Royal Gallery Of Illustration

The Royal Gallery of Illustration was a performance venue located at 14 Regent Street near Waterloo Place in London, in what had been the home of John Nash, designer of Regent Street, Regent's Park, and other urban improvements undertaken at the commission of George IV. From 1855 to about 1876, it hosted the entertainments produced by Thomas German-Reed and his wife, Priscilla, a theatrical couple who specialized in brief, humorous musical sketches and impersonations aimed at a "respectable" middle- to upper-class audience. It was also home to a wide variety of other entertainments, including numerous moving panoramas, dioramas, and lectures. The Gallery was an intimate 500-seat theatre and, according to contemporary accounts, was "one of the most popular and fashionable places of recreation in the Metropolis. " The address is now the site of an office tower. Description of the entertainmentsUnder the German-Reeds, the entertainments presented at the Gallery usually consisted of one or two brief comic operas designed for a small number of characters (due to the small size of the Gallery's stage). These eventually became "Mr. And Mrs. German Reeds Entertainments". They called the establishment, euphemistically, the "Gallery of Illustration, " rather than a theatre, and the pieces were called "entertainments" or "illustrations", eschewing the words "music hall", "play", "extravaganza", "melodrama" or "burlesque", in order to avoid the poor reputation among the British public of musical theatres. Reed himself composed the music for many of these pieces, and often appeared in them, along with Mrs. German Reed. Reed experimented with what he called opera di camera - small chamber operas by young composers. There was nothing else like this establishment in London. The Gallery rapidly achieved popularity.

The Royal Gallery of Illustration was a performance venue located at 14 Regent Street near Waterloo Place in London, in what had been the home of John Nash, designer of Regent Street, Regent's Park, and other urban improvements undertaken at the commission of George IV. From 1855 to about 1876, it hosted the entertainments produced by Thomas German-Reed and his wife, Priscilla, a theatrical couple who specialized in brief, humorous musical sketches and impersonations aimed at a "respectable" middle- to upper-class audience. It was also home to a wide variety of other entertainments, including numerous moving panoramas, dioramas, and lectures. The Gallery was an intimate 500-seat theatre and, according to contemporary accounts, was "one of the most popular and fashionable places of recreation in the Metropolis. " The address is now the site of an office tower. Description of the entertainmentsUnder the German-Reeds, the entertainments presented at the Gallery usually consisted of one or two brief comic operas designed for a small number of characters (due to the small size of the Gallery's stage). These eventually became "Mr. And Mrs. German Reeds Entertainments". They called the establishment, euphemistically, the "Gallery of Illustration, " rather than a theatre, and the pieces were called "entertainments" or "illustrations", eschewing the words "music hall", "play", "extravaganza", "melodrama" or "burlesque", in order to avoid the poor reputation among the British public of musical theatres. Reed himself composed the music for many of these pieces, and often appeared in them, along with Mrs. German Reed. Reed experimented with what he called opera di camera - small chamber operas by young composers. There was nothing else like this establishment in London. The Gallery rapidly achieved popularity.