It’s been said that the history of Theatre Royal Drury Lane is tantamount to the history of British theatre.
Despite being billed as “fireproof” thanks to the first iron safety curtain in the West End, the third Drury Lane stood for a mere 15 years before burning to the ground in 1809, just as the original theatre had 137 years earlier. The blaze was so intense that Parliament was interrupted, but then-owner Richard Sheridan kept a famously cool head, taking a seat at a nearby tavern and drowning his sorrows with glasses of port while watching flames consume his life’s work.
Every reigning British monarch since the Restoration has visited The Lane, and it’s here that “God Save The King” was first performed in 1745, after royal troops defeated the Jacobite uprising led by Bonnie Prince Charlie. Composed in a fit of patriotic fervour by musician Thomas Arne, the song was met with rapturous applause – ultimately proving so popular that it was officially named the national anthem.
Assassination attempts aside, George III was a noted fan of Drury Lane – as were his descendants. The King wept so much at the 18th-century tragedythat he had the play banned, while George V was so impressed by Frank Benson’s turn as Julius Caesar in 1916 that he requested a sword from the props room and knighted him on the spot. As forat Drury Lane with King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, and her soon-to-be fiancé Lieutenant Mountbatten.
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