Surrey Theatre

SURREY THEATRE

London, in Blackfriars, Road, Lambeth.

This stood on the site of the Royal Circus, which opened on 4 Nov. 1782 and continued in use until 1810, although it had a troubled existence, being burnt down in 1799 and 1805. Rebuilt in 1806, it was converted into a theatre by Robert ELLISTON, who gave it the name by which it was thereafter known. To avoid trouble with the PATENT THEATRES, he put a ballet into every production, including Macbeth, Hamlet, and FARQUHAR's The Beaux' Stratagem. Elliston left in 1814, and the Surrey became a circus again until Thomas DIBDIN reopened it as a theatre in 1816, but with little success. Not until Elliston returned did its fortunes change, with the production on 8 June 1829 of Douglas JERROLD'S Black-Ey'd Susan, which with T. P. COOKE as William, the nautical hero, had a long run. Elliston himself made his last appearance at this theatre on 24 June 1831, twelve days before he died. Osbaldiston then took over, and among other plays produced Edward FITZBALL'S Jonathan Bradford; or, the Murder at the Roadside Inn, which ran for 260 nights, but it was Richard Shepherd (who succeeded Alfred Bunn in 1848 and remained at the theatre until 1869) who established its reputation for rough-and-tumble TRANSPONTINE MELODRAMA. On 30 Jan. 1865 the theatre was burnt down, but a new theatre, seating 2,161 people in four tiers, opened on 26 Dec. 1865. Little of note took place until 1881, when George CONQUEST took over, staging sensational dramas, many of them written by himself, which proved extremely popular, and each Christmas an excellent PANTOMIME. The Surrey prospered until his death in 1901, but thereafter went rapidly downhill until in 1920 it became a cinema. It finally closed in 1924 and the building was demolished in 1934.

From the Oxford Companion To Theatre 4th edition 1983.