On 5 September 1887, a fire broke out in the backstage area of the Theatre Royal in Exeter, England, during the production of The Romany Rye. The fire caused panic throughout the theatre, with 186 people dying from a combination of the direct effects of smoke and flame, crushing and trampling, and trauma injuries from falling or jumping from the roof and balconies.
The death toll makes it the worst theatre disaster, the worst single-building fire, and the third worst fire-related disaster in UK history.
Most of the dead were in the gallery of the theatre, which had only a single exit with several design flaws, and quickly became clogged with people trying to escape.
Construction of this Theatre Royal
The previous Theatre Royal, Exeter had been gutted by fire in 1885, and the new theatre was opened, on a new site, in 1886 to the design of well-known theatre architect C. J. Phipps. The theatre was leased exclusively to Sidney Herberte-Basing.
The building was constructed from stone and red brick on the outside, but inside made extensive use of timber.
The licensing authority, Exeter City Council ordered that the new theatre be constructed "in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Metropolitan Board of Works", which was a statutory requirement in London under the Metropolitan Building Act 1855 (18 & 19 Vict. c. 122) (with theatre particulars added in the Metropolis Management and Building Acts Amendment Act 1878), but not in the regions.
In his letter accompanying the plans to the Corporation Surveyor of Exeter City Council, Phipps directly states that the building met all the rules and requirements laid out:
...the theatre is designed in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Board of Works under the Act of 1878 and of the Lord Chamberlain – and having constructed some 40 theatres, I bring a somewhat large experience to bear on this subject
During the licensing inspection, the magistrates noted several deficiencies, which were ordered to be rectified, including installing an additional exit for the audience from the boxes, stalls, and pit, widening the exits to at least 6 feet (1.8 m), changing some single leaf exit doors to double doors, and supplying 80 feet (24 m) of hose for each hydrant (of which there were only two – one in the foyer and one in the "prompts" in front of the stage), rather than 40 feet (12 m) which had been provided.
The magistrates did not make an inspection of the stage, the mezzanine floor, or the fly galleries above the stage.
The theatre's design contained a gallery, which was the audience viewing area at the top of the building containing the cheapest seats, to which access and egress was limited to a single stone staircase, which had four right-angled turns in it. Licensing magistrates noted during the licensing hearing that the Metropolitan Board rules stated that there should be two exits, but Phipps asserted that a second exit was provided by climbing the railing at the front of the gallery, and dropping to the second circle below. Unlike several other faults which were noted with clear instructions to remediate, it is unclear in documentation if the magistrates remarks about the exit required action, and the magistrates seemed to accept the assurances of the architect, issuing the licence.
The licensing requirements also specified the provision of an iron safety curtain, which was not fitted at the time of the fire. Similarly, a fire hydrant in the stage wings was on the plans of the theatre but never installed, despite Phipps being advised by Mssrs Merryweather, the installers of fire suppression measures, that the two hydrants installed were insufficient.
The disaster occurred on 5 September 1887, the opening night of the touring production of the melodrama The Romany Rye written by George Robert Sims, performed by the company of Gilbert Elliott and produced by Wilson Barrett. The show had previously been staged at the Princess's Theatre in London.
The play had up to eighteen very elaborate sets and scenes, which were all stored around the backstage area.
There were 700 to 800 people in the Theatre Royal at the time of the fire, around half of its full capacity, with some 300 people in the gallery alone, which had been boosted by an influx of "half-timers" who entered after 9 pm for a cheaper seat.
The fire broke out at approximately 10:20 pm during the conclusion of the fourth act, when a gauze curtain was lowered from the gantry by a scene-shifter named Taylor, who then observed that the gauze had caught alight on one of the gas jets used for stage lighting. Upon seeing this, Taylor then ran across the gantry and released the "drop-scene" (a painting of Warwick Castle by Walter Johnson) towards the front of the stage, temporarily isolating the fire from the auditorium, and before the audience had noticed anything wrong.
The drop-scene covered the stage whilst the actor playing the part of Scragger was in the middle of speaking a line, and people in the theatre initially laughed, thinking there was a technical 'first-night' glitch in the performance.