One of the first lighting systems of incandescent bulbs fed by an electric power source was installed in the Savoy Theatre in London which opened in October 1881. The electric power was generated by a giant steam engine of 120 horsepower, supplied by the German company Siemens and placed outside the theatre, and the entire theatre was illuminated with 1200 Swan incandescent bulbs. There were however serious technical problems, caused mainly by interruptions in the electricity supply, the result being that the lighting rose and fell during the performance with no relationship whatsoever to events on stage. Despite these teething problems the new lighting system was enthusiastically received by public and press alike. The first performances at the Savoy were operettas by Gilbert and Sullivan, who even dedicated a song to the wonders of stage lighting, and on

December 1881, the 'Times' wrote: "An interesting experiment was made at a performance of 'Patience' yesterday afternoon, when the stage was for the first time lit up by the electric light … The success of the new mode of illumination was complete … the effect was pictorially superior to gas."

Like many innovations, the installation of electric systems in theatres was accompanied by suspicion on the part of the audience which, remembering the mishaps and fires caused by gaslight systems, feared that electrical systems were not safe enough. D'Oyly Carte, manager of the Savoy Theatre, came on stage and enveloped an electric lamp with a piece of highly inflammable muslin. He then broke the glass, demonstrating how the vacuum killed the flame immediately without even singeing the muslin.

The manager of the Olympic Theatre was less certain of the fidelity of this new invention, and announced to the audience that the theatre did not completely trust either electricity or gas, and undertook that every evening, in every corner of the theatre, there would also be oil lamps!

Nevertheless by the turn of the century nearly all theatres in Europe and the US had replaced their now obsolete gaslight with new electric systems, and the use of gas in the theatre was forbidden by the authorities.