patent theatre

A theatre with letters patent from the Crown granting it the privilege of presenting plays publicly in London. Two such companies, ultimately resident at Covent Garden and Drury Lane, held these exclusive rights from 1660 until 1843, though Samuel Foote was granted a Patent at the Haymarket for the summer months from 1766.

The patent theatres were the theatres that were licensed to perform "spoken drama" after the English Restoration of Charles II in 1660. After he was restored to the throne, Charles II issued letters patent to Thomas Killigrew and William Davenant, granting them the monopoly right to form two London theatre companies to perform "serious" drama. Killigrew established his company, the King's Company at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1663;

After problems under the direction of Charles Killigrew, Thomas' son, the King's Company was taken over by its rival, the Duke's Company in 1682. After some disagreements, Betterton obtained a license from William III to form a new company at the old theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1695, which moved to the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in 1720 (now the Royal Opera House). To fill the gap, Samuel Foote's Theatre Royal, Haymarket became a third patent theatre in London in 1766.

Further letters patent were granted to theatres in other English towns and cities, including the Theatre Royal, Bath in 1768, the Theatre Royal, Liverpool in 1772, and the Theatre Royal, Bristol in 1778.

These monopolies on the performance of "serious" plays were eventually revoked by the Theatre Regulation Act 1843, but censorship of the content of plays by the Lord Chamberlain under Robert Walpole's Theatrical Licensing Act of 1737 continued until 1968.