In 1875 the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Ltd. Incorporated was created and subsequently the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre opened in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1879. The theatre was granted a Royal Charter on its 50th anniversary of incorporation in 1925. This document is the petition from the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre for the Royal Charter. However, in 1926 the auditorium and stage of the theatre were destroyed by a fire. The New Shakespeare Memorial Theatre opened in 1932 and in 1986 the Swan Theatre was built in the Victorian Gothic shell of the original 1879 building.