London Theatre in the Nineteenth Century

The Royal Coburg Theatre, where A.S. would likely have attended performances in the 1820s.

Playbill from Drury Lane Theatre, where A.S. was likely to attend performances. Includes titles and performers that Lyon would have encountered during his attendance.

Another playbill from Drury Lane Theatre, later in the decade when Lyon attended performances.

The London stage in the 1800s was a fluctuating institution, thanks to new policies and the ballooning population of the world’s largest city. The early 1800s brought few plays, as only 2 theatres were open at the time. As Emsley et al discuss in The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, “London 1800 – 1913,” “there were new buildings dedicated to the arts and learning – University College (1827-29), the British Museum (1823-47)…” The city was making new space for cultural and academic pursuits, increasing the middle-class’s accessibility to education and the arts. Abraham was no exception, spending a great amount of time at the theatre. At one point he cites going to the theatre twice in 3 days in 1826, despite the “bad state of commerce and the scarcity of funds with the bankers” (Lyon, 3). At the beginning of the century, theatre tickets and seats were hard to come by unless the patron was of the aristocracy. The two main winter theatres, Covent Garden and Drury Lane dominated, as they were “the only managements officially allowed to put on plays in London during the winter season” (Bratton). By the 1820s, tickets were more affordable and open to the middle-classes thanks to the opening of dozens of new theatres and the lifted ban on winter plays. The Theatres Trust of the United Kingdom discusses the conditions of these new theatre set-ups:

…Different classes were segregated: financially by the cost of the tickets; and physically by the requirement to use separate entrances and exits and circulation routes. The rich entered via illuminated entrances, with grand staircases and rich carpets: the cheaper seats via smaller side or rear entrances, with less grand staircases and public areas. Also, the benched pit in front of the stage was replaced by more comfortable seats and carpeted aisles for the rich. The cheaper seats were now restricted to the rear stalls behind a wooden barrier, known as the ‘pit’, and the balcony or gallery. (TheatreTrust.org.uk)

The odds of Lyon being able to go to the theatre for little money and still have a decent view were great, and he was still able to boast his cultural involvement without disclosing what tickets he had. The presence of short critiques and notes on the performances he attended emphasize his attention and interest in the theatre as well.