ĭuring its first century, the theatre was operated primarily as a playhouse, with the Letters Patent granted by Charles II giving the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden and Theatre Royal, Drury Lane exclusive rights to present spoken drama in London. In addition, a Royal Charter had created a fruit and vegetable market in the area, a market which survived in that location until 1974.Īt the opening of the theatre on 7 December 1732, Rich was carried by his actors in procession into the building for its inaugural production of William Congreve's The Way of the World. Inigo Jones had developed part of this property in the 1630s with a piazza and St Paul's church (now known as the actors' church). The success of this venture provided him with the capital to build the Theatre Royal (designed by Edward Shepherd) at the site of an ancient convent garden. In 1728, John Rich, actor-manager of the Duke's Company at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, commissioned The Beggar's Opera from John Gay.
The first theatre before the fire of 1808 The main auditorium is a Grade I listed building. The proscenium is 14.80 m wide and 12.20 m high. The main auditorium seats 2,256 people, making it the third largest in London, and consists of four tiers of boxes and balconies and the amphitheatre gallery. The façade, foyer, and auditorium date from 1858, but almost every other element of the present complex dates from an extensive reconstruction in the 1990s. The current building is the third theatre on the site, following disastrous fires in 18 to previous buildings. Many of his operas and oratorios were specifically written for Covent Garden and had their premieres there. A year later, the first season of operas, by George Frideric Handel, began. The first theatre on the site, the Theatre Royal (1732), served primarily as a playhouse for the first hundred years of its history. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The Royal Opera House ( ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London.
The Royal Opera House's Bow Street frontage with Plazzotta's statue, Young Dancer, in the foreground
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