Garrick Theatre (Leman St)
former theatre in Leman Street, Whitechapel, London, operating 1831-c.1881
The Garrick Theatre, also known as Garrick's Subscription, was a small theatre located in Leman St, Whitechapel. The theatre opened in 1831, and closed in about 1881. The theatre was named for the actor, David Garrick, who had made his début at the nearby Goodman's Fields Theatre on 9 October 1741, playing the role of Richard III.
The performance on 11 May 1840 was Marie! and Virginius the Rum’un!, from an existent playbill. The plays were probably melodramas and some indication of the fare available at the time.
The first theatre burned down in 1846, and was rebuilt to open as The Albert and Garrick Royal Amphitheatre. During rebuilding from 1852 to 1854, the neighbour, a gun manufacturer, obtained an injunction against the proprietor, Lawrence Levy, to restrict the height of the adjacent wall so as not to impede light to his premises. The theatre was managed by Lawrence Levy from 1854 until 1864. He returned to manage the theatre between 1867 and 1868. In 1856 E.B. Gaston was Stage Manager.
The public source identifies “Garrick Theatre (Leman St)” as former theatre in Leman Street, Whitechapel, London, operating 1831-c.1881. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Garrick, Theatre and Leman.
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Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5523990. Authority coordinates are 51.512, -0.069. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1831, 1881, 1741 and 1840.
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This entry incorporates text from “Garrick Theatre (Leman St)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.