DRURY LANE THEATRE.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 February 1919, Page 7

DRURY LANE THEATRE.

LONG AND EVENTFUL HISTORY.

The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, the market value of which forms the subject of a recent cable message, has had many vicissitudos in its long history of more than two and a half centuries, during whic> time some of England's greatest actors and actresses have faced the footlights from its boards. Actors long dead, but whose names are now written amongst the immortals have at one time and another been proprietors of London's famous playhouse; and now it is about to pass into other hands, the ownership probably going to one of the two leading music hall proprietors in England. Oswald Stoll, England's foremost music hall king and owner of numerous "Empires" all overj>the country, and Charles Gulliver, of "Palladium" fame are amongst four of the theatrical directors who are an&ious for the possession of this famous house. Two offers of £125,250 have already been received, but the fifth continues for the honor of proprietorship. In view of this vaßt sum of money for a theatre whose pretensions in size cannot be compared with many other less renowned playhouses in England, it is interesting to recall the fact that as far back as 1776, Thomas Sheridan and two friends purchased from David Garrick a half share in the theatre for £35,000, subsequently buying the remaining share for the same price. Sheridan's contribution to the first amount was £IO,OOO, in spite of the fact that he was compelled to mortgage considerably before he could pay oil' the balance of the £1,300 which he had paid in cash. Drury Lane has long been looked upon by Londoners as the theatre par excellence for all the greatest plays and players \phich England has produced. Irving, Terry, Garrick, Sheridan, Killigrew and a score of others whose names will ever be remembered as those of exponents of the highest types of the theatrical art, have all been associated in their days with Drury Lane Theatre. No Shakespearean play is considered to be ideally staged unless it is performed at Old Drury Garrick can be said to have popularised most of Shakespeare's plays by his splendid productions of the theatre with Lacy. The earliest history of Drury Lane centres round the time of Charles 1., when Thomas Killigrew, after following Prince Charles into exile, received a patent, together with William Davenant, to erect a new playhouse, the performances at which were to be independent of the censorship of the plaster of the Revels. This provision caused a certain amount of antagonism from the then official censor, but diplomacy and compromise removed all difficulties until, acting independently of Davenant, Killigrew, who was then in charge of a company of players known as the King's Servants, built the original Theatre Royal. This was in 1808. Since that time many have been the famous owners of the theatre. Garrick's connection with Drury Lance was of a fairly long duration, his first play being in 1740, when he produced "Aesop in the Shades." The work of renovating and re-building the theatre m-ay not seem a very onerous task or one \likely to cause Tery much concern to the owners, yet the fact remains that in 1890 Samuel Whitbread, a politician at that time, was elected chairman of a committee to consider the re-building of the theatre, but, so great was the worry attendant upon this project and so immersed did he become in controversies centring round his work, that he eventually lost his reason and committed suicide. Of later years the names of Irving and Ellen Terry are most frequently Temembered in connection with Drury Lane, and almost up to the time of his last illness the former appeared in the great tragedy of "Dante's Inferno." Drury Lane is loved of all London theatregoers, ,and who ever may be the future owiier it cannot be doubted but that the best plays which England can produce will be staged there. It has become almost a national institution, and is a landmark amongst the many historical buildings in that part of the city which form a connecting link between old and modern London.