The history of the Prince of Wales's Theatre, London, 1771-1903 - Richard L. Lorenzen

In 1771 a new concert hall was built on a plot of land just off London’s Tottenham Court Road. The hall was refitted as a theater in 1810, and for more than 70 years the little theater in Tottenham Street was a busy place of entertainment for the neighborhood and beyond. It underwent several name changes but is best known today as the Prince of Wales’s. Many stars of the London stage appeared at the theater in Tottenham Street in the course of the 19th century, including Madames Vestris and Cleste, Louisa Nisbett, John Hare, Marie Wilton, Squire Bancroft, Ellen Terry, Madge and William Kendal, Johnston Forbes-Robertson, and Genevieve Ward. The playhouse remained open for nearly a century, however in 1882, it was judged to be unsafe and closed; the building was razed in 1903. This book gives a detailed account of the hundreds of artists who appeared at the playhouse as well as recording the notable variety of productions on the playbills. As a closely focused history of a single venue over more than a century, it adds invaluably to the knowledge of London theater history.