1850
Charles Kean becomes the manager at Princess's Theatre, London.
1851
Agnes Robertson, the adoptive daughter of Charles Kean and his wife Ellen Tree, makes her debut performance at the Princess's Theatre.
1851
Edwin Booth takes the leading role during a production of Richard III in New York following his father's refusal to perform.
1851
Following a successful career, William Charles Macready gives his farewell performance in a production of Macbeth at Drury Lane on the 26th February.
1853
Hugely successful actor and stage manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (Herbert Draper Beerbohm) is born.
1853 - 1856
Outbreak of the Crimean War which saw Russia suffer defeat at the hands of an alliance made up of Great Britain, France, Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire.
1854
On 20th February, Charles Kean opens his production of Richard III at the Princess's Theatre in London, using Colley Cibber's adapted version of the play. The production features lavish scenery and over 100 actors on stage during the final battle scene.
1854
Samuel Phelps puts on a production of Pericles at Sadler's Wells Theatre using the original text from the First Folio.
1854 - 1855
Edwin Booth tours Australia accompanied by actress Laura Keene.
1855
Pfaff's' opens in New York City, an establishment frequented by early American bohemian writers.
1856
The Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, is destroyed by fire again.
1856
Ellen Terry makes her stage debut at the age of nine. She plays Mamillius in a production of A Winter's Tale at the Princess's Theatre in London, opposite Charles Kean's Leontes.
1856
Charles Kean's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream is praised for it's historical accuracy.
1858
The Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, is re-opened for the third time.
1859
Charles Kean's spectacular production of Henry V opens at the Princess's Theatre in London on 28th March. Stunning visual effects, 150 extras on stage at once, and epic music made this four-hour production a sensation.
1859
American actor Edward Hugh Sothern is born.
1860
Edwin Forrest appears as Hamlet at Niblo's Garden in what would be his most successful engagement.
1860
Abraham Lincoln becomes the President of the United States.
1861
Samuel Phelps opens A Midsummer Night's Dream at Sadler's Wells in London on 19th October, using extra-creative staging and effects.
1861
Charlotte Cushman appears as Hamlet at the Washington Theatre.
1861 - 1865
The American Civil War.
1863
Edwin Booth and John Sleeper Clarke take over the Walnut Street Theatre, Boston.
1864
Samuel Phelps and Helen Faucit take the lead roles in a production of Cymbeline at Drury Lane, as part of the tercentennial celebrations of Shakespeare's works.
1864
Edwin Booth becomes joint manager of the Winter Garden Theatre in New York.
1864
Edwin Booth plays Hamlet, appearing in the production for 100 days in a row.
1865
Abraham Lincoln is assassinated by the actor John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C. John Wilkes Booth was the brother of famous American actor Edwin Booth.
1866
After withdrawing from the stage following his brother's assassination of President Lincoln, Edwin Booth returns to play Hamlet at the Winter Garden.
1866
English actress Julia Marlowe (Sarah Frances Frost) is born.
1867 - 1869
American actress Viola Allen is born in Alabama.
1868
Actor Charles Kean dies.
1869
Edwin Booth opens his own theatre in New York called Booth's. His opening production is Romeo and Juliet, where he plays Romeo opposite Mary F. McVicker's Juliet.
1869
Edwin Booth marries actress Mary F. McVicker.
1869
Augustin Daly becomes the manager at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, New York.
1870
Julia Marlowe makes her stage debut at the age of 11 in a production of Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S Pinafore.
1870
The Vaudeville Theatre opens on The Strand on the 16th April 1870.
1871
Henry Irving achieves his first success in a production of The Bells at the Lyceum, under the management of Hezekiah Linthicum Bateman.
1871
William Winter writes a biography of Edwin Booth.
1872
Actor Edwin Forrest dies.
1873
English actor William Charles Macready dies in Cheltenham.
1874
The Criterion Theatre opens in Piccadilly Circus on 21st March 1874.
1874
Henry Irving plays Hamlet at the Lyceum Theatre in a production that would run for 200 nights.
1875
The play Our Boys becomes the first production in the world to run for 500 consecutive nights. The run starts at the Vaudeville Theatre.
1876
Actress Charlotte Cushman dies.
1878
Samuel Phelps gives his last performance, playing Cardinal Wolsey in Shakespeare's Henry VIII.
1878
Samuel Phelps dies.
1878
Henry Irving takes over the management of the Lyceum Theatre following the death of Hezekiah Linthicum Bateman.
1878
Henry Irving, actor-manager at the Lyceum Theatre, makes Ellen Terry his leading lady.
1878
Author Bram Stoker becomes actor-manager and business manager of Henry Irving's Lyceum Theatre. A post he would hold for 20 years. Irving would go on to be Stoker's real-life inspiration for his character Count Dracula.
1879
Henry Irving plays Shylock from the Merchant of Venice, opting to give the character more dignity than previous portrayals which showed him only as devious and vengeful.
1879
Edward Sothern makes his acting debut in Brother Sam by John Oxenford, in a part originally written for his father who played it in 1862.
1879
Augustin Daly opens Daly's Theatre in New York, headed by John Drew and Ada Rehan.
1880
Madison Square Theatre opens in New York.
1880
Theatre paper 'The Stage' is published for the first time.
1880
Mrs Charles Kean (born Ellen Tree) dies in London.
1881
William Winter writes a biography of the Jefferson acting family.
1881
The Savoy Theatre opens in London with the aim of showcasing comic operas by Gilbert and Sullivan. It is the first theatre to use electric lighting.
1882
Viola Allen makes her stage debut at Madison Square Theatre in a production of Esmeralda. When leading lady Annie Russell was taken ill, Allen's father granted the stage manager's request to allow his daughter to fill the role in Russell's absence.
1882
Henry Irving puts on a production of Much Ado About Nothing at the Lyceum Theatre.
1882
Actor Edwin Booth tours Germany, acting in productions of Hamlet and King Lear.
1882
American actor John Barrymore is born.
1884
Henry Irving puts on a production of Twelfth Night at the Lyceum Theatre.
1884
Actor John McCullough makes Viola Allen his leading lady after seeing her performance in Esmeralda at the Madison Square Theatre in 1882.
1885
William Winter writes a biography of Henry Irving.
1887
Herbert Beerbohm Tree become the manager of Haymarket Theatre, London.
1888
Augustin Daly stages a lavish production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Daly's Theatre in New York on 31st January.
1888
Henry Irving puts on a production of Macbeth at the Lyceum Theatre.
1888
The Lyric Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue opens with a production of Dorothy.
1888
Edwin Booth opens the Player's Club in New York, for fellow actors and other men of prominence.
1892
Henry Irving puts on a production of Henry VIII at the Lyceum Theatre.
1892
The Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, becomes the Royal Opera House.
1892
The Walnut Street Theatre in Boston begins to use electricity for their chandeliers and footlights.
1893
Viola Allen becomes Charles Frohman's leading lady at the Empire Stock Company.
1893
Augustin Daly opens Daly's Theatre in London.
1893
Actress Fanny Kemble dies in London.
1893
Actor Edwin Booth dies in New York.
1897
Actor William Terriss, well known for his 'hero' roles, is stabbed to death at the door of the Adelphi Theatre by deranged actor Richard Archer Prince. Terriss had previously helped Prince find work on the several of the productions he was involved with.
1897
Herbert Beerbohm Tree become the manager of Her Majesty's Theatre, London.
1898
Viola Allen appears as Glory Quayle in an adaptation of Hall Craine's novel The Christian presented by George C. Tyler. This would become her most famous and successful role.
1899
Augustin Daly dies in Paris.
1900
Herbert Beerbohm Tree stages a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Her Majesty's Theatre in London on 10th January, playing the role of Bottom with his wife as Titania.
1901
Queen Victoria dies on the 22nd January. She is succeeded by her son Edward VII.
1903
Ellen Terry becomes the stage manager at the Imperial Theatre in London.
1904
Julia Marlowe and Edward Sothern commence their very successful business partnership, which will see them performing some of Shakespeare's most famous roles together, including Romeo and Juliet in the same year.
1904
Herbert Beerbohm Tree founds the Royal Acadamy of Dramatic Art (RADA), the oldest school of drama in Great Britain.
1905
Herbert Beerbohm Tree establishes an annual Shakespeare Festival.
1905
Actor Henry Irving dies after suffering a stroke during a performance at the Bradford Theatre.
1907
The Charlotte Cushman Club is founded in memory of the actress.
1907
Stage and film actor Laurence Olivier (Laurence Kerr Oliver, Baron Olivier) is born in Surrey, Great Britain.
1909
Sothern and Marlowe perform together in a Louis Calvert production of Antony and Cleopatra at the New Theatre, New York.
1909
Herbert Beerbohm Tree is awarded the Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire.
1909
Actress Helena Modjeska dies.
1910
Sothern and Marlowe tour together in a production of Macbeth.
1911
Following their successful professional acting career together, Julia Marlowe and Edward Sothern marry.
1913
John Barrymore acts in his first feature length film, An American Citizen.
1913
William Winter writes a biography of Tyrone Power.
1913
The London Opera Glass Company is founded, becoming the provider of opera glasses for many theatres in the West End of London.
1914 - 1918
World War I.
1914
Herbert Beerbohm Tree stars as Henry Higgins in a production of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion.
1915 - 1916
Viola Allen tours as Lady Macbeth with J.K. Hackett.
1915
Actress Charlotte Cushman is entered into the Hall of Fame for Great Americans.
1916
Edward Sothern appears in the film The Chattel.
1916
In March, Viola Allen gives her final New York performance, starring as Mistress Quickly in The Merry Wives of Windsor.
1916
Easter Uprising in Ireland in protest against the rule of the country by Great Britain.
1917
Edward Sothern appears in the film The Man of Mystery.
1917
Following a fifty year career as a Shakespearean scholar, dramatic critic and author, William Winter dies at his home in New Brighton Staten Island.
1917
Stage manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree dies in London.
1920
John Barrymore stars in the dual-leading role in the film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.