New Theatre Royal New Theatre Royal The New Theatre Royal is a Victorian Grade II* listed theatre in the heart of Portsmouth, England, with a capacity of 667. The theatre building was constructed in 1854 as Landport Hall. It was converted to a theatre two years later. It was rebuilt in 1884 by Charles J. Phipps and again in 1900 by Frank Matcham. The Theatre reopened in October 2015 after a £4.7M refurbishment project. The present site was built to replace a theatre located in the High Street (now designated "old Portsmouth". The theatre features in Charles Dickens' novel "Nicholas Nickleby". A popular
Portsmouth for Portsmouth Association Football Club, an amateur team not to be confused with the later professional Portsmouth Football Club. Rudyard Kipling, poet and author of the "Jungle Book", and H. G. Wells, author of "War of the Worlds" and "The Time Machine", lived in Portsmouth during the 1880s. Sir Walter Besant, a novelist and historian, was born in Portsmouth, writing one novel set exclusively in the town, "By Celia's Arbour, A Tale of Portsmouth Town". Historian Frances Yates was born in Portsmouth and is known for her work on Renaissance esotericism. Sir Francis Austen, brother of Jane Austen, briefly lived