London Theatres

Aldwych_Theatre

admin — Sun, 20 May 2012 16:21:27 +0000

Aldwych Theatre

admin — Sun, 20 May 2012 16:20:50 +0000

The Aldwych Theatre is one of the century-old theatres dotted around London’s West End. The theatre plays host to 1200 theatre goers over three levels in its auditorium for some of the very best and most popular shows currently on offer in Theatreland.

The architecture of the building is widely regarded as important, achieving Grade II listing only 66 years after opening on 20th July 1971. Originally built with a twin, the Novello Theatre which was the known as the Waldorf Theatre, by the architect W.G.R. Sprague. The theatre was designed in a Georgian style, and included many ornate features typical of that period, and finally opened on the 23rd December, 1905, just in time for Christmas Day. The opening play was Blue Bell, a new version of a popular pantomime which fitted the season perfectly.

Other early plays included The Gay Gordons and The Beauty of Bath, and was used by Vaslav Nijinsky and Serge Diaghliev for their rehearsals of the highly controversial of Le Sacre du Printemps. Perhaps the most famous figure to call the theatre home in its early years as Ben Travers whose Aldwych Farces appeared here between 1925 and 1933.

In post-war London the theatre gained a resident star when Academy Award winner Vivien Leigh brought A Streetcar Named Desire to the theatre in 1949, directed by her equally famous husband Laurence Olivier. The theatre was to get an even more famous company through it’s doors soon though, as in 1960 the Royal Shakespeare Company was convinced to use the theatre for three years on 15th December 1960, almost 55 years after the theatre opened. Their stay was welcome news to the theatre, and extended far longer than the initial three years. The company only departed in 1982, over two decades later, when they moved to the Barbican’s Art Centre and out of the West End.

The residence of the Royal Shakespeare Company hadn’t quite filled the schedules of the theatre, allowing other productions such as Nicholas Nickleby to take place there and allowing the theatre a more smooth transition when they finally left. Their next famous guest was to be Joan Collins who revived Private Lives here in 1990. More recently it has hosted Whistle Down the Wind, an Andrew Lloyd Webber production which ended in 2001, and Fame from 2002 to 2006 and perhaps most popular of all, Dirty Dancing which ended only in 2011 after being initially performed here in 2006. The theatre is currently showing a production of Top Hat which opened on 9th May 2012.

If you’re visiting the theatre soon and taking the London Underground the nearest stations are Holborn and Covent Garden, both of which have plenty of restaurants and bars in their vicinity. The theatre is also very close to Chinatown where there is both parking and an opportunity to get a quick meal before the show starts, and only a short walk from Soho where you can have a glass of wine or a cocktail with your friends before heading down to Aldwych to enjoy the performance.

Cantina @ The London Wonderground