This original, handwritten manuscript, shows the House Receipts for Sheridan's first year as a shareholder of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and is dated 1776-7. The paper has been divided up into three columns. Each large column is subdivided into further columns, two of which contain the play's title and the total receipts.

The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane dates back to 1663, though the theatre that currently bears this name is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location. The first theatre was built at the behest of Thomas Killigrew in the early years of the English Restoration. Actors appearing at this "Theatre Royal in Bridges Street" included Nell Gwyn and Charles Hart. It was destroyed by fire in 1672. Killigrew built a larger theatre in the same spot, designed by Christopher Wren; renamed the "Theatre Royal in Drury Lane", which opened in 1674. This building lasted nearly 120 years, under leadership including Colley Cibber, David Garrick, and Richard Brinsley Sheridan. In 1791, under Sheridan's management, the building was demolished to make way for a larger theatre, designed by Henry Holland, which opened in 1794. This enormous new Drury Lane survived just 15 years, burning down in 1809. The building that stands today opened in 1812.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751 - 1816) was an Irish-born playwright and poet. He first purchased a share in the theatre on the retirement of the theatre's then manager and patent holder, David Garrick, in 1776 (at which time his father-in-law and another partner purchased the remaining shares). By 1778 his plays had achieved sufficient success for Sheridan to buy the remaining shares and all his later plays were produced there. He remained manager until 1809 when, despite the much vaunted fire safety precautions of 1794, the theatre burned down. Sheridan (who had invested heavily in the new theatre building and its lavish productions) was almost entirely ruined by this disaster.