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Playbills from Edinburgh's Theatre Royal

Theatre Royal playbill, 1819 Playbill for 'Pizarro'

Welcome to the website where you can find out what was happening in Edinburgh's Theatre Royal at the start of the 19th century.

The Theatre Royal was extremely important in the revival of Scottish culture during this period, and is often associated with popular stage adaptations of novels by Sir Walter Scott. We have digitised a selection of over 240 playbills, which were used to advertise performances and events, using originals in the collection of the National Library of Scotland.

Search or browse the playbills to see who performed in a particular play or which musical events were scheduled for the same night. We provide a list of further reading and links to living theatres in Scotland today.

You can also consult the NLS Scottish Theatre Programmes database for access to over 4,300 records for some of the playbills, programmes, and posters held by the Library.

Please contact us for information about other playbills or other works in our collections about Scottish theatre: enquiries@nls.uk.

 
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