A real show stopper
The National Anthem, Rule Britannia, the safety curtain and the first ever fire sprinkler system. The link? They all made their world debuts at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
The first theatre to be built on the Drury Lane site opened in 1663, making the Theatre Royal officially the oldest theatre in London. Built during the English Restoration, it saw Nell Gwyn tread its boards, Charles II a regular in the Royal Box and Samuel Pepys often in the audience before it was destroyed by fire. The theatre was rebuild and designed by Christopher Wren, and lasted nearly 120 years until it was knocked down to be replaced by a larger theatre in 1794. Sadly, even though this third incarnation was the first in the world to include a safety curtain, it too burned down in 1809, just 15 years after opening. The safety curtain was made of iron, which had rusted so much it wouldn't close, and the huge water tanks suspended above the stage ready to be released in the event of a fire hadn't actually been filled with water. You wouldn't have wanted to be the duty manager that day.
Today's theatre, the forth to stand on the famous Drury Lane site, was completed in 1812 and is now a Grade 1 listed building – and the chances of this one being destroyed by fire are very slim thanks to a fabulous invention: the fire sprinkler.
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane was the site of the world's first recognisable sprinkler system, installed by the architect Benjamen Wyatt and designed by Col William Congreve. The system involved a reservoir of around 95,000 litres, fed by a water main that branched out all around the building. Off this main pipe were lots of smaller pipes pierced with holes to shower water around the theatre if a fire broke out.
Luckily, the system was never needed for any large-scale fire, and today's installation is a state-of-the-art affair that's also never been called on in an emergency. Of course there are always odd moments of drama in theatre land, and there was an occasion when the Queen was at the Theatre Royal and a fire broke out in the building next door. Luckily the alarm wasn't raised, and the show did indeed go on.
You're safe in our hands with Fire Defence's sprinkler systems
