Edinburgh

Edinburgh. In spite of the opposition of the Church, efforts appear to have been made in the 17th and 18th centuries to establish a theatre in Edinburgh. The scanty records indicate a succession of performances there and in nearby towns between 1663 and 1689, including the first known Scottish performance of Macbeth in 1672, while an advertisement of 1715 reveals the existence of an established company. The best documented of early managements is that of Tony Aston from 1725 to 1728. In 1736 the poet Allan Ramsay opened a theatre in Carrubber's Close, only to have it closed by the Licensing Act of 1737. From 1741 there were theatrical seasons every year, the law being evaded by the device of charging not for the play but for an introductory concert. In 1747 a concert hall in the Canongate opened as a theatre which in 1756 saw the first performance of John Home's Douglas. A patent was obtained for it in 1767, and it then became Edinburgh's first Theatre Royal. Two years later a new Theatre Royal was built at the east end of Princes Street. Many distinguished players appeared there, including, in 1784 and 1785, Mrs Siddons, whose younger brother Stephen Kemble managed the theatre from 1791 to 1800. Her son Henry Siddons took over in 1809, but so mismanaged his financial affairs that when he died in 1815 his widow and her brother William Murray, joint managers with him, were left heavily in debt. They nevertheless managed to keep the theatre open, and up to 1851, when Murray retired, it had a period of almost unbroken success. It was pulled down in 1859, after a further period of success from 1857, when Henry Irving was a member of the resident stock company. A new Theatre Royal, named the Queen's in honour of Queen Victoria, opened in 1859. It stood on the site of an earlier theatre which had been known by many names before, as the Adelphi, it was destroyed by fire in 1853. It was burnt down again in 1865, 1875, and 1884. The Royal Lyceum, opened in 1883, still survives, having taken over in 1965 the assets of the Gateway which opened in 1946. The internationally famous Traverse Theatre dates from 1963, and the King's Theatre is used by touring productions. The Edinburgh Festival of Music and Drama brings an annual influx of world-famous companies and performers to the city.