On the first floor in the east half of the palace, off the gallery leading to the passage over the Holbein Gate (which was off the northwest end of the Banqueting House) and between that gate and the east end of the Banqueting House. http://www.londonancestor.com/map…
... the origin of the green room perhaps lies in a warrant of 1662 "to deliver 110 yards of green baize for the upper tyring rooms of the Cockpit, which in their present state are unfit for rich clothes", noted in Nicoll, "A History of English Drama". Tyring rooms were dressing rooms, and the Cockpit was at Whitehall, used occasionally for plays performed for the court.
In the annotations, Antony Tuckey of Ipswich says: In Shadwell's play "The True Widow" (Drury Lane, 1679) a character says: "I have enjoyed the prettiest creature just now in a room behind the scenes." Later it is described as "a green room behind the scenes". The mundane explanation is that it was a waiting room adjacent to the stage and was decorated in green - as, perhaps, were most theatres. From Britain's premier theatre, the name may have caught on across the country by touring actors. It may also be connected to the theory that the stage was covered in green baize - green was an "unlucky" costume colour well into the 20th century, perhaps because it would be lost against such a background. I have also heard that it's connected to rhyming slang (greengage = stage), and I have known older actors leaving the dressing room to say: "See you on the green."
2 Annotations
First Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
Green Chamber (Whitehall Palace)
On the first floor in the east half of the palace, off the gallery leading to the passage over the Holbein Gate (which was off the northwest end of the Banqueting House) and between that gate and the east end of the Banqueting House. http://www.londonancestor.com/map…
(L&M Companion entry amplified)
Second Reading
San Diego Sarah • Link
On 4 April, 1668 PSW posted this information:
... the origin of the green room perhaps lies in a warrant of 1662 "to deliver 110 yards of green baize for the upper tyring rooms of the Cockpit, which in their present state are unfit for rich clothes", noted in Nicoll, "A History of English Drama". Tyring rooms were dressing rooms, and the Cockpit was at Whitehall, used occasionally for plays performed for the court.
https://www.theguardian.com/notes…
In the annotations, Antony Tuckey of Ipswich says:
In Shadwell's play "The True Widow" (Drury Lane, 1679) a character says: "I have enjoyed the prettiest creature just now in a room behind the scenes." Later it is described as "a green room behind the scenes".
The mundane explanation is that it was a waiting room adjacent to the stage and was decorated in green - as, perhaps, were most theatres. From Britain's premier theatre, the name may have caught on across the country by touring actors.
It may also be connected to the theory that the stage was covered in green baize - green was an "unlucky" costume colour well into the 20th century, perhaps because it would be lost against such a background.
I have also heard that it's connected to rhyming slang (greengage = stage), and I have known older actors leaving the dressing room to say: "See you on the green."