th Century the Royal's stature and national reputation continued to grow. Ibsen, Rattigan, Coward and Orton plays opened as a try out date before a London West End run. The Redgrave Family, Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Charlton Heston, Marlene Dietrich, Margot Fonteyn, Rex Harrison, Judi Dench and Paul Scofield all performed there.

In 1984, London impresario David Land, bought the theatre and subsidised productions at the theatre out of his own pocket up to £400,000 a year.  Land and later his son, Brook, ran the theatre for a decade and a half revitalising the Royal with popular acts.

In 1999 the Theatre Royal was bought by the Ambassador Theatre Group and a full-scale modernisation scheme commenced.

In 2007 the theatre celebrated its 200th anniversary with a visit from the Queen. The venue offers backstage tours, where the public can go behind the scenes at this grade II listed building."