Theatre Royal

The Theatre Royal, located in Bury St Edmunds, was built in 1819 and later repurposed as a warehouse before being restored and reopened as a theatre in 1965. Designed by William Wilkins, the building features a white brick and stucco exterior topped with a slate roof.

The auditorium has a gabled end made of white brick, which includes a three-light small-paned sash window set within a semicircular arched recess. Below this, there is a stuccoed entrance foyer with a flat roof, designed in two tiers. The lower part of the front has a triglyph frieze and cornice, divided into three bays by plain pilasters, which are doubled at the corners. The two outer bays contain small-paned semicircular arched windows, while the central bay features double entrance doors with a semicircular fanlight above, all adorned with radiating glazing-bars. Flanking the foyer are lower side wings, each with two semicircular arched openings—one containing a small-paned window and the other a doorway.

Inside, the circular auditorium boasts two tiers of galleries supported by slender reeded cast-iron columns with acanthus-leaf capitals. The original Etruscan style decoration on the gallery fronts has been restored. The stage is equipped with doors on each side and is framed by figured marble pilasters. The foyer includes a pair of matching fireplaces on the rear walls, featuring slightly raised cast-iron grates with reeded surrounds and moulded architraves topped with dentil cornices. The ceiling is domed.