The popular comedian John Palmer then managed the theatre until 1789,[2] when he was committed to Horsemonger Lane Gaol as "a rogue and a vagabond".

He reopened on Easter Monday and to avoid trouble with the law, which did not allow dialogue to be spoken without musical accompaniment except at the two patent theatres, he put a ballet into every such production, including Macbeth, Hamlet, and Farquhar's The Beaux' Stratagem.

John Baldwin Buckstone made his first London appearance at the theatre, on 30 January 1823, as Ramsay in The Fortunes of Nigel.

In 1829, Douglas Jerrold's melodrama Black-Eyed Susan, with T. P. Cooke as William, the nautical hero, ran for over 300 nights, which was extraordinarily successful for the time.

Osbaldiston then took over and, among other plays, produced Edward Fitzball's Jonathan Bradford; or, the Murder at the Roadside Inn, which ran for 260 nights.

Richard Shepherd, who succeeded Alfred Bunn in 1848, remained at the theatre until 1869 and established its reputation for 'rough-and-tumble' transpontine melodrama.

Panic ensued backstage, but the cast were led to safety through the burning scenery by the efforts of Green (acting manager), Rowella (the 'clown'), Evans (the 'pantaloon'), Vivian (the 'sprite') and others.