Coordinates: 51°30′25″N, 0°7′25″W Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...

The Playhouse Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, located in Northumberland Avenue, near Trafalgar Square and very close to the river Thames. The Theatre was built by F. H. Fowler and Hill with a seating capacity of 1,200. It was rebuilt in 1907 and still retains its original substage machinery. Its current seating capacity is 786. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1760x1168, 630 KB) Summary The second season of Royal Court Theatres production of My Name Is Rachel Corrie at Playhouse Theatre, London. ... Northumberland Avenue is a London street, running from Trafalgar Square in the west to The Embankment in the east. ... The City of Westminster is a borough of London, England with city status. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The Forth Bridge, designed by Sir Benjamin Baker and Sir John Fowler, opened in 1890, and now owned by Network Rail, is designated as a Category A listed building by Historic Scotland. ... Whpq 19:12, 15 May 2006 (UTC) Categories: ... West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre in London, England, or sometimes more specifically for shows staged in the large theatres of Londons Theatreland. Along with New Yorks Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre... Year 1882 (MDCCCLXXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Year 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Footloose was based on a movie of the same name which was released in 1984. ... West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre in London, England, or sometimes more specifically for shows staged in the large theatres of Londons Theatreland. Along with New Yorks Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre... The City of Westminster is a borough of London, England with city status. ... Northumberland Avenue is a London street, running from Trafalgar Square in the west to The Embankment in the east. ... Trafalgar Square viewed from the northeast corner. ... Several places exist with the name Thames, and the word is also used as part of several brand and company names Most famous is the River Thames in England, on which the city of London stands Other Thames Rivers There is a Thames River in Canada There is a Thames...

History

Early years

George Bernard Shaw

Originally the Royal Avenue Theatre, it opened on March 11, 1882 with 679 seats. The first production at the theatre was Jacques Offenbach's Madame Favart. In its early seasons, the theatre hosted comic operas, burlesques and farces for several years. For much of this time, the low comedian, Arthur Roberts, a popular star of the music halls, starred at the theatre. By the 1890s, the theatre was presenting drama, and in 1894 Annie Horniman, the tea heiress, anonymously sponsored the actress Florence Farr in a season of plays at the theatre. Farr's first production was unsuccessful, and so she prevailed upon her friend, George Bernard Shaw to hurry and make his West End début at the theatre with Arms and the Man in 1894. It was successful enough to allow him to discontinue music criticism to focus full time on play writing. The legendary actress manager Gladys Cooper ran the theatre for some years. PD image from http://www. ... PD image from http://www. ... George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856–2 November 1950) was a world-renowned Irish author. ... is the 70th day of the year (71st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1882 (MDCCCLXXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Jacques Offenbach (20 June 1819 – 5 October 1880) was a French composer and cellist of the Romantic era with German-Jewish descent and one of the originators of the operetta form. ... Madame Favart is an opéra comique, or operetta, in three acts by Jacques Offenbach. ... Comic opera, or light opera, denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending. ... In literary criticism, the term burlesque is employed as a term in genre criticism, to describe any imitative work that derives humor from an incongruous contrast between style and subject. ... Music from Robertss song in Robinson Crusoe Arthur Roberts (21 September 1852 - 27 February 1933) was an English comedian, music hall entertainer and actor. ... Music Hall is a form of British theatrical entertainment which reached its peak of popularity between 1850 and 1960. ... Annie Elizabeth Fredericka Horniman (1860-1937) was a member of the Horniman Tea family who founded the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. ... Florence Farr in 1890 Florence Farr (1860-1917) was a West End leading actress and one time mistress of George Bernard Shaw[1], acting head of a famed magical order, womens rights journalist, divorcee, educator, singer, musician, and author of the novel, She was a friend and collaborator with... George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856–2 November 1950) was a world-renowned Irish author. ... West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre in London, England, or sometimes more specifically for shows staged in the large theatres of Londons Theatreland. Along with New Yorks Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre... Arms and the Man is a comedy by G. Bernard Shaw. ... Dame Gladys Constance Cooper DBE (18 December 1888 – 17 November 1971) was an Oscar-nominated English actress. ...

The theatre was rebuilt in 1905 to the designs of Blow and Billerey. During the work, a block of masonry dropped from the adjacent Charing Cross railway station, falling through the roof of the theatre and killing six workmen and injuring many more. The theatre was repaired and re-opened as The Playhouse on January 28, 1907 with a one-act play called The Drums of Oudh and a play called Toddles, by Tristan Bernard and Andre Godferneaux. The new theatre had a smaller seating capacity of 679. W. Somerset Maugham's Home and Beauty premièred at the Playhouse on August 30, 1919, running for 235 performances, and Henry Daniell appeared here in February 1926 as the Prince of Karaslavia in Mr. Abdulla. Nigel Bruce appeared in February 1927 as Robert Crosbie in Somerset Maugham's The Letter, and again in May 1930 as Robert Brennan in Dishonoured Lady. Alec Guiness made his stage début here in Ward Dorane's play Libel! on April 2, 1934. Daniell returned in November that year as Paul Miller in Hurricane. Charing Cross Charing Cross railway station is a central London railway terminus. ... is the 28th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Tristan Bernard (September 7, 1866 - December 7, 1947) was a French playwright, novelist, journalist and lawyer. ... W. Somerset Maugham as photographed in 1934 by Carl Van Vechten. ... is the 242nd day of the year (243rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ... A publicity shot of Henry Daniell in the 1940s Henry Daniell (March 5, 1894, London – October 31, 1963) was an British actor, best known for his villainous screen roles, but who had a long and prestigious career on stage as well as in films. ... Nigel Bruce (left) with Basil Rathbone in a promotional photo for their Sherlock Holmes film series William Nigel Ernle Bruce (September 4, 1895 – October 8, 1953), usually credited as Nigel Bruce, was a British character actor, best known as Dr. Watson in a series of films and a radioseries starring... The Swan Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE (April 2, 1914 - August 5, 2000) was a British actor who became one of the most versatile and best loved performers of his generation. ... In English and American law, and systems based on them, libel and slander are two forms of defamation (or defamation of character), which is the tort or delict of making a false statement of fact that injures someones reputation. ... is the 92nd day of the year (93rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display full 1934 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

BBC studio and later years

In 1951 it was taken over by the BBC as a recording studio for live performances. The Goon Show and the radio versions of Hancock's Half Hour and Steptoe and Son were recorded here, although at least the first two shows were recorded at other venues during their runs. The stage also hosted live performances by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. On April 3, 1967 a live Pink Floyd concert was broadcast from the theatre.^[1] This article is an overview article about the Crown chartered British Broadcasting Corporation formed in 1927. ... The Goon Show was a popular and influential British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC from 1951 to 1960 on the BBC Home Service. ... Hancocks Half Hour was a famous BBC radio comedy series of the 1950s starring Tony Hancock. ... Steptoe and Son is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about two rag and bone men living in Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherds Bush, London. ... The White Album, see The Beatles (album). ... Rolling Stones redirects here. ... is the 93rd day of the year (94th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. ... Pink Floyd are an English rock band that initially earned recognition for their psychedelic rock music, and, as they evolved, for their progressive rock music. ...

When the BBC left around 1976, the theatre went dark and was in danger of demolition, but it was saved and restored to its 1907 design, opening again in October 1987 with a commercial building now erected above the theatre. Following a critically-acclaimed revival of Henrik Ibsen's A Dolls House in 1996, starring Janet McTeer, the theatre was sold and closed again for refurbishment, reopening in 1997 as a producing house with the West End première of Anton Chekov's The Wood Demon. This was poorly received, and the theatre returned to life as a commercial receiving house. However, the auditorium is luxuriously decorated, with grandiose murals, caryatids, golden pillars, carved balustrades, and shining gold decoration. Ibsen redirects here. ... There is a separate article about The Dolls House, the graphic novel collection of the comic book The Sandman. ... Janet McTeer (8 May 1961-) is a British actor. ... A producing house is a theatre which produces its own shows in-house. ... Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (Анто́н Па́влович Че́хов) (born January 29, 1860 (Jan. ... A receiving house is a theatre which does not produce its own repertoire but instead receives touring theatre companies, usually for a brief period such as three nights or a full week. ... A caryatid (also spelt Karyatid), is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. ... Stairs, staircase, stairway, flight of stairs are all names for a construction designed to bridge a large vertical distance by dividing it into smaller vertical distances, called steps. ...

Successes at the Playhouse since the late 1990s have included Naked (1998); J. B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls (2001) and Journey's End, directed by David Grindley. American theatrical producers Ted and Norman Tulchin's Maidstone Productions purchased the theatre at the end of 2002,^[2] and the venue is being managed by the Ambassador Theatre Group. The Playhouse then hosted Richard Eyre's 2003 Olivier Award-winning production of Vincent in Brixton, starring Clare Higgins; and Eyre's 2005 production of Hedda Gabler, starring Eve Best. Megan Dodds starred in a revival of the controversial My Name Is Rachel Corrie in 2006. The musical Dancing in the Streets is playing at the theatre as of March 2007. John Boynton Priestley, OM (born 13 September 1894, Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, died 14 August 1984, Warwickshire) was an English writer and broadcaster . ... An Inspector Calls is a play written in 1945 by the British dramatist J. B. Priestley. ... Whpq 19:12, 15 May 2006 (UTC) Categories: ... Sir Richard Eyre, (born 28 March 1943), is a British film and theatre director. ... The Laurence Olivier Awards, previously known as The Society of West End Theatre Awards, were renamed in honour of British actor Laurence Olivier, Baron Olivier in 1984, having first been established in 1976. ... Vincent in Brixton is a play about Vincent Van Gogh written by Nicholas Wright. ... Mary Clare Higgins, Democrat, was elected to her first term as Mayor of Northampton, Massachusetts in November of 1999 and took office in January of 2000. ... Actress Cate Blanchett in the title role of Hedda Gabler Hedda Gabler is both a play and a fictional character created by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. ... Eve Best (born Emily Best, born July 1971), is a British actress best known for her stage work. ... Megan Dodds (born 15 February 1970) is a British based American stage and television actress. ... My Name is Rachel Corrie is a controversial play based on the diaries and emails of Rachel Corrie. ...

Recent and present productions

• Three Sisters (3 April 2003 - 29 June 2003) by Anton Chekhov, translated by Christopher Hampton, starring Kristin Scott Thomas
• Vincent in Brixton (19 July 2003 - 23 August 2003) by Nicholas Wright
• Les Liaisons Dangereuses (12 December 2003 - 10 January 2004) by Christopher Hampton
• Journey's End (3 May 2004 - 2 October 2004) by R.C. Sherriff
• Romeo and Juliet (18 November 2004 - 9 January 2005) by William Shakespeare
• The RSC: House of Desires (1 February 2005 - 21 March 2005) by Sor Juana de la Cruz
• The RSC: Dog in the Manger (2 February 2005 - 26 March 2005) by Lope de Vega, translated by David Johnston
• The RSC: Pedro, The Great Pretender (17 February 2005 - 12 March 2005) by Miguel de Cervantes, translated by Philip Osment
• The Postman Always Rings Twice (8 June 2005 - 3 September 2005) by James M. Cain adapted by Andrew Rattenbury, starring Val Kilmer
• As You Desire Me (27 October 2005 - 22 January 2006) by Luigi Pirandello, starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Bob Hoskins
• The Creeper (9 February 2006 - 18 March 2006) by Pauline Macaulay, starring the late Ian Richardson
• My Name is Rachel Corrie (30 March 2006 - 21 May 2006) by Alan Rickman and Katherine Vilner, starring Megan Dodds
• The Rocky Horror Show (4 July 2006 - 22 July 2006) by Richard O'Brien, starring David Bedella and Suzanne Shaw
• Dancing in the Streets (1 August 2006 - 14 July 2007)
• Footloose - The Musical (17 August 2007 - 6 December 2007)
• The Adventures of Tintin (9 December 2007 - 28 February 2008), adapted from Herge's novels
• Footloose - The Musical (6 March 2008 - )

The Three Sisters are three volcanic peaks of the Cascade Range, located near the town of Sisters, Oregon. ... Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (Russian: , IPA: ) was a Russian short story writer and playwright. ... Christopher Hampton (born January 26, 1946) is a British playwright, screen writer and film director. ... Kristin Scott Thomas OBE (born 24 May 1960) is an Academy Award-nominated English actress. ... Christopher Hampton (born January 26, 1946) is a British playwright, screen writer and film director. ... For other uses see Journeys End (disambiguation) A Penguin edition of R.C. Sherriffs Journeys End Journeys End is the seventh and most famous play by R. C. Sherriff. ... Romeo and Juliet in the famous balcony scene by Ford Madox Brown For other uses, see Romeo and Juliet (disambiguation). ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Val Edward Kilmer[1] (born December 31, 1959) is an American actor. ... Kristin Scott Thomas OBE (born 24 May 1960) is an Academy Award-nominated English actress. ... Robert William Bob Hoskins Jr. ... Ian William Richardson CBE (7 April 1934 – 9 February 2007) was a Scottish actor best known for playing the Machiavellian politician Francis Urquhart in the House of Cards trilogy for the BBC. // Born in Edinburgh, Richardson was educated at Balgreen Primary School and Tynecastle High School in the city,[1... My Name is Rachel Corrie is a controversial play based on the diaries and emails of Rachel Corrie. ... Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (born February 21, 1946) is an acclaimed, award-winning English film, television and stage actor. ... Megan Dodds (born 15 February 1970) is a British based American stage and television actress. ... The Rocky Horror Show is a long running stage musical (opening in London initially, on June 19, 1973) that inspired the movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show. ... Richard OBrien (born Richard Timothy Smith on March 25, 1942 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England) is an English writer, actor, television presenter and theatre performer. ... David Bedella David Bedella (born 25 September 1962 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American TV and stage actor. ... Suzanne Shaw (born September 29, 1981 in Bury, Greater Manchester, England) is an English Actress, television personality and sometime singer most famous for winning the first series of the talent contest Popstars and so subsequently being a member of the band HearSay. ... Footloose was based on a movie of the same name which was released in 1984. ... Footloose was based on a movie of the same name which was released in 1984. ...

See also

• List of London theatres
• List of West End musicals
• List of notable musical theatre productions
• Musical theatre

This is a list of entertainment venues in London. ... This is a general list of musicals, including Broadway musicals, West End musicals and film musicals, whose titles fall into the A-L alphabetic range. ... This is a List of notable musical theatre productions that have been performed on Broadway. ... The Black Crook (1866), considered by some historians to be the first musical[1] Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining music, songs, spoken dialogue and dance. ...

Notes

References

• Who's Who in the Theatre, edited by John Parker, 10th edition revised, London, 1947.
• History of the theatre
• Playhouse Theatre history and images at the Arthur Lloyd site
• Profile of the theatre
• Architectural information about the theatre
• Another profile of the theatre
• Theatre history

External links

• Official Web Site
• 2003 news article about the theatre