Her Majesty's Theatre

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Her Majesty’s Theatre 107 Quay Street, Sydney, NSW - Fifteen years after completion of Her Majesty’s, in March 1902 the interior was destroyed by fire

Photo – State Library of NSW.

The construction of HER MAJESTY’S THEATRE was first proposed in 1882, but work did not start until December 1884. The theatre, built facing Pitt Street on the Market Street corner, was planned as an opera house but financial difficulties forced out the first developer. James Allison, a theatrical agent, then purchased a twenty one year lease on the land and, in 1883, went into partnership with actor and entrepreneur George Rignold to build a theatre. The partnership only lasted until early 1889, but Rignold remained the lessee of the theatre until 1895. He used it mainly for productions of spectacular melodramas such as In the Ranks' usually starring himself, and revivals of his long established association with Henry V',

The theatre was in the centre of a seven storey building with an exterior facade modelled in Baroque style with Corinthian columns, housing a hotel and offices. The stalls and dress circle were entered through the main foyer but, in the fashion of the times, entrance to the gallery tier was by a narrow, winding staircase from Pitt Street. When Her Majesty’s was opened on 10 September 1887, it was the first theatre which conformed to the regulations arising from the NSW Royal Commission on Theatres, and the largest and best equipped venue in the city. Fifteen years after completion, the interior was destroyed by fire in March 1902.

The reconstructed HER MAJESTY’S, behind the same facade, reopened sixteen months later on 1 August 1903. All the levels of the new theatre were a floor lower than in the old. On the Market Street side of the stage there was a four storey building containing offices and, for the star performers, carpeted dressing rooms – Contributed by Greg Lynch –