Marquess of Anglesey's Theatre

Black and white postcard showing the private theatre at the Marquess of Anglesey’s home, Plas Newydd. The theatre was created in Plas Newydd’s Georgian Gothick style chapel by the fifth Marquess of Anglesey, Cyril Paget (1875-1905), who was known as ‘The Mad Marquess’ or ‘The Dancing Marquess’ because of his eccentric and lavish lifestyle. He inserted a proscenium arch and created a theatrical effect through the use of pot plants and drapes. The marquess, deeply enamoured of his own performance skills, spent huge sums on jewellery, properties, lavish productions and tours until becoming spectacularly insolvent in 1904. The theatre was dismantled some time after his death.