Smock Alley Theatre

Smock Alley Theatre (1662-1786), the first Dublin playhouse to be built after the Restoration. It succeeded Werburgh St. Theatre as the home of the Theatre Royal up to 1759, continuing intermittently thereafter as the Smock Alley Company. Standing in Essex St. West (variously called Blind Quay, Orange St., and Smock Alley), it was opened by John Ogilby and Thomas Stanley, who were joint holders of the Master of Revels patent for Ireland. In 1735 the theatre was rebuilt completely. Smock Alley was demolished to make way for the Catholic Church of St Michael and St John in 1813. The theatre was controlled by actor-managers of whom the most important were Joseph Ashbury after 1666, Thomas Elrington after 1720, Thomas Sheridan the Younger after 1745, and Henry Mossop from 1760. The first recorded performance was Wit Without Money by John Fletcher in 1662. Later in the season, Katherine Philips's Pompey was played. John Dancer's tragicomedy Agrippa, King of Alba (1675) appeared in 1669. Charles Shadwell was resident playwright from 1715 to 1720, his earliest production in this capacity being The Hasty Wedding (1716) and his latest Rotherick O'Connor (1719). In 1732, when the old building was declared unsound, the company removed to Aungier St.