Ogilby, who was the first Irish Master of the Revels, had previously run the New Theatre in Werburgh Street, which had closed during the Puritan interregnum.

The building was built on reclaimed ground from the River Liffey and due to this, in 1670 and later in 1701 the upper galleries collapsed killing several people inside and injuring many more including the son of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Charles Earl of Middlesex.

In 1745 Thomas Sheridan, godson of Jonathan Swift, took on the role of manager of Smock Alley and Aungier Street.

At the time there were many unsavoury taverns and alehouses as well as many establishments of ill repute that Sheridan successfully petitioned to have closed down in favour of more wholesome and decent businesses.

Benjamin Victor was an Englishman who originally visited Ireland in an effort to extend his textile business, but that did not prove profitable, and he eventually gave it up.

On 11 October 1746, Victor settled with his family in Dublin as treasurer and deputy manager to Sheridan at the Smock Alley Theatre.

It was here that the stars of world theatre appeared to much acclaim such as Peg Woffington, Thomas Sheridan, Spranger Barry and Charles Macklin.

It was on the stage of Smock Alley Theatre that David Garrick, the greatest actor of the 18th century, first played Hamlet.

Thomas Sheridan was the manager at the time and had recently banned the presence of audience members on stage and the taking of money for the privilege of going backstage.

The theatre still boasts ornate stained glass windows and ceiling plasterwork which dates from the turn of the 20th century.

A total of 229 artefacts were recovered from the excavations, these included medieval and post-medieval pottery, glass finds (mostly wine bottles), clay tobacco-pipe fragments, an actor's wig curler, a medieval roof tile, fragments of mosaic floor and many oyster shells, remnants of the building's theatrical past.