Smock Alley Theatre 1775

I love the theatre, I’m fascinated by the spectacle, the costumes, the music, and of course people watching. The heavy smell and flickering images of the wax candles create an atmosphere like no other: combining the formality of church with the excitement and anticipation of the performance to come. All the gentry turn up in their carriages, especially on benefit nights. When it gets really busy the drivers are only allowed to drive the carriages in one direction along the street, they drop their passengers at the door and keep moving.

 Smock Alley, or to give it its official name, The Theatre Royal, Smock Alley, is my favourite theatre in Dublin and it gets all the latest shows from Drury Lane in London. Smock Alley has had a play-house on this site for over a century now, and it is frequented by Dublin's high society. It can even boast a number of riots since the start of this century. Many of the great actors have trod its boards, such as Thomas Sheridan, Peg Woffington, Benjamin Victor, Elizabeth Vincent, and David Garrick visiting from London. Its location is very convenient also, right in the centre of town, not far from Dame Street where all the fashionable people shop, and it's near the Liffey where you can go for a stroll before the performance. Crow Street Theatre is a good space too, and I like having the choice of venue. 

I especially enjoy the new comedies and I see that Oliver Goldsmith’s new play, She stoops to conquer, is advertised again. I love this play, it is so well observed, and it moves at a cracking pace. I read it as soon as it came out two years ago, it was published first in London, but I read the Dublin edition when it appeared shortly afterwards. The Dublin edition costs sixpence halfpenny. It was so popular that it reached its fifth edition in less than a year. While it was very entertaining to read, you really need to see it performed. I went first in January, and I enjoyed it so much, that now three months later I’ve got tickets to go again. It's good to know that in nearly 240 years time a theatre will still occupy this space in Smock alley and will still be showing She stoops to conquer to delighted audiences.

I like to buy my own copies of the new plays, they’re not expensive, usually between sixpence and one shilling each, and I can relive the theatrical experience at home. It’s good to have the cast list at the front so that I know the actors who were in the original production. I like to see who acted in the Drury Lane production, I wonder if they were as good as the actors I saw in Dublin: Mr Parker as Hardcastle, Mrs E. Brown as Mrs Hardcastle, Mrs Brown as Miss Hardcastle, and Mr Waddy as Young Marlow. I keep the plays carefully and eventually I will bind them together in volumes arranged by theme, or perhaps by date.