Duchess Theatre
| Duchess Theatre | |
 |
|
| Glorious, starring Maureen Lipman at the Duchess Theatre in 2006 | |
|---|---|
| Address |
Catherine Street
|
| City | |
| Architect | Ewen Barr |
| Owned by | Nimax Theatres |
| Capacity | 479 on 2 levels |
| Type | West End theatre |
| Opened | 25 November 1929 |
| Production | Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story |
| Duchess Theatre | |
| Coordinates: | |
The Duchess Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, located in Catherine Street, near Aldwych.
The theatre opened on 25th November, 1929 and is one of the smallest 'proscenium arched' West End theatres. It has 479 seats on two levels.
History
The Duchess theatre was designed by Ewen Barr, and constructed by F. G. Minter Ltd, for Arthur Gibbons. The theatre is built with the stalls below street level, to overcome the scale of the site, and the rights of neighbours to Ancient lights. The theatre opened on 25 November 1929 with a play called Tunnel Trench by Hubert Griffith[1]. The interior decoration scheme was introduced in 1934 under the supervision of Mary Wyndham Lewis, wife of J. B. Priestley.
Notable productions
- Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, which transferred from the Piccadilly Theatre to the St. James Theatre before moving to the Duchess Theatre where it completed a record run of 1,997 performances in 1942.
- Bill Naughton's legendary play 'Alfie' played at the Duchess in 1962. Famously, Lewis Gilbert saw the play and immediately contacted the writer with an view to a screen transfer. The rest is history.
- Tom Eyen's The Dirtiest Show in Town, which ran for just under 800 performances in the 1970s
- Oh Calcutta, which transferred to the Duchess Theatre from the Royalty Theatre in December 1974. Oh! Calcutta! remained at the Duchess until 1980.
- The Players' Theatre Company presented their Late Joys Victorian Music hall programme between 1987 and 1990
- Marc Camoletti's Don't Dress For Dinner which transferred to the Duchess from the Apollo Theatre in October 1992 and stayed until 1st March, 1997.
- The Royal Shakespeare Company's The Herbal Bed by Peter Whelan which ran for six months from April to October 1997.
Present Day
The Duchess' current show is the smash West End musical Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story which opened on the 3rd of August 2007.
References
- ^ Theatre History accessed 28 Jul 2007
External links
See also
- List of London theatres
- List of West End musicals
- List of notable musical theatre productions
- Musical theatre
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