In this episode of the Gold Rush Trail storyteller series, we meet Richard Wright, who is the Artistic Director and Producer at Theatre Royal in Barkerville Historic Town & Park. Along with churches, theatres were often the first buildings to pop up in gold rush towns as miners needed entertainment away from their tiring and gruelling jobs. Although the residents of Barkerville were previously using a parlour saloon as their theatre, they built a separate Theatre Royal building in 1869. An extremely popular place, this building lasted until the 1930s when it was torn down due to fire hazard. As everyone in theatre knows, however, the show must go on! So, in 1937, a new theatre was built and has been operating in Barkerville ever since! For more information about Barkerville, visit https://www.barkerville.ca/
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