Inspired by a note of mine, a reader asks which were the first playhouses in Dublin. I find that the best authorities on the subject record that during the last years of Elizabeth's reign, when Shakespeare's works were in high demand, the ballroom of Dublin Castle was fitted up as a theatre in which the nobility performed, but the first public playhouse was in St. Werburgh's street. I do not know of any records of the actors who appeared in it, but the house had good success for seven years until it was closed finally during the rebellion in 1641.
The Smock Alley theatre, where the celebrated Wilkes made his first appearance as Othello, came next, and the booth in George's lane, followed. The latter was intended for presentations of dancing and acrobatic entertainments - precursors of the existing variety turns - but that venture failed, and the proprietress changed it into the playhouse in which Mrs Woffington made her debut as Polly in the "Beggar's Opera".
Other theatres in their successive order were in Rainsford street, Aungier street, Smock Alley (rebuilt), Capel Street and Crow Street. The last, which accommodated over two thousand people, stood until 1820, and the year following saw the opening of the old Theatre Royal.
The Irish Times, January 10th, 1931