WEST END THEATRES

See Also: CINEMAS; DISTRICT CHANGE Strand; ENTERTAINMENT; ESTATES The Cecil Estates, The Salisburies; FRINGE THEATRES & SMALL THEATRES; LIGHTING Electric Lighting; MUSIC HALL; MUSIC VENUES; NON-WEST END THEATRES; OPERA; PUBS Gin Palaces, The Salisbury; RAILWAY STATIONS Charing Cross Railway Station, The Playhouse Theatre; THEATRE RELATED; THEATRES, CLOSED OR DISAPPEARED

The Adelphi Theatre

Location: 411-412 Strand, WC2R 0NS (orange, blue)

Website: www.lwtheatres/theatres/adelphi

The Noël Coward Theatre

In 2006 The Albery Theatre was renamed The Noël Coward Theatre.

Location: 85-88 St Martin's Lane, WC2N 4AP (red, brown)

Website: www.noelcowardtheatre.co.uk

The Duchess Theatre

There is a story that when the construction of The Duchess Theatre (1929) was finished, the playwright J.B. Priestley stood outside the building with its architect and asked him 'Where are the dressing rooms?' Subsequently, some were erected upon its roof.

Location: 3-5 Catherine Street, WC2B 5LA (red, orange)

Website: www.theduchesstheatre.co.uk https://nimaxtheatres.com/theatres/duchess-theatre

Gaff Streets

During the early 17^thC theatres started to be opened to the west of the River Fleet. During the English Republic, the Puritans closed them. Following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 a number reopened within a few minutes walk from the Aldwych. In the early 18^thC Her Majesty's Theatre (1705) and The Theatre Royal Haymarket (1720) both opened on Haymarket.

By late 19^thC the Strand had become London's principal theatrical district. Now only The Adelphi (1806), The Savoy (1881), and The Vaudeville (1870) theatres remain.

In 1888 theatres began to open along Shaftesbury Avenue. The street came to be regarded as the hub of London's theatreland, a position that it still retains.¹

Location: Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 6LP (red, yellow)

Strand, WC2R 1HL (blue, yellow)

See Also: UNDERGROUND STATIONS Ghost Stations, Aldwych

Website: www.arthurlloyd.co.uk www.theatrestrust.org.uk

¹. In taxi slang theatres are known as Gaffs and Shaftesbury Avenue as Gaff Street .

The Garrick Theatre

Location: 2 Charing Cross Road, WC2H 0HH (orange, purple)

Website: https://thegarricktheatre.co.uk https://nimaxtheatres.com/theatres/garrick-theatre

The Gruesome Twosome

During the first half of the 20^thC the satanist Aleister Crowley was one of the most controversial people in British public life. In 1944 The Garrick Theatre mounted a stage adaptation of Graham Greene's novel Brighton Rock (1938). In the production, the role of Rose was played by Dulcie Gray. The aging diabolist attended a performance and was favourably impressed by the actress. Subsequently, he sent her a fan letter that he had written in doggerel. The 'verse' conveyed his admiration of her. He ended the communication by declaring that he wished to sacrifice her at Stonehenge as Midsummer's dawn broke. She sent him a reply that declined his offer. The grounds that she gave were that she did not like rising early.

Mr Crowley's intuition may not have been altogether wrong. Ms Gray had a taste for the macabre. In later life she suffered a bout of serious illness. As a means of distracting herself she wrote a detective novel. This was published. It proved to be successful. She recovered her health and resumed her acting career. However, in parallel, she continued to be an author. A constant strand in her crime books was that the murders were always carried out in a most unpleasant manner.

See Also: TRAFFIC CONTROL Traffic Islands

The Gielgud

The Gielgud Theatre (1906) was formerly known as The Globe Theatre. In 1995 the building's name was changed to honour the actor Sir John Gielgud, who acted on its stage in in numerous H.M. Tennent productions.

Location: 33 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 6AR (orange, red)

See Also: CATS Working Cats, Theatre Cat; THEATRE PRODUCERS H.M. Tennent

Website: www.gielgudtheatre.co.uk

Her Majesty's Theatre

Her Majesty's Theatre (1705) was designed by Sir John Vanbrugh, who was not only a playwright but also an architect. The building's name was resonant of the fact that theatres used to operate under the protection and the supervision of the royal court.

Location: Haymarket, SW1Y 4QL (blue, yellow)

See Also: ARCADES The Royal Opera House

Website: https://lwtheatres.co.uk/theatres/her-majestys

The London Palladium

The London Palladium hosts variety shows and musicals. For most British variety performers, to play the theatre is regarded as being the pinnacle of their career. Since the late 1960s, the venue's management has hired the building out for one-off performances by individuals who are prepared to risk several thousand pounds in order to fulfil their dream of playing there.

In August 1960 Judy Garland appeared in a comeback performance at The Palladium.

Location: 7 Argyll Street, W1F 7TF (blue, red)

Website: https://lwtheatres.co.uk/theatres/the-london-palladium

The Donkey Run

It is reputed that the rotating section of The Palladium's stage was originally made to turn by two harnessed donkeys being induced to walk on cue. As a result, the area below its centre became known as The Donkey Run.

See Also: WORKING HORSES

The Lyceum Theatre

The Lyceum Theatre did not metamorphose into a theatre until the late 19^thC. Over the previous century, the building had been a place of entertainment of various forms. These had ranged from hosting operas to showing waxworks.

Once the building had become a theatre, it became strongly associated with the actor Sir Henry Irving (1838-1905).

Location: 21 Wellington Street, WC2E 7RQ. Prior to a fire in 1830, the building was located slightly to the east of its present site. (purple, purple)

Website: www.thelyceumtheatre.com

Bram Stoker

The writer Bram Stoker worked as a civil servant in his native Ireland, however, he had literary ambitions. He broke into the theatrical world by working as an unpaid drama critic. He came to know Irving. In 1878 the actor invited Stoker to become his business manager. The latter accepted the offer and proved himself to be innovative in the position. He advertised theatrical seasons in advance rather than one play at a time; he was the first person to assign numbers to theatre seats; and he encouraged their advance reservation. In parallel, he established a moderately successful literary career, writing a number of books in different genres.

See Also: VAMPIRES Dracula

The Phoenix Theatre

The Phoenix Theatre (1930) was designed by the architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott for Sydney Bernstein, who owned the Granada cinema chain. The designer Theodore Komisarjevsky the foremost cinema architect of the day - and the painter Vladimir Polunin fashioned the building's auditorium. The Russians created a fantastical pleasure dome. Bernstein commissioned the pair to create the interiors of a series of large, escapist-themed cinemas for him, notably The Tooting Granada (1931).

Location: 112 Charing Cross Road, WC2H 0JP (blue, brown)

50-60 Mitcham Road, Tooting, SW17 9NA. Now a bingo hall.

See Also: CINEMAS, DISAPPEARED OR REPURPOSED Granada

Website: www.thephoenixtheatre.co.uk

The Harold Pinter Theatre

The Harold Pinter Theatre.

Location: 6 Panton Street, SW1Y 4DN (orange, turquoise)

See Also: NON-WEST END THEATRES Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, Poor Chap

Website: www.haroldpintertheatre.co.uk

St Martin's Theatre

Location: 20 West Street, WC2H 9NZ (purple, grey)

Website: https://stmartins-theatre.co.uk

The Mousetrap

St Martin's Theatre houses the West End production of The Mousetrap. The play was written by the detective fiction author Dame Agatha Christie. It started its run at The Ambassadors Theatre in 1952 and transferred to St Martin's in 1974.

The text of The Mousetrap has not been printed in the U.K.. Christie was determined that it should not be issued until the run had ended. Part of the strategy that has enabled the show to run for so long has been that only one production of it is allowed to be mounted outside of London each year.

Some people who are attending a performance of the play arrive by taxi. It is reputed that if some unscrupulous cabbies are not tipped to a degree that they regard as being proper, they tell their former passengers who the murderer is.

In 2002 the celebrations for The Mousetrap's 50^th anniversary included a dinner that was held at The Savoy. The event was attended by over 300 actors who performed in its then over 20,000 performances. In the original cast Silvia Sim (1922-2016) had played Mollie Ralston. At the meal, she confessed that she had had serious doubts about whether the play would last even six months. Her husband Richard Attenborough had been Detective Sergeant Trotter. The couple had been granted a 10% profit share. They had sold this when a production that he was directing, Gandhi (1982), needed money.

See Also: DETECTIVE FICTION

Website: https://uk.the-mousetrap.co.uk

The Savoy Theatre

The Savoy Theatre (1881) was developed by the impresario Richard d Oyly Carte. It was the house where most of the operas of W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan had their first runs. The theatre was the first public building in London to have electric lighting.

At The Savoy Theatre Richard d Oyly recast the British theatre-going experience. He replaced seating being on a first-come-first-served basis to being on a seating planned; he discouraged people conversing freely during performances; during performances he turned down the auditorium lights so that the audience sat in darkness; people were discouraged going for drinks during the performance.

Location: Savoy Court, WC2R 0ET (blue, turquoise)

See Also: GILBERT & SULLIVAN; HOTELS The Savoy Hotel

Website: www.thesavoytheatre.com

Seating Arrangements

During the early 20^thC Horace de Vere Cole was Britain's most renowned practical joker. Upon one occasion he hired a number of gentlemen and gave each of them tickets for seats that were located towards the front of the stalls of one of the West End's theatres. All of the fellows turned up for a performance wearing hats. Rather unusually they did not hand in their headwear at the cloakroom. Instead, they assumed their places with their heads still covered. As soon as the auditorium's house lights had been dimmed, they removed their hats in unison. Each of them was bald. Their positions were such that collectively, when viewed from the balcony, their pates spelt out a particularly fruity Anglo-Saxon word.

See Also: HORACE DE VERE COLE

The Theatre Royal Drury Lane

In 1660 the monarchy was restored. Thomas Killigrew was granted a royal warrant by the Crown to establish the King s Company of Players. He claimed that his troupe was the successor to the pre-war King's Men and that therefore it should have the exclusive right to perform almost all of the English language plays in existence, including those of Sir William Davenant, who ran the rival theatre company the Duke of York's Players. In late 1660 the Lord Chamberlain made a distribution of the dramatic works. Davenant received a share of Shakespeare s plays, John Webster's Duchess of Malfi (1623), and his own output. Killigrew was awarded a share of Beaumont & Fletcher,¹ Ben Jonson's compositions, and the rest of Shakespeare canon.

The Gordon Riots of 1780 saw London subjected to several days of rioting. The Theatre Royal was attacked because papists and Frenchmen had performed there. As a result, a guard was posted outside the building each night. The practice was discontinued in 1796, the French Revolutionary War having turned numerous French Roman Catholics into the allies of Britain.

In the 18^thC and 19^thC theatres caught fire frequently. The actor and playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan managed the Theatre Royal for many years. In 1809 the building burned down. While it was aflame, he came to watch the spectacle. As he did so he drank some port that he had ordered from a nearby hostelry. When this sang-froid was commented upon, he remarked Surely a man may take a glass of wine by his own fireside .

In 1809 the reopened Covent Garden mounted a production of Macbeth. The theatre had raised its prices. When they play started the audience started booing and hissing. During the show there were cries of 'Old prices, prices!' A detachment of 500 Dragoons was summoned. The theatre-goers declined to leave until 2 a.m.. Audiences rioted at every performance for the next four months. Finally, the management capitulated.

Location: Catherine Street, WC2B 5JF (red, purple)

See Also: ASSASSINATIONS & ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS Majestic Targets, His Majesty's Pleasure; THE BANK OF ENGLAND The Bank of England Picket; CAKES & PASTRIES Twelfth Night Cake; COURTESANS Charles II's Mistresses, Nell Gwynne; FRUIT Citrus Fruits, Oranges, Nell Gwynne; ROMAN CATHOLIC PLACES OF WORSHIP St Patrick's Soho

Website: https://lwtheatres/theatres/theatre-royal-drury-lane

¹. Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher.

Theatre Royal Haymarket

The Theatre Royal Haymarket was established in 1720.

In the mid-1730s Henry Fielding staged a number of productions in the theatre. The Licensing Act of 1737 ended his dramatic career. The success of Samuel Richardson's novel Pamela (1740) pricked his interest. He parodied it with his book Shamela Andrews (1741). He went on to write Joseph Andrews (1742).

Location: Haymarket, SW1Y 4HT (blue, grey)

18 Suffolk Street, SW1Y 4HT

See Also: PRINTING Samuel Richardson

Website: https://trh.co.uk

Break A Leg

The phrase for wishing an actor well for her/his performance is Break a leg!

King George III was not minded to allow the Lord Chamberlain to grant Samuel Foote the licence that was required for the theatre to be able to operate. The actor-manager adopted various ruses to circumnavigate the law, such as furnishing free entry but recouping his costs by charging high prices for refreshments. His tea parties circumvented the Lord Chamberlain's censorship. As a ruse for evading the authorities proscriptions, they helped to inspire the naming of the Boston Tea Party (1773).

The king's younger brother Edward Duke of York was aware that Foote regarded himself as being an accomplished horseman. Therefore, the prince asked him to display his equine skills. The latter agreed to do so. However, the horse that the royal duke furnished him with had never been ridden before. Foote was thrown and broke one of his legs when he landed. The limb had to be amputated. His grace was soon full of remorse for what he had done. Therefore, he asked his sib to grant the theatre a licence. This the monarch did. In 1766 The Little Theatre was renamed The Theatre Royal.

See Also: HORSES Horsemanship; ROYAL STATUES King William III, St James s Square

West End Theatre Owners

Ambassador Theatre Group

In 2010 the Ambassador Theatre Group owned thirteen West End theatres.

Website: www.atgtickets.com

Delfont Mackintosh Theatres

In 1991 Mackintosh bought stakes in both the Prince Edward and the Prince of Wales s theatres.

Mackintosh introduced a £1 levy for theatre improvements. The other West End theatre-owning companies followed suit.

Mackintosh renamed a number of his theatres. The Strand Theatre became The Novello Theatre, The Globe Theatre The Gielgud Theatre, and The New Theatre The No l Coward Theatre. All three men had been gay.

In 2010 it was reported that Mackintosh was planning to establish an endowed foundation that would ensure that his West End theatres would continue to mount plays and musicals after his death. At the time he owned The No l Coward, The Prince Edward, The Novello, The Gielgud, The Prince of Wales, The Queen's, and Wyndham's.

Location: Mackintosh House, 39-45 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 6LA (orange, turquoise)

Website: www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk

LW Theatres

In 2010 Really Useful Group owned a number of West End theatres.

Location: 65 Drury Lane, WC2B 5SP

Website: www.lwtheatres.co.uk

Nimax Theatres

In 2010 Nimax owned a number of West End theatres.

Location: 11 Maiden Lane, WC2E 7NA

Website: www.nimaxtheatres.com

Wyndham's Theatre

The actor Sir Charles Wyndham (né Culverwell) (1837-1919) played characters that re-enforced the social attitudes of his audience. He acquired a - not altogether deserved - reputation for respectability. When a property developer approached the 3^rd Marquis of Salisbury with a request to develop part of the peer's estate to the east of Charing Cross Road, Salisbury replied that if a theatre was to be built on the land it could only be built for Wyndham.

The theatre opened in 1899.

Location: 32 Charing Cross Road, WC2H 0DA (orange, turquoise)

See Also: ESTATES The Cecil Estates, The Salisburies; PUBS The Salisbury

Website: www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk/theatres/wyndhams-theatre

David Backhouse 2024