London Theatres in 1900: The Lyceum

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Arthur H. Beavan continued his survey of London's theatres, in Imperial London, published in 1901, with this look at the Lyceum:

Just after Sadler's Wells had become a theatre, the old Lyceum in Wellington Street, Strand, was built, which, after being put to a variety of uses, such as dancing, music, exhibitions, and entertainments of different kinds, shared the fate of most theatres and was burnt down in 1830.

It was rebuilt in its present form: a medium-sized play-house, remarkable neither for beauty nor convenience, but distinctive because of its indissoluble association with Sir Henry Irving, who for more than a generation has worked there, producing again and again the most marvellous effects and surprises both in acting and in the mounting of Shakespearian plays.

The Lyceum was owned by the famour actor Henry Irving. Irving's personal manager, who later became stage manager of the Lyceum, was the Irish writer Bram Stoker - famous for creating Count Dracula.

Some of the theatres are externally handsome enough for a continental city; though even Her Majesty's, Daly's, and the Palace, cannot vie with the magnificence of the Grand Opera House of Paris, or the Opera House in the Ring-strasse at Vienna.

Next: London's Theatres in 1900: The Wyndham Theatre