After a brief period as acting-manager of the Adelphi Theatre, Planché moved to the Olympic Theatre when Lucia Vestris took over the management in 1831. He provided the first play which she produced, "Olympic Revels, or, Prometheus and Pandora". This began a professional relationship which lasted over two decades. Planché went with Vestris and her husband, Charles Mathews, when they took over management of Covent Garden in 1839, then with them to Drury Lane in 1842. From 1843 he spent four years at the Haymarket with Benjamin Webster, before returning to Vestris and Matthews at the Lyceum, where he stayed until leaving London in 1852. During his time with Vestris, he undertook the roles of "playwright, librettist, general advisor and superintendent of the decorative departments".