Private Theatres

In the British context there are a number of different types of private theatre.

Firstly, private theatres could refer to venues that were built within or close to country and town houses own by Britain's elite. These sort of private theatres existed at houses such as Wynnstay, Chatsworth, Woburn Abbey and Brandenburgh House.

Secondly, private theatres could refer to venues that existed in cities - particularly London - and served a middle class clientele. Such theatres include Pym's, in Wilson Street, Gray's Inn Lane, the Berwick Street Private Theatre and the Dramatic Institution in Hackney Road. These theatres were described in Dickens's Sketches by Boz as lowly spaces with dubious reputations. However, they were later recognised as the training ground for numerous actors of the mid- and late- nineteenth century theatre, who mentioned treading the boards in these private theatres in their memoirs.