istoryworld
Events relating to theatre
Victor Hugo's romantic drama Hernani provokes a riot in the Paris audience on the first night
Edmund Kean takes a lease on the theatre and acts here until his death in 1833
The Inspector General, a farce by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol satirising Russian offialdom, has tsar Nicholas I in the audience for the premiere
An anti-British mob attacks the New York theatre where William Macready is appearing as Macbeth, leaving 22 dead and many injured
An official National Eisteddfod is held for the first time in Wales, in Aberdare
English surgeon Joseph Lister introduces the era of antiseptic surgery, with the use of carbolic acid in the operating theatre
On a visit to a Washington theatre, Lincoln is assassinated in his box by John Wilkes Booth
Richard Wagner's opera Tristan and Isolde has its premiere in the Munich court theatre
English actor Henry Irving plays what becomes one of his most famous parts, that of Mathias in the melodrama The Bells
Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt has its premiere in Oslo, with incidental music by Edvard Grieg
Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House signals a new direction in drama in its frank treatment of tensions within a marriage
London's new Savoy Theatre is the first public building in the world to be lit throughout by electricity
The theatre, still known affectionately in Richmond as Kean's, falls on hard times and is pulled down
Henrik Ibsen publishes his play Hedda Gabler, with its powerfully manipulative central character, a year before it is first produced (in Germany)
Oscar Wilde's comedy Lady Windermere's Fan is a great success with audiences in London's St. James Theatre
W.B. Yeats publishes a short play The Countess Cathleen, his first contribution to Irish poetic drama
Bernard Shaw's first play, Widowers' Houses, deals with the serious social problem of slum landlords
Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck publishes his play Pelléas et Mélisande
Oscar Wilde's most brilliant comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest is performed in London's St. James Theatre
Anton Chekhov's play The Seagull has a disastrous premiere in St Petersburg (but is well received two years later in Moscow)
Chekhov's The Seagull, directed by Konstantin Stanislavsky, succeeds at the Moscow Art Theatre
5-year-old Mary Pickford plays her first professional role on stage
A new theatre opens on the Green in Richmond, designed by a speciallist in theatre architecture, Frank Matcham
Isadora Duncan dances professionally for the first time in Europe in London's Lyceum Theatre
Scottish music-hall artist Harry Lauder makes his first London appearance at Gatti's music hall in Westminster
