Theatre Royal

The Theatre Royal stood on New Street in central Birmingham for nearly two centuries. Built in 1774, it opened as the New Street Theatre and became a patent theatre in 1807. The building survived fires in 1792 and 1820 before being rebuilt again in 1902 to designs by Ernest Runtz. By 1904 it seated 2,200 people, making it one of the largest theatres in the city. Performances included the 1897 premiere of W. S. Gilbert’s The Fortune Hunter. In 1956 the theatre was demolished and replaced by the Woolworth Building. The theatre played a notable part in literary and cultural history. Charles Dickens’s Amateur Theatrical Company appeared there in 1848 to raise funds for Shakespeare’s birthplace. Two Coade stone medallions of David Garrick and William Shakespeare, once on the theatre’s façade, now reside in the Library of Birmingham. The building also witnessed a tragic accident in 1873 when a boy fell from the gallery. Today the site is occupied by a Boots and Bella Italia branch. The surviving medallions remain the clearest reminder of the theatre’s former presence.