ABSTRACT
In November 1704, even though it was unfinished, the theatre opened with an impressive concert attended by Queen Anne herself. William Collier MP obtained the lease on Drury Lane Theatre. Installing Aaron Hill as manager, he opened the theatre with a company made up of the remnants of Rich’s troupe. The year before Anne Oldfield had been invited to become a sharer with them when the company was based at the Queen’s Theatre in the Haymarket, but Dogget vehemently objected to women in such positions, and Oldfield was instead granted a thirteen-year contract at £200 per year plus benefits. The new Queen’s Theatre was designed to be magnificent. Seating nearly a thousand spectators and lavishly decorated and appointed, it had a deep scenic stage to allow for grandiose spectacle, a shallow forestage and an orchestra pit. Meanwhile the playwright-architect, Sir John Vanbrugh, in close contact with Betterton, proposed to build a new theatre in the Haymarket.
