McFarland’s Theatre Royal Varieties (1885-1888)

The Theatre Royal had originally opened in 1810. An elegant building, with a large stage, three tiers of boxes and an extensive gallery it was particularly praised for the decoration of theatrical painter James Francis Williams:

The front of the boxes and gallery are painted in the Grecian style, with Etruscan ornaments and allegorical figures-some representing the arts and sciences, as music, painting, poetry, and history; others, the elements, and of figures offering sacrifices. These are painted on cream-coloured ground, and are surrounded with gold mouldings, which have fine effect. The roof or ceiling seems supported four arches resting on columns and pilasters. The corners of the arches are decorated with scroll ornaments, having eagles in relief for centres. The ceiling is painted to represent, in horizontal perspective, a richly ornamented cove-roof of an amphitheatre, through which is seen the vaulted canopy of heaven. The motto ‘veluti in speculum’ is inscribed on a shield on the front the arch which overhangs the stage. Around the shield are emblematical devices of tragedy and comedy. Under this arch is painted the representation of a rich festooned crimson curtain, with gold fringes, and in front of this curtain are the arms of the town. The whole exhibits much harmony of design and elegance of execution, and entitles the artist to the most unqualified praise.

‘Dundee, August 17’, Perth Courier, 23 August 1810, p4.

William McFarland became licensee of the Theatre Royal in September 1876 and staged a variety of entertainments including opera, music hall performances and waxwork exhibitions.[i] By the early 1880s, and with the opening of Her Majesty’s Theatre in the Seagate, the Theatre Royal’s story as the home of legitimate theatre in Dundee was on the wane. The final evening of dramatic performance came on Saturday 26 September 1885. This was not to be the end of performances at the old Royal, however.[ii] Seeing an opportunity, McFarland renamed it the McFarland’s Theatre Royal Varieties and it came to be known, albeit briefly, as a music hall and variety house:

Last night witnessed the opening of a new era in the history of the Theatre Royal. Henceforth in Dundee the knights of the sock and buskin will strut upon a more spacious and modern stage, and the Castle Street temple, now the property of its enterprising lessee, is to be dedicated to the form of pleasant and enjoyable amusements which have hitherto been provided in the Music Hall.[iii]

The Evening Telegraph described the opening night’s entertainment, highlighting the variety of performances witnessed in a music hall. G K Buik’s act consisted of a series of renditions of “Scotch” songs; Clem Lawton delivered “negro entertainment” while Madame Campobello’s “rich and powerful voice, tone, feeling, and expression” was widely applauded. Added to the entertainment was Mr W H Howard’s banjo playing, “consisting as it did in one instance of playing the banjo behind his back and dancing Scotch reels to its music” and the contortionists Howe and Athol, the men frogs: “They writhe their, to all appearance, boneless bodies into inconceivable shapes and positions, and perform acrobatic feats a novel description. Their bodies, serpent-like in their flexibility, wriggle through chairs and hoops to the amazement of the spectators”. Yet it was comedian Robert Geldard who proved the star of the show. Returning to the city after an absence of some years he took to the stage to sing three songs and was recalled five times.[iv]

The theatre closed for refurbishment in March 1888 and on the morning of 6 October the theatre was gutted by fire. According to a report for the Evening Telegraph the blaze made the “neighbourhood of Castle Street … weirdly picturesque”: “The roof had fallen in with a loud crash, and showers of sparks and flames rose high in the air. The woodwork within fed the flames, and the mass continued to burn with great fury, the appearance of the interior being similar to that of a huge furnace.” ‘Great Fire in Dundee: Destruction of M’Farland’s Theatre of Varieties’, Dundee Evening Telegraph, 6 October 1888, p3.

The interior of the building was subsequently rebuilt as shop units rather than a theatre. However, the frontage of the theatre remains, with Shakespeare’s bust gazing down from a roundel located in the pediment that crowns the façade.