New Theatre Royal

New Theatre Royal

New Theatre Royal facade
Address	20–24 Guildhall Walk Portsmouth England
Coordinates	50°47′47″N 1°05′36″W / 50.7965°N 1.0932°W / 50.7965; -1.0932
Owner	New Theatre Royal (Portsmouth) Trustees Ltd
Designation	Grade II*
Type	Visiting productions / Receiving house
Capacity	667
Current use	Theatre
Construction
Opened	1884
Reopened	1900, 1976, 2004, 2015
Years active	1884–present
Architect	Charles J. Phipps (1884) Frank Matcham (1900)
Website
www.newtheatreroyal.com

The New Theatre Royal is a Victorian Grade 11* listed theatre in the heart of Portsmouth, England, with a capacity of 667. The theatre building was constructed in 1854 as Landport Hall. It was converted to a theatre two years later. It was rebuilt in 1884 by Charles J. Phipps and again in 1900 by Frank Matcham.

The Theatre reopened in October 2015 after a £4.7M refurbishment project.

The present site was built to replace a theatre located in the High Street (now designated "old Portsmouth". The theatre features in Charles Dickens' novel Nicholas Nickleby. A popular music hall, it hosted performances by Niccolò Paganini and Franz Liszt and Mr Keane the leading actor manager of the early nineteenth century. It closed in 1854 and was demolished in 1856 with a number of other buildings to allow for the construction of a military establishment, the Cambridge Barracks. This building now houses Portsmouth Grammar School, a fee paying independent school. The three-arch entrance to the school occupies the location of the theatre. The city archives contain an 1824 poster/playbill of a performance of The Merchant of Venice starring Mr Keane and paintings of the exterior and interior of the theatre. These show the theatre to have been a low building with no windows and a door with a Grecian portico typical of larger houses of the era.The interior was rectangular with two tiers of boxes along each wall and standing in the pit. It would have had a smaller audience capacity than the theatre which replaced it. The illustration of the Portsmouth Theatre by Phiz in Nicholas Nickleby is true to reality though not to scale.

Extract from 'Nicholas Nickleby'

"They groped their way through a dark passage, and, descending a step or two, threaded a little maze of canvas screens and paintpots, and emerged upon the stage of the Portsmouth Theatre. 'Here we are,' said Mr Crummles. It was not very light, but Nicholas found himself close to the first entrance on the prompt side, among bare walls, dusty scenes, mildewed clouds, heavily daubed draperies, and dirty floors. He looked about him; ceiling, pit, boxes, gallery, orchestra, fittings, and decorations of every kind,--all looked coarse, cold, gloomy, and wretched. 'Is this a theatre?' whispered Smike, in amazement; 'I thought it was a blaze of light and finery.' 'Why, so it is,' replied Nicholas, hardly less surprised; 'but not by day, Smike—not by day.' "