The Theater Royal

4.8

The theater Royal in Drury Lane is one of the oldest theaters in London. It was opened in 1663. The king was present at the performance; that is why it was called the theater Royal. Today most people call it Drury Lane by the name of the street in which it stands. The theater has many traditions. One of them is the Badely cake, which began in the eighteenth century.

Robert Badely was a pastry-cook who became an actor and joined the theater Royal. He was a good actor, and the plays in which he acted were always a great success with the people of London. When Robert Badely was very old, he left some money to the theater. Robert Badely asked to buy cake and offer a piece of it to each actor and actress of the theater on Twelfth Night every year. Twelfth Night is the 6th of January, the twelfth night after Christmas.

So, after the evening performance on the Twelfth Night, the actors and actresses come down into the hall in their stage clothes and eat the Badely cake.