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     Royal Opera House - Information & History
The Royal Opera House is situated in Covent Garden and is an imposing building. Originally known as the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden it first opened its doors on the 7th of December 1732.
The Theatre Royal in Covent Garden was one of the originally licensed theatres and was in fact the second 'patent theatre' as decreed by King Charles II, the first being the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Actually the original patent license was applied to the Duke's Theatre in Lincoln's Inn and only ended up with the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden after the Patent was eventually handed down to John Rich, who began building the Covent Garden Theatre in March of 1731.
There have been three buildings on the site, the first constructed in 1732 on land that was leased to John Rich from the Duke of Bedford, and designed by James Shepherd. The interior was designed and decorated by the notable Italian Artist 'Amiconi', with the auditorium having a large seating capacity of 1,897. The First theatre was home for Handel who arrived in 1734 and produced numerous Operas and Ballets.
The famous actor David Garrick first appeared at the theatre in 1746 direct from the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and it was the Covent Garden theatre that introduced the new invention the 'Piano Forte', which was heard for the very first time in 1767. The first ever production of Sheridan's 'The Rivals' was staged at the Covent Garden theatre in 1775
The Covent Garden theatre was partially reconstructed in 1784, only 50 years after its construction, and another landmark was in 1788 when the theatre staged the first ever production of the Pantomime 'Alladin'.
It was decided to carry out a more extensive reconstruction, which was completed in 1792 at a cost of £25,000 which at the time was a huge sum of money. Unfortunately, as was the problem with many theatres during the following decade, the reconstructed theatre suffered a major blow in 1808 when it was completely destroyed by fire, including Handel's personal organ and many of his manuscripts.
From the ashes rose a brand new theatre and this was constructed immediately following the disastrous fire, and the all new theatre managed to be constructed by 31st of December of the same year 1808, designed by Richard Smirke at an incredible sum of £150,000. Despite being slightly smaller than the one before, the auditorium was designed to accommodate a lot more people to nearly 3,000. The opening production was a Shakespearian production of 'Macbeth' in September 1809.
The theatre went through a further refurbishment in 1847 by Benedict Albano and reopened its doors on the 6th of April. The theatre was renamed the Royal Italian Opera House when an Italian Opera company decided to occupy the new building. Unfortunately tragedy struck once again when a fire raged through the newly constructed building on the night of the 5th of March 1856 less than 9 years after its grand opening.
The third and present building was designed by Sir Edward M. Barry and constructed in less than 6 months, which incorporated statues and stone works from the previous building. The orientation of the building was changed to face East West instead of North South and was opened as the Royal Italian Opera House, opening its doors on the 15th of May in 1858.
The auditorium continued to have further changes over the years, involving removing the amphitheatre boxes and removing most of the boxes in the two tiers. The current theatre remains in much the same form as when it opened in 1858, with the current capacity of 2,268.
Further works took place during the mid 1930's, to accommodate new dressing rooms and offices, and once again in 1982, but intrinsically the main structure and interior retained its original format with only numerous cosmetic alterations. The plot was acquired during the sell off of the Covent Garden site during the 1970's and the building was extended further towards James Street to the rear.
Much stayed the same for 100 years or more, until a huge capital injection of £50 million was awarded by the Lottery fund, which gave the opportunity to bring the Royal Opera House to be modernised with the latest technology whilst totally restoring the auditorium to its original Victorian design, with a new stage, box office, café, restaurant, and a series of concession shops.
A visit to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden is a must do experience for anyone interested in theatrical architecture, as it is like walking straight back into a Victorian Theatre with all its splendour and ambiance. The Royal Opera House is the national home for Opera and Ballet and is without doubt the finest theatre in the Country, despite the controversy caused by the size of the Lottery grant, which seemed to many as an excessive amount of money to be spent on one venue. The money was certainly well spent on such a glorious building and once experienced the investment can be truly appreciated.
Royal Opera House | Performances | Information | Directions | History
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