The Theatre in Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, was a theatre for summer shows, built in 1771 by Tate Wilkinson and redeveloped in 1867. Mrs Siddons and Ching Lau Lauro appeared here in 1786 and 1834 respectively. It was the only drama theatre in Leeds until 1864, after which business was challenged by competition. It became shabby and was partially rebuilt in 1867 to create the smarter Royal Theatre, which was to burn down in 1875. No theatre was built again on this site, and its surviving Victorian successors are the Leeds City Varieties of 1865 and the Grand Theatre of 1878.
Building and location
The Theatre of 1771 was a fairly basic brick building of . It was on the east side of Meadow Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, near Leeds Bridge. In his Memoirs of 1790, Tate Wilkinson described it as "quite a palace." However The Leeds Guide of 1806 despaired of it: "Its form inconvenient, and utterly unworthy of the populous and flourishing town to which it belongs." By 1867 it was remembered as a "dingy little theatre" and a "barn out of repair," although it hosted fine plays. It had a vestibule, gallery, boxes and pit, and an audience of 600 could be crammed in, but the stage and auditorium were the same size. It was said by the actress Dorothea Jordan that the green room "was miserable and cold, half the upper part of it admitting the wind and the rain," although advertisements in the Leeds Intelligencer said the stage was "elegantly illuminated by wax candles." The New Theatre Royal and Opera House of 1867 had grander pretensions, having all facilities.
History
Theatre or Theatre Royal
The Theatre was built in 1771 by actor-manager Tate Wilkinson (1739–1803). It was part of his repertory company's York Theatre Circuit which included York, Doncaster, Halifax, Hull, Leeds, Pontefract, and Wakefield. These theatres were built to Wilkinson's order from 1768 to 1803. There followed various other managers, including his son John. Sometime after 1834 its name was changed to the Theatre Royal, not to be confused with the Royal Theatre which was a later development of the same building. Business was difficult due to the small size of the theatre, its poor condition, its inconvenient location away from the city centre and the heavy industry surrounding the site.
Encouraged by the new railways which gave opportunity for a northern theatre circuit, the actor John Coleman bought the theatre in 1863. It was successful until 1864, when the new Amphitheatre was built in Lands Lane. Coleman responded by refurbishing the interior. It was successful, but not enough for Coleman, who attempted and failed to purchase land to build another city-centre theatre.