This poster celebrates the 1867 interior of the opulent new Standard Theatre in London's Shoreditch. The original theatre opened in 1837 and was rebuilt in 1844 on a much larger scale as a theatre and circus arena, opening in January 1845. Its lease was bought in 1848 by the actor and theatre manager John Douglass (1814-1874) who remodelled its interior between May and September, opening it on 30th September. The theatre burned down on 28th October 1866 but reopened in December 1867, an astonishingly short time after its foundation stone was laid on 4th July that year. Dubbed 'the Drury Lane of the East' it boasted a lofty horseshoe-shaped auditorium seating
3,000, including 92 private boxes and a magnificent central chandelier by Jonas Defries and Sons. The firm was one of London's largest glass manufacturers, based in Houndsditch and specialising in lighting, much of it for large-scale commercial use in public buildings and theatres including the Strand Music Hall and Covent Garden's Royal Italian Opera.

Douglass spared no expense on his new theatre, described on the poster as 'the largest and most elegant theatre in Europe'. Its enlarged size, due to the adjoining property that Douglass purchased for the new theatre, meant that large-scale productions from the biggest West End theatres including Drury Lane Theatre and the Lyceum could be mounted for patrons in the East End. Its superb act drop shown in the poster, depicting a Venetian scene, was designed and painted by the acclaimed scene painter William Telbin (1815-1873).