Look closely at the right-hand wall of the Calverts Carpets building in Ripon and you’ll see the outline of what was once a theatre.

Clearly visible on the Park Street building is the outline of windows and an arch. It was here that the people of the city would come to see some of the most renowned actors of the Georgian period performing on stage.

Ripon’s Theatre Royal was part of the heyday of travelling players during the 18th and 19th centuries. It was one of seven theatres built within a 50-mile radius of Richmond by the actor-manager Samuel Butler for his touring company.

The 320-seat theatre was opened on August 20, 1792, four years after the Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond, which was larger and could seat 450 people. They were typical of country playhouses of the time, built in a similar ‘shoe box’ style.

Inside, the experience would have been an intimate one, with seating arranged in rectangular form close to the stage, and the whole thing lit by candlelight. There would have been a sunken pit area with narrow benches, boxes on three sides of the auditorium, and a gallery above.

Samuel Butler’s Touring Company

Although called Samuel Butler’s Touring Company, the troupe was actually managed at first by Samuel’s wife, Tryphosa Brockell.

Born in Nottingham, Tryphosa was orphaned at the age of seven and sent to live with her paternal grandfather in Barnard Castle. As a teenager she ran away and joined a company of travelling players. She was married twice to men involved in the company, the second time to its manager, Francis Jones Wright.

Upon Wright's death, Tryphosa took over the running of the company. But it wasn’t until she met Samuel Butler that she found success, both personally and professionally. Samuel, from York, was born in 1750 and had begun his working life as a staymaker, a specialist tailor of corsets. He and Tryphosa married in 1773, when Samuel was 23 and his wife 46.

He soon took over the management of the company and under his direction, it grew to become one of the most successful in the north. With a circuit of seven theatres, it served places such as Ripon, Harrogate, Northallerton, Richmond and Whitby during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Among the era’s notable actors to tread the boards with Samuel and Tryphosa’s company was Edmund Kean (1787-1833). Lauded for his passionate performances and mastery of Shakespeare, Kean was such a natural and brilliant actor that, even as a teenager, rumour of his abilities had reached King George III, who commanded him to recite at Windsor.

And born to parents most likely working at Ripon’s Theatre Royal in 1800 was George Bennett, who went on to enjoy a long career in plays and operas in London venues such as Covent Garden, Drury Lane and The Lyceum.

Unlike the troupes that performed in fairs and markets during that period, touring companies performed to a more middle-class audience. However, this meant that their popularity was not to last. As the advent of the railways opened up opportunities for travel, by 1830 audiences were rejecting smaller provincial theatres in favour of grander cultural experiences in the larger cities.

The final curtain – and an encore

Tryphosa and Samuel did not live to see this decline. She died in 1797 and is buried at St Mary’s churchyard in Richmond, while Samuel died in 1812 and is buried in Beverley.

Today, the only one of the Butler circuit to survive is the Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond. In regular use until 1830, by 1848 it was let as an auction room. More than a century passed before it reopened in 1963 following a public appeal and restoration.

In 2002, a £1.6 million upgrade was carried out and it is now the most complete working Georgian playhouse in its original form in Britain. Not only used a thriving community venue but also a living history theatre, it gives an insight into how Samuel Butler’s circuit – including Ripon’s Theatre Royal – might have looked 200 years ago.

As for Ripon’s country playhouse, it was later used as a military riding school and a drill hall, before being destroyed by fire in 1918.

Today, the wall is pretty much all that remains of the Theatre Royal. But a commemorative green plaque at its bottom right hand side, unveiled by the Ripon Civic Society in 2013 thanks to a contribution from Calvert’s Carpets, is a reminder of its moment in the limelight.

Sources for this article include the Arthur Lloyd music hall and theatre history website, The Ripon Civic Society’s website, the V&A website, the Richmond Hudswell parish magazine, and the Georgian Theatre Royal website.