The ‘new’ theatre, now Theatre Royal Drury Lane, is the world’s oldest theatre in continuous use, and was opened by King Charles II in 1663 and where Nell Gwyn went from selling oranges to becoming its biggest comedic star and the king’s mistress. Now owned by Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, it has had four total rebuilds, legendary ghost sightings, those royal affairs, and a recent £60m restoration. The original building was open to the elements with Samuel Pepys writing that he had to leave a performance due to a hail storm. It the first place the British National Anthem was ever played and where the iconic British pantomime was developed by Joseph Grimaldi.
Samuel Pepys lived in a house on Seething Lane and here he chronicled his daily life, his work, and the tumultuous events of 1660s London in his famous diaries which saw him witness the return of Charles II, the horrors of the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London. During the Great Fire of 1666, the flames came dangerously close to this area and Pepys noted in his diary that he dug holes in the garden to bury wine and his prized Parmesan cheese for safety. Samuel Pepys was given a “tame” lion by Samuel Martin, the English consul in Algiers and kept the exotic animal at his lodgings, reporting to his friends that the beast was surprisingly good company.
Publishing on 3rd September, Seething Lane by Jack Jewers is a historical novel which follows the diarist Samuel Pepys hot on the heels of a cold-blooded murder in the heart of London’s theatre world.
Jack Jewers – author of Seething Lane
Seething Lane is Jack’s second novel, after his 2022 debut, The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys, was named one of the Sunday Times’ historical fiction books of the year.
MOONFLOWER BOOKS| 3RD SEPTEMBER 2026 | £18.99| HARDBACK
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