Painting

The watercolour is signed and dated 1861 and inscribed, presumably by John Le Conte: 'The Theatre Royal Edinburgh before its demolition. There have been four theatres in Edinburgh called the Theatre Royal, and this was the first, in Shakespeare Square, at the east end of Princes Street, was opened on 9 December 1769 by the actor manager David Ross. It was rebuilt in 1830 but demolished in 1859.

A placard in the foreground advertises a performance by the actor J.L. Toole (1830-1906) as the Artful Dodger. Toole started working in Edinburgh as a 'low comedian' in July 1853, after his apprenticeship in Dublin. He went to London in October 1854 but returned to Edinburgh after six months, going back to London by autumn 1857. A playbill in the Rare Books and Music Collections of the National Library of Scotland shows that the programme for Monday 17 April 1854 at the Theatre Royal Edinburgh ended with J.L. Toole playing the Artful Dodger in ‘the celebrated melo-drama, in two acts, entitled Oliver Twist! Or the Adventures of a Poor Workhouse Boy when he performed ‘The Dodger’s Lament’ – a new song written expressly for him. The evening began with a performance of Macklin's The Man of the World and various musical interludes.

Toole very probably played this role again while he was in Edinburgh before the theatre was demolished, and he was very successful with it in London, appearing in Oliver Twist dramatised by John Oxenford with music by Mr. Wallerstein at the Queen's Theatre, Long Acre, in April 1868, when he was depicted on a poster for the production as the Artful Dodger.