Joseph Wyatt (theatre owner)

Joseph Wyatt (1788 – 20 July 1860)[1] was a theatre owner and manager, in the early years of theatre in Sydney, Australia.

Life

Wyatt became prosperous as a haberdasher in Pitt Street, Sydney, and in 1833 he sold the business and invested in property. From April 1835 he was one of six lessees of the Theatre Royal in George Street, the first commercial theatre in Sydney. From May 1836 he was sole lessee.[1][2]

Interior of the Royal Victoria Theatre

In 1836 he planned another larger theatre in Sydney, the Royal Victoria Theatre. The foundation stone was laid on 7 September of that year, and the new theatre in Pitt Street, seating 1,900, opened on 26 March 1838.[3] In the same year Wyatt bought the Theatre Royal from the widow of its owner Barnett Levey, who had died the previous year. That theatre burned down in 1840.[2]

The population of Sydney was small in relation to the size of the Royal Victoria Theatre, so that a proper repertoire could not be built up: there were frequent changes of programme, leading to poorly rehearsed performances. In March 1841 Wyatt sailed for England to recruit actors, returning in January 1843. The new actors engaged faced opposition from the Sydney actors, and the Sydney Morning Herald commented on 25 January 1843: "Of the twelve brought out by him from England there is not one equal in ability to the leading members, male or female, of the old company". Wyatt eventually sacked some of his actors.[1][3]

Wyatt sold the Royal Victoria Theatre in 1854.[1] He built a new theatre in Sydney, the Prince of Wales Theatre, on Castlereagh Street, at a cost of about £30,000. It had a dress circle, upper boxes and gallery, and was said to seat about 3,000. It opened on 12 March 1855.[4] "It was soon apparent," wrote an obituarist, "that two theatres would not pay in Sydney... he was at length compelled to take the benefit of the Insolvent Act."[5] He sold the theatre at a heavy loss in 1858.[4]

He died on 20 July 1860, and was buried at Camperdown Cemetery.[1] An obituarist wrote, "in his dealings with the public and the professionals during the twenty-five years he was connected with the theatres, [he] managed to secure the respect of both".[5]

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References
  1. Oppenheim, H. L. (1967). "Wyatt, Joseph (1788–1860)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. 2. Melbourne University Press. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 31 January 2019 – via National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
  2. "Barnett Levey's Theatre Royal" The Dictionary of Sydney. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  3. "Royal Victoria Theatre (Sydney)" Australian Variety Theatre Archive. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  4. "Prince of Wales Theatre" The Dictionary of Sydney. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  5. "Music and Drama" The Sydney Mail, 28 July 1860. Page 5.
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