Smock Alley Theatre
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 Smock Alley Theatre
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| Address | 6/7 Exchange Street Lower Dublin 8 Ireland |
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| Coordinates | 53°20′42″N 6°16′10″W / 53.345068°N 6.2695543°W |
| Type | theatre |
| Opened | 1662 |
| Years active | 1662-1787, 2012 to present |
| Website | |
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The Smock Alley Theatre is a theatre in Dublin. The original theatre opened in 1662 and operated till 1787. In 2012, after a €3.5 million investment, a new theatre opened on the original foundations and with a lot of the original superstructure.
The Smock Alley Theatre was the second purpose built theatre in Ireland. It was preceded by the Werburgh Street Theatre - which was, however, only active for four years, approximately 1637-1641. That earlier theater came to a sudden end with the outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641. In October of that year, the Lords Justices prohibited playing there. Already shortly afterwards, the building was said to be 'ruined and spoiled', and 'a cow-house made of the stage'. There never was an attempt to renew theatrical activity in that location.
The years of Oliver Cromwell's Puritan rule were a bad time for the theater, altogether outlawed also in England itself. Moreover, Ireland, conquered by Cromwell's troops, suffered various other kinds of harsh oppression. But the restoration of King Charles II - who strongly appreciated French culture, including French theater - saw the swift revival of theater and its flourishing in both England and Ireland. Within a short time of the Restoration of the Monarchy, no less than three major theaters were opened. The construction in London of Lincoln's Inn Fields (1660) (originally a tennis court), and Drury Lane (1661) was closely followed by Dublin's Smock Alley Theatre, the first Irish institute to be dubbed "Theatre Royal".
The Smock Alley Theatre is the only one of these mid-17th Century purpose-built theater buildings which still exists in substantially the same form as in 1662 - while Lincoln's Inn Field was demolished in 1848 and the Drury Lane has been demolished and rebuilt 4 times since 1663.
It was known as the Theatre Royal at Smock Alley when it was built and opened by John Ogilby in 1662. It consisted of a classical proscenium stage, pit, boxes, a middle and upper gallery, lattices (which were a type of box peculiar to Dublin) and a music/orchestra loft above the stage, also the acoustics were said to be excellent. The pit had backless benches and a raked floor that rose toward the back of the audience to help sightlines. Mostly single men sat here, and it was the noisiest, rowdiest area in the theatre. Boxes sat upper class aristocrats—mostly married couples with wives who wanted to be seen. Boxes were luxuriously decorated with velvet drapes should the occupants require some privacy during the evening....for whatever reason. The doors were wider in the boxes to allow access for the voluminous dresses of the ladies. Galleries held the lower class, including servants of the upper classes in attendance. These were the worst seats as they were on the same level as the large chandeliers that lit the theatre. Candles were made of tallow (animal fat) and they were very pungent and smokey. The building was built on reclaimed ground from the River Liffey and due to this, in 1670 and later in 1701 the upper galleries collapsed killing several people inside and injuring many more including the son of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Charles Earl of Middlesex. He was pulled from the wreckage of his box with two broken legs
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Wikipedia