Editing Adelphi Theatre (section)

===19th century===
It was founded in 1806 as the '''Sans Pareil''' ("Without Compare"), by merchant John Scott, and his daughter [[Jane Scott (theatre manager)|Jane]] (1770–1839). Jane was a British theatre manager, performer, and playwright. Together, they gathered a theatrical company and by 1809 the theatre was licensed for musical entertainments, [[pantomime]], and [[Comic opera#Italian comic opera|burletta]]. She wrote more than fifty stage pieces in an array of genres: [[melodrama]]s, pantomimes, [[farce]]s, [[Comic opera|comic operettas]], historical dramas, and adaptations, as well as translations. Jane Scott retired to [[Surrey]] in 1819, marrying John Davies Middleton (1790–1867).<ref>[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/59171 Bratton, Jacky: "Scott, Jane Margaret (bap. 1779, d. 1839)" (''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'') Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, (2004)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240319051506/https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-59171 |date=19 March 2024 }}. Retrieved 24 May 2007</ref>

[[File:OldOakChest.jpg|thumb|left|Sketch of a scene from Jane Scott's 1816 play, ''The Old Oak Chest'']]On 18 October 1819, the theatre reopened under its present name, which was adopted from the [[Adelphi, London|Adelphi Buildings]] opposite.<ref name=vickie>[http://www.victorianweb.org/mt/theaters/pva234.html Victorian Web – Victorian Theatres] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415043316/http://www.victorianweb.org/mt/theaters/pva234.html |date=15 April 2012 }}. Retrieved 5 March 2007</ref><ref>[http://www.etang.umontreal.ca/bwp1800/essays/eberlesinatra_whackham.html Editorial Note] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304030643/http://www.etang.umontreal.ca/bwp1800/essays/eberlesinatra_whackham.html |date=4 March 2016 }} by Michael Eberle-Sinatra. ''British Women Playwrights around 1800'' (15 October 1998)</ref>
In its early years, the theatre was known for [[melodrama]], called ''Adelphi Screamers''.<ref name=vickie/> Many stories by [[Charles Dickens]] were also adapted for the stage here, including [[John Baldwin Buckstone]]'s ''The Christening'', a comic burletta, which opened on 13 October 1834, based on the story ''The Bloomsbury Christening''. This is notable for being thought the first Dickens adaption performed. This was the first of many of Dickens's early works adapted for the stage of the Adelphi, including ''[[The Pickwick Papers]]'' as [[William Leman Rede]]'s ''The Peregrinations of Pickwick''; or, ''Boz-i- a-na'', a three-act burletta first performed on 3 April 1837, [[Frederick Henry Yates]]'s production of ''[[The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (play)|Nicholas Nickleby]]''; or, ''Doings at Do-The-Boys Hall'' in November and December 1838, and Edward Stirling's two-act burletta ''[[The Old Curiosity Shop]]''; or, ''One Hour from Humphrey's Clock'' (November and December 1840, January 1841).<ref name=vickie/> The theatre itself makes a cameo appearance in ''The Pickwick Papers''<ref>[[The Pickwick Papers]] by [[Charles Dickens]] (1836) Chapt. 31</ref>

The famous busker, [[Billy Waters (busker)|Billy Waters]] often performed outside the Adelphi Theatre in the years before his death in 1823.

The Adelphi came under the management of Madame Celeste and comedian [[Benjamin Nottingham Webster|Benjamin Webster]], in 1844, and Buckstone was appointed its resident dramatist. Dramatisations of Dickens continued to be performed, including ''[[A Christmas Carol; or, Past, Present, and Future]]'' opening on 5 February; and Beckett's ''The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that rang an Old Year out and a New One In''. In 1848, ''[[The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain]]'' was performed.<ref name=vickie/>

[[File:1848 ILN The Haunted Man.jpg|thumb|230px|[[Charles Dickens]]' ''[[The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain]]'' at the Adelphi, in the ''Illustrated London News'', 30 December 1848]]
The old theatre was demolished, and on 26 December 1858, ''The New Adelphi'' was opened and was considered an improvement on the cramped circumstances of the original, which had been described as a "hasty conversion from a tavern hall, permanently kept in its provisional state". The new theatre could seat 1,500 people, with standing room for another 500. The interior was lighted by a ''Stroud's Patent Sun Lamp'', a brilliant array of gas mantles passed through a chandelier of cut-glass.

In the mid-19th century, [[John Lawrence Toole]] established his comedic reputation at the Adelphi. Also in the mid-19th century, the Adelphi hosted a number of French [[operetta]]s, including ''[[La belle Hélène]]''. In 1867, however, the Adelphi gave English [[comic opera]] a boost by hosting the first public performance of [[Arthur Sullivan]]'s first opera, ''[[Cox and Box]]''.

The building was renovated in 1879 and again in 1887 when the house next door, along with The Hampshire Hog in The Strand and the [[Nell Gwynne Tavern]] in Bull Inn Court, were bought by the Gattis in order to enlarge the theatre. They also built a new enlarged facade and part of this can still be seen today above the Crystal Rooms next door to the present Adelphi Theatre.
[[File:William Terriss Plaque Adelphi.jpg|thumb|140px|upright|Plaque commemorating [[William Terriss]] beside the stage door of the Adelphi Theatre]]
An actor who performed regularly at the Adelphi in the latter half of the 19th century, [[William Terriss]], was stabbed to death during the run of 'Secret Service' on 16 December 1897 whilst entering the Theatre by the royal entrance in Maiden Lane which he used as a private entrance. This is now recorded on a plaque on the wall by the stage door. Outside a neighbouring pub, a sign says that the killer was one of the theatre's stage hands, but [[Richard Archer Prince]] committed the murder. It has been said that Terriss' ghost haunts the theatre. Terriss' daughter was [[Ellaline Terriss]], a famous actress, and her husband, actor-manager [[Seymour Hicks]] managed the Adelphi for some years at the end of the 19th century. The stage door of the current Adelphi is in Maiden Lane but back then it was in Bull Inn Court. William Terriss would later have a Theatre named after him, the Terriss Theatre in Rotherhithe, later known as the Rotherhithe Hippodrome.

The adjacent, numbers 409 and 410 Strand, were built in 1886–87 by the [[John Maria Gatti|Gatti Brothers]] as the Adelphi Restaurant. The frontage remains essentially the same, but with plate glass windows, and, like the theatre, is a [[listed building|Grade II listed building]].<ref>[https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1237038 Adelphi Theatre Restaurant – English Heritage Listing] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230524172045/https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1237038 |date=24 May 2023 }} . Retrieved 3 April 2007</ref>