:West End theatre

{{Further|English drama|English Renaissance theatre}}

Theatre in London flourished after the English Reformation. The first permanent public playhouse, known as The Theatre, was constructed in 1576 in Shoreditch by James Burbage. It was soon joined by The Curtain. Both are known to have been used by William Shakespeare's company. In 1599, the timber from The Theatre was moved to Southwark, where it was used in building the Globe Theatre in a new theatre district formed beyond the controls of the City corporation. Regarding theatre as sinful, these theatres were closed in 1642 due to the Puritans who would later influence the interregnum of 1649.{{cite book|first1=Jane|last1=Milling|first2=Peter|last2=Thomson|title=The Cambridge History of British Theatre|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0_cGBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA439|date=23 November 2004|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-65040-3|pages=439, 440}}{{cite news |title=From pandemics to puritans: when theatre shut down through history and how it recovered |url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/long-reads/from-pandemics-to-puritans-when-theatre-shut-down-through-history-and-how-it-recovered |access-date=17 December 2020 |website=The Stage.co.uk}} On 24 January 1643, the actors protested against the ban by writing a pamphlet titled The Actors remonstrance or complaint for the silencing of their profession, and banishment from their severall play-houses.{{cite book |last1=Schoch |first1=Richard |title=Writing the History of the British Stage 1660-1900 |date=2016 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=64}}

{{Further|Restoration comedy|Restoration spectacular}}

File:Theatre Royal 20130408 023.JPG. Opened in May 1663, it is the oldest theatre in London.{{cite news |title= London's 10 oldest theatres|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/england/london/galleries/Londons-oldest-theatres/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/england/london/galleries/Londons-oldest-theatres/ |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=6 April 2020 |work=The Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}]]

After the Restoration (1660), Puritan legislation was declared null and void, and theatre (among other arts) exploded.{{cite news |title=When Christmas carols were banned |url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20141219-when-christmas-carols-were-banned |access-date=11 March 2022 |agency=BBC}} Two companies were licensed to perform, the Duke's Company and the King's Company. Performances were held in converted buildings, such as Lisle's Tennis Court. The first West End theatre, known as Theatre Royal in Bridges Street, was designed by Thomas Killigrew and built on the site of the present Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. It opened on 7 May 1663 and was destroyed by a fire nine years later. It was replaced by a new structure designed by Christopher Wren and renamed the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.{{cite web |url=http://www.theatrehistory.com/british/londons_vibrant_west_end.html |title=London's Vibrant West End Theatre SCENE|publisher=TheatreHistory.com |access-date=17 January 2010}}{{cite web |url=http://www.timeout.com/london/features/2367/6.html |title=London pub trivia – Ten oldest London theatres |work=Timeout London |date=12 December 2006 |access-date=17 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203204912/http://www.timeout.com/london/features/2367/6.html |archive-date=3 December 2008 }} One of the first actresses on the stage, Nell Gwyn became a star of restoration comedy.{{cite book | last = Howe | year = 1992 | first = Elizabeth | title = The First English Actresses: Women and Drama, 1660–1700 | url = https://archive.org/details/firstenglishactr0000howe| url-access = registration | publisher = Cambridge University Press |page=66 }}

Outside the West End, Sadler's Wells Theatre opened in Islington on 3 June 1683. Taking its name from founder Richard Sadler and monastic springs that were discovered on the property,{{cite web |url=http://www.storyoflondon.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=442 |title=London's Lost Tea-Gardens: I|publisher=Story of London |access-date=17 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090827083501/http://www.storyoflondon.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=442 |archive-date=27 August 2009 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.londontown.com/LondonInformation/Entertainment/Sadlers_Wells_Theatre/f2dc/ |title=Sadler's Wells Theatre |publisher=LondonTown.com |access-date=17 January 2010}} it operated as a "Musick House", with performances of opera; as it was not licensed for plays. In the West End, the Theatre Royal Haymarket opened on 29 December 1720 on a site slightly north of its current location, and the Royal Opera House opened in Covent Garden on 7 December 1732.{{cite news |title=Royal Opera House |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Royal-Opera-House-London |access-date=1 June 2020 |work=Encyclopaedia Britannica}} John Gay's ballad opera The Beggar's Opera ran for 62 performances in 1728, and held the record for London's longest run for nearly a century. It has been called "the most popular play of the eighteenth century."{{Cite journal|jstor = 3206338|title = A Fresh Look at Hogarth's 'Beggar's Opera'|last = Carlson|first = Marvin|date = 1975|journal = Educational Theatre Journal|volume = 27|issue = 1|pages = 31–39|doi = 10.2307/3206338}} Another musical show, Tom and Jerry, or Life in London (1821), was the first London production to reach 100 consecutive performances.{{cite book | editor-last= Parker | editor-first= John | year=1925 | title= Who's Who in the Theatre | location=London |edition=fifth| publisher=Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons | page= 1196| oclc=10013159 }} Tom and Jerry's combination of a tour of London interspersed with song and dance, gave rise to numerous similar, loosely constructed entertainments, and "planted the seeds for later musical comedy and revue".{{Cite book|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195169867.001.0001/acref-9780195169867-e-3098|isbn = 978-0-19-516986-7|title = The Oxford Companion to American Theatre|chapter = Tom and Jerry; or, Life in London|year = 2004|publisher = Oxford University Press}}

The Patent theatre companies retained their duopoly on drama well into the 19th century, and all other theatres could perform only musical entertainments. By the early 19th century, however, music hall entertainments became popular, and presenters found a loophole in the restrictions on non-patent theatres in the genre of melodrama. Melodrama did not break the Patent Acts, as it was accompanied by music. Initially, these entertainments were presented in large halls, attached to public houses, but purpose-built theatres began to appear in the East End, such as the Pavilion Theatre in Whitechapel.{{cite book|first1=Jim|last1=Davis|first2=Victor|last2=Emeljanow|title=Reflecting the Audience: London Theatregoing, 1840–1880|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o_LKMEgAARgC&pg=PA69|accessdate=25 November 2016|date=1 April 2005|publisher=University of Iowa Press | isbn=978-1-58729-402-0|pages=55–70}} The comic theatrical genre the harlequinade was also popular among London audiences. Its most famous performer, Joseph Grimaldi, best known for developing the modern day white-face clown, made his stage debut at Drury Lane in 1780.{{cite news |title=The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi: Laughter, Madness and the Story of Britain's Greatest Comedian |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/the-pantomime-life-of-joseph-grimaldi-laughter-madness-and-the-story-of-britains-greatest-comedian-by-andrew-mcconnell-stott-0khk8903zrd |access-date=6 April 2022 |work=The Times}}

File:Savoy pre-1920.JPG in 1881, the year it was fitted with the incandescent light bulb developed by Sir Joseph Swan to become the first public building in the world to be lit entirely by electricity."The Savoy Theatre", The Times, 3 October 1881. "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, which has been used in the auditorium ever since the opening of the Savoy Theatre. The success of the new mode of illumination was complete, and its importance for the development of scenic art can scarcely be overrated. The light was perfectly steady throughout the performance, and the effect was pictorially superior to gas, the colours of the dresses – an important element in the “æsthetic” opera – appearing as true and distinct as by daylight. The Swan incandescent lamps were used, the aid of gaslight being entirely dispensed with".{{cite news |title=The Savoy is one of the best places to stay in London |url=https://10best.usatoday.com/destinations/uk-england/london/london/hotels/the-savoy-1/ |access-date=22 June 2024 |work=USA Today |quote=The first public building in the world to be lit entirely by electricity, The Savoy has a history rich in both invention and scandal.}}]]

The West End theatre district became established with the opening of many small theatres and halls, including the Adelphi in The Strand on 17 November 1806. South of the River Thames, the Old Vic, Waterloo Road, opened on 11 May 1818. The expansion of the West End theatre district gained pace with the Theatres Act 1843, which relaxed the conditions for the performance of plays, and The Strand gained another venue when the Vaudeville opened on 16 April 1870. The next few decades saw the opening of many new theatres in the West End. The Adelphi hosted A Christmas Carol; or, Past, Present, and Future in 1844, a play adapted from the novella A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens—who came to several stage rehearsals during which he made suggestions—with his book published weeks earlier in December 1843.Standiford, Les (2008). [https://archive.org/details/manwhoinventedch0000stan "The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits"], Crown, New York, p. 168.[https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/playbill-advertising-edward-stirlings-adaptation-of-a-christmas-carol Playbill advertising Edward Stirling's adaptation of A Christmas Carol], Collection of the British Library

File:Souvenir program for the première production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience - Cover.jpg play at the Savoy in 1881]]

The Criterion Theatre opened on Piccadilly Circus on 21 March 1874, and in 1881, two more houses appeared: the Savoy Theatre in The Strand, built by Richard D'Oyly Carte specifically to showcase the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, opened in October (the first theatre and public building to be lit by electric lights, with The Times recording, "the success of the new mode of illumination was complete, and its importance for the development of scenic art can scarcely be overrated"), and five days later the Comedy Theatre opened as the Royal Comedy Theatre on Panton Street in Leicester Square. It abbreviated its name three years later. On 23 December 1886, Alice in Wonderland (the first major production of the Alice books) debuted at the Prince of Wales Theatre. Its author Lewis Carroll was involved in the stage adaptation, and he attended a performance seven days later.{{cite book |last1=Carroll |first1=Lewis |title=The Letters of Lewis Carroll, Volumes 1–2|page=657 |date=1979|publisher=Oxford University Press|quote=Dec. 30th.—To London with M—, and took her to "Alice in Wonderland," Mr. Savile Clarke's play at the Prince of Wales's Theatre... as a whole, the play seems a success.}} The Palace Theatre opened in 1891. Opened in 1892, the Duke of York's Theatre debuted J. M. Barrie's play, Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, on 27 December 1904.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KdVAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=a6YMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4415%2C5760076 |title=Mr Barrie's New Play. A Christmas Fairy Tale |work=The Glasgow Herald |date=28 December 1904 |page=7 |access-date=20 August 2020}}

One of the most popular playwrights in London in the 1890s, Oscar Wilde, premiered his second comedy, A Woman of No Importance, at Haymarket Theatre in 1893. The subject of widespread public and media interest, Lillie Langtry (an associate of Wilde) made her West End debut in the comedy She Stoops to Conquer in 1881.{{cite news |title=Lillie Langtry British actress |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lillie-Langtry |access-date=3 March 2022 |work=Encyclopedia Britannica}} In 1878, Ellen Terry joined Henry Irving's company as his leading lady, and for more than the next two decades she was considered the leading Shakespearean and comic actress in Britain.{{cite news |title=Famous People – Ellen Terry |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/coventry/content/articles/2006/04/27/history_famous_people_ellen_terry_feature.shtml |access-date=3 March 2022 |agency=BBC}} Opened in 1903, the New Theatre debuted The Scarlet Pimpernel in 1905, a play that introduced a heroic figure with an alter ego into the public consciousness.{{cite book |last1=Markowitz |first1=Judith A. |title=Robots That Kill: Deadly Machines and Their Precursors in Myth, Folklore, Literature, Popular Culture and Reality |date=2019 |publisher=McFarland |page=105}} The theatre was renamed the Noël Coward Theatre in 2006 after the playwright Noël Coward. Constructed in 1897, Her Majesty's Theatre hosted a number of premieres, including George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion in 1914.[http://www.peopleplayuk.org.uk/guided_tours/drama_tour/19th_century/managers_tree.php Herbert Beerbohm Tree.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071202103125/http://www.peopleplayuk.org.uk/guided_tours/drama_tour/19th_century/managers_tree.php |date=2 December 2007 }} PeoplePlayUK, accessed 12 February 2008. The theatre building boom continued until about the First World War.{{cite book |title=The Book of Dance |date=2012 |publisher=Dorling Kindersley |page=100}}

In 1930, Laurence Olivier had his first important West End success in Noël Coward's Private Lives. A number of other actors made their West End debut prior to the Second World War, including John Gielgud, Alec Guinness, Vivien Leigh and Rex Harrison; the latter's performance in Terence Rattigan's 1936 comedy French Without Tears at the Criterion Theatre established him a leading light comedian.{{Cite ODNB |title= Harrison, Sir Reginald Carey [Rex] |last= |first= |author-link= |freearticle=yes }} During the 1950s and 1960s, many plays were produced in theatre clubs, to evade the censorship then exercised by the Lord Chamberlain's Office. The Theatres Act 1968 finally abolished censorship of the stage in the United Kingdom.[https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/54 "Theatres Act 1968"]. www.legislation.gov.uk

File:Palace theatre spamalot.JPG (playing Spamalot, an adaptation of Monty Python and the Holy Grail) was opened in 1891]]

"Theatreland", London's main theatre district, contains approximately 40 venues and is located in and near the heart of the West End of London. It is traditionally defined by the Strand to the south, Oxford Street to the north, Regent Street to the west, and Kingsway to the east. However, a few other nearby theatres are also considered "West End" despite being outside the area proper; an example is The Apollo Victoria Theatre, in Westminster. Prominent theatre streets include Drury Lane, Shaftesbury Avenue and the Strand. The works staged are predominantly musicals, classic and modern straight plays, and comedy performances.Michael Billington [https://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2010/mar/16/snooty-musicals-sheila-hancock "Snooty about musicals? Sheila Hancock should change her tune"], The Guardian. (blog), 16 March 2001

Many theatres in the West End are of late Victorian or Edwardian construction and are privately owned. Many are architecturally impressive, and the largest and best maintained feature grand neo-classical, Romanesque, or Victorian façades and luxurious, detailed interior design and decoration. Theatre names, such as Empire, Lyceum, Palladium, Alhambra and Hippodrome, emphasised a grandeur of scale.{{cite news |last1=Hill |first1=Rosemary |title=Populist Palatial |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n05/rosemary-hill/populist-palatial |access-date=2 January 2025 |work=London Review of Books |volume=43 |issue=5 |date=4 March 2021}}

File:Queen's Theatre at Night.jpg showing Les Misérables, running in London since October 1985]]

However, owing to the age of the buildings, leg room is often cramped, and audience facilities such as bars and toilets are often much smaller than in modern theatres. The protected status of the buildings and their confined urban locations, combined with financial constraints, make it very difficult to make substantial improvements to the level of comfort offered. In 2003, the Theatres Trust estimated that an investment of £250 million over the following 15 years was required for modernisation,Giles Worsley [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3607919/Falling-houses.html "Falling Houses"], The Daily Telegraph, 6 December 2003 and stated that 60% of theatres had seats from which the stage was not fully visible.Michael Billington [https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2007/aug/02/theatre.musicals "Crisis in the West End"], The Guardian, 2 August 2007

File:Victoria palace theatre london.JPG (showing Billy Elliot in 2012) was refurbished in 2017.]]

Starting in 2004, there were several incidents of falling plasterwork, or performances being cancelled because of urgent building repairs being required. These events culminated in the partial collapse of the ceiling of the Apollo Theatre in December 2013.Sarah Jane Griffiths [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25462133 "How safe is London's Theatreland?"], BBC News, 20 December 2013 Of these earlier incidents, only one led to people being hurt,At the Theatre Royal Haymarket in 2004, 15 people were injured when part of the ceiling fell on to them; see the Sarah Jane Griffiths article above. but at the Apollo 76 people needed medical treatment for their injuries.Alice Philipson, and Andrew Marszal [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-news/10529258/Apollo-Theatre-ceiling-in-Londons-West-End-collapses-scores-injured.html "Apollo Theatre ceiling in London's West End collapses: scores injured"], The Daily Telegraph, 20 December A number of West End theatres have undergone refurbishments, including the Victoria Palace Theatre following the run of Billy Elliot in 2016.{{cite news |title=Victoria Palace Theatre|url=https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/victoria-palace-theatre |access-date=24 July 2022 |work=Time Out}} The Dominion Theatre refurbishment was completed in 2017 with the unveiling of a new double-sided LED screen, the largest and highest resolution projecting screen on the exterior of a West End theatre.{{cite web|title=The Dominion Theatre, home to An American in Paris, completes £6M refurbishment|url=http://www.mrcarlwoodward.com/news/dominion-theatre-home-american-paris-completes-6m-refurbishment/|website=mr.carlwoodward.com|date=7 August 2017|access-date=6 April 2020|archive-date=7 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171007032157/http://www.mrcarlwoodward.com/news/dominion-theatre-home-american-paris-completes-6m-refurbishment/|url-status=dead}}

In 2012, gross sales of £529,787,692 were up 0.27% and attendances also increased 0.56% to 13,992,773-year-on-year.{{cite web |url=http://www.solt.co.uk/downloads/pdfs/pressroom/2013-01-29-SOLT%202012-box-office-figures.pdf |title=Society of London Theatre reports robust 2012 Box Office figures despite challenges |access-date=29 January 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130612002510/http://www.solt.co.uk/downloads/pdfs/pressroom/2013-01-29-SOLT%202012-box-office-figures.pdf |archive-date=12 June 2013 }} In 2013, sales again rose this time by 11% to £585,506,455,{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-news/10605402/West-End-audiences-hit-record-high-thanks-to-Twitter.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-news/10605402/West-End-audiences-hit-record-high-thanks-to-Twitter.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=West End audiences hit record high thanks to Twitter |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=29 January 2014 |access-date=29 January 2014 |first=Anita |last=Singh}}{{cbignore}} with attendances rising to 14,587,276.{{cite web |url=http://news.sky.com/story/1203030/west-end-theatre-ticket-sales-at-record-high |title=West End Theatre Ticket Sales at Record High |publisher=Sky (United Kingdom) |date=29 January 2014 |access-date=29 January 2014}} This was despite slightly fewer performances occurring in 2013.{{cite web |url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/187033-West-End-Has-Another-Record-Year-With-Increases-in-Both-Attendance-and-Revenue?tsrc=rnn |title=West End Has Another Record Year, With Increases in Both Attendance and Revenue |work=Playbill |date=29 January 2014 |access-date=29 January 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201192824/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/187033-West-End-Has-Another-Record-Year-With-Increases-in-Both-Attendance-and-Revenue?tsrc=rnn |archive-date=1 February 2014 }}

On 16 March 2020, following government advice due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all theatres in the West End were closed until further notice.{{Cite web|url=https://uktheatre.org/theatre-industry/news/theatre-industry-coronavirus-advice-16-march-2020/|title=Theatre closures to help slow the spread of Coronavirus|date=16 March 2020|website=UK Theatre|access-date=28 April 2020|archive-date=11 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200511232249/https://uktheatre.org/theatre-industry/news/theatre-industry-coronavirus-advice-16-march-2020/|url-status=dead}} Theatres in London were allowed to re-open (with social distancing) on 17 May 2021, with full capacity permitted from 19 July.{{cite news |title=Theatres will be allowed to open at full capacity on 19th July |url=https://planetradio.co.uk/magic-at-the-musicals/entertainment/theatre/london-theatre-openings/ |access-date=5 March 2022 |agency=Planet Radio}} Opening in October 2022, @sohoplace is the first new West End theatre in 50 years.{{cite news |title=London's West End gets first purpose-built theatre in 50 years |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/jul/21/london-west-end-new-theatre-sohoplace |access-date=22 July 2022 |work=The Guardian}}

{{Main|List of the longest-running West End shows}}

File:St Martin's Theatre - The Mousetrap.jpg, home to The Mousetrap, the world's longest-running play]]

The length of West End shows depends on ticket sales. The longest-running musical in West End history is Les Misérables, produced by Cameron Mackintosh, which has been running in London since October 1985. It overtook Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats, which closed in 2002 after running for 8,949 performances and 21 years, as the longest-running West End musical of all time on 9 October 2006. Other long-runners include Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, Willy Russell's Blood Brothers, and Abba jukebox musical Mamma Mia! which have also subsequently overtaken Cats. However, the non-musical Agatha Christie play The Mousetrap is the longest-running production in the world, and has been performed continuously since 1952.{{cite web|url=https://www.the-mousetrap.co.uk/online/default.asp|title=Agatha Christie's: The Mousetrap|publisher=St. Martin's Theatre|access-date=27 November 2019|quote=Here you will find all the information you need about the longest running show, of any kind, in the world.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626071333/https://www.the-mousetrap.co.uk/Online/default.asp|archive-date=26 June 2012|url-status=dead}}{{cite news |title=The Mousetrap at 60: why is this the world's longest-running play? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/nov/20/mousetrap-60-years-agatha-christie |access-date=24 July 2022 |work=The Guardian}}

Running since 2011, Matilda the Musical, an adaptation of Roald Dahl's Matilda, won a then-record seven Olivier Awards in 2012.{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17721379 | title=Matilda musical breaks Olivier awards record | work=BBC | date=15 April 2012 | access-date=6 July 2022}} Running since 2016, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a two-part play written by Jack Thorne based on an original story by J. K. Rowling, won a record-breaking nine Olivier Awards in 2017.{{cite news|title=Olivier Awards: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child wins record nine prizes|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-39491479|work=BBC|date=9 April 2017|access-date=6 July 2022}}

• An * after the opening date indicates that the listed production has yet to open and is scheduled for the given date at that theatre.
• An * after the closing date indicates that there is another show scheduled for that theatre.
• If the next show planned is not announced, the applicable columns are left blank.

{{quote box

| width = 27%

| align = right

| quote = "Theatre is such an important part of British history and British culture"

| source = —Dame Helen Mirren after receiving the Evening Standard Award in 2013 for her performance as the Queen in The Audience.{{cite news|title=Dame Helen Mirren wins Standard award for The Audience|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24980437|agency=BBC|access-date=13 November 2016}}}}

The following shows are confirmed as future West End productions. The theatre in which they will run is either not yet known or currently occupied by another show.

File:Old Vic theatre London Waterloo.jpg]]

File:RoyalDissocia.jpg. Upstairs is used as an experimental space for new projects—The Rocky Horror Show premiered here in 1973.{{cite news |title=Rocky Horror Show opens in London – archive, 1973 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/jun/23/rocky-horror-show-opens-in-london-archive-1973 |access-date=2 July 2022 |work=The Guardian}}]]

The term "West End theatre" is generally used to refer specifically to commercial productions in Theatreland. However, the leading non-commercial theatres in London enjoy great artistic prestige. These include the National Theatre, the Barbican Centre, Shakespeare's Globe (including the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse), the Old Vic, Royal Court Theatre, Sadler's Wells Theatre, and the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. These theatres stage a high proportion of straight drama, Shakespeare, other classic plays and premieres of new plays by leading playwrights—for example David Hare's play Pravda starring Anthony Hopkins which was described by The Telegraph as "one of the biggest hits in the history of the National Theatre."{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3654834/Return-to-the-street-of-shame.html|title=Return to the street of shame|first=Alex Sierz and Marc|last=Lee|date=25 August 2006|access-date=2 April 2022|work=The Telegraph}} Successful productions from the non-commercial theatres sometimes transfer to one of the commercial West End houses for an extended run.{{cite news |title=London Theatre Is Playing the Transfer Game |url=https://playbill.com/article/london-theatre-is-playing-the-transfer-game-com-106115 |access-date=7 May 2024 |work=Playbill}}

The Royal Opera House is widely regarded as one of the greatest opera houses in the world, comparable with the Palais Garnier and La Scala. Commonly known simply as Covent Garden due to its location, it is home to the Royal Opera, Royal Ballet and a resident symphony orchestra, and hosts guest performances from other leading opera, ballet and performance companies from around the world. In 1735 its first season of operas, by George Frideric Handel, began and many of his English oratorios were specifically written for Covent Garden and had their premieres here.{{cite web|title=G. F. Handel's Compositions|url=http://www.gfhandel.org/43to100.html|publisher=The Handel Institute|access-date=17 July 2021|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130924012912/http://gfhandel.org/43to100.html|archive-date=24 September 2013}}

Likewise, the London Coliseum is the resident home to the English National Opera. The theatre is also the London base for performances by the English National Ballet, who perform regular seasons throughout the year when not on tour. The Peacock Theatre is located on the edge of the Theatreland area. Now owned by the London School of Economics and Political Science, it is used in the evenings for dance performances by Sadler's Wells, who manage the theatre on behalf of the school.[http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Stoll.htm Peacock theatre history] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120809071114/http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Stoll.htm |date=9 August 2012 }} Retrieved 6 May 2024

File:DonmarWarehouse.png became an independent producing house in 1992 with Sam Mendes as artistic director.]]

There are a great number of stage productions in London outside the West End. Much of this is known as fringe theatre (referred to as Off West End) which is the equivalent of off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway theatre in New York City. Among these are the Menier Chocolate Factory, Bush Theatre and the Donmar Warehouse. Fringe venues range from well-equipped small theatres to rooms above pubs, and the performances range from classic plays, to cabaret, to plays in the languages of London's ethnic minorities. The performers range from emerging young professionals to amateurs. Productions at the Donmar included the 1980 play Educating Rita which starred Julie Walters in the title role before she reprised the role in the 1983 film.{{cite news |title=Julie Walters' best film performances – ranked! |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/jun/25/julie-walters-best-film-performances-ranked |access-date=17 December 2023 |newspaper=The Guardian}}

There are many theatres located throughout Greater London, such as the Lyric Hammersmith, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Rose Theatre, Kingston, New Wimbledon Theatre, the Rudolph Steiner Theatre in Westminster, the Ashcroft Theatre in Croydon, Secombe Theatre in Sutton, the Churchill Theatre in Bromley and the Hackney Empire in Hackney.{{Cite web |last=Billington |first=Michael |date=2006-12-11 |title=Cinderella, Hackney Empire, London |url=http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2006/dec/11/theatre2 |access-date=29 April 2024 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}

The theatre at the Royal Polytechnic Institution (now the University of Westminster) in Regent Street saw the first public demonstration of "Pepper's ghost"—a method of projecting the illusion of a ghost into a theatre (named after its developer John Henry Pepper)—during an 1862 Christmas Eve theatrical production of the Charles Dickens novel, The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain, which caused a sensation among those in attendance.{{cite book |last1=Meehan |first1=Paul |title=The Haunted House on Film |date=2019 |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc |page=15}}{{cite news |title=Ghosts and Pantos at the RPI |url=https://recordsandarchives.westminster.ac.uk/archive-blog/ghosts-and-pantos-at-the-rpi/ |access-date=5 January 2025 |publisher=University of Westminster}}

London theatres outside the West End also played an important role in the early history of drama schools. In 1833, actress Frances Maria Kelly managed the Royal Strand Theatre in Westminster where she funded and operated a dramatic school, the earliest record of a drama school in England.{{cite book|last1=Burwick|first1=Frederick|title=British Drama of the Industrial Revolution|date=2015|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=46}} In 1840, she financed the Royalty Theatre in Soho which opened as Miss Kelly's Theatre and Dramatic School.An earlier theatre, also named the Royalty, existed in Wells Street, Wellclose Square, London from 1787 until the early part of the nineteenth century. See Wilmot-Buxton, Harry John. [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/39265/39265-h/39265-h.htm "William Clarkson Stanfield"], Chapter IX, English Painters, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington (1883), accessed 22 November 2013

There are a number of annual awards for outstanding achievements in London theatre:

• Laurence Olivier Awards
• Evening Standard Theatre Awards
• WhatsOnStage Awards
• Critics' Circle Theatre Awards
• Ian Charleson Awards
• National Dance Awards
• West End Frame Awards

{{Portal|London|Theatre}}

• Culture of London
• Great West End Theatres
• List of former theatres in London
• List of London venues
• Theatre of the United Kingdom

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [http://www.solt.co.uk/ Society of London Theatre] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090723211319/http://www.solt.co.uk/ |date=23 July 2009 }} – trade body for the London theatre industry
• [http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/LondonWestEndTheatres.htm London's West End Theatres] Information and archive material on London's historic West End Theatres.

{{Theatres in London}}

Category:Entertainment districts in the United Kingdom

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