130-545: The Criterion Theatre is a West End theatre at Piccadilly Circus in the City of Westminster , and is a Grade II* listed building . It has a seating capacity of 588. In 1870, the caterers Spiers and Pond began development of the site of the White Bear, a seventeenth-century posting inn. The inn was located on sloping ground stretching between Jermyn Street and Piccadilly Circus , known as Regent Circus. A competition
260-463: A failed uprising against Russian rule in 1830–31. Jan Gielgud took refuge in England with his family; one of his grandchildren was Frank Gielgud, whose maternal grandmother was a famous Polish actress, Aniela Aszpergerowa . Frank married into a family with wide theatrical connections . His wife, who was on the stage until she married, was the daughter of the actress Kate Terry , and a member of
390-731: A "Chekhov boom" in British theatres, and Gielgud was among its leading players. As Konstantin in The Seagull in October 1925 he impressed the Russian director Theodore Komisarjevsky , who cast him as Tusenbach in the British premiere of Three Sisters . The production received enthusiastic reviews, and Gielgud's highly praised performance enhanced his reputation as a potential star. There followed three years of mixed fortunes for him, with successes in fringe productions, but West End stardom
520-481: A Lamp (1929) with Edith Evans and Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies. In 1928 he made his second film, The Clue of the New Pin . This, billed as "the first British full-length talkie ", was an adaptation of an Edgar Wallace mystery story; Gielgud played a young scoundrel who commits two murders and very nearly a third before he himself is killed. In 1929 Harcourt Williams , newly appointed as director of productions at
650-474: A better performance of this play than this before I die, it will be a miracle." Morley writes that junior members of the cast such as Alec Guinness and Frith Banbury would gather in the wings every night "to watch what they seemed intuitively already to know was to be the Hamlet of their time". Mr Olivier was about twenty times as much in love with Peggy Ashcroft as Mr Gielgud is. But Mr Gielgud spoke most of
780-619: A cat with rickets . It dealt a severe blow to my conceit, which was a good thing." Before and after joining the school he played in several amateur productions, and in November 1921 made his debut with a professional company, though he himself was not paid. He played the Herald in Henry V at the Old Vic ; he had one line to speak and, he recalled, spoke it badly. He was kept on for the rest of
910-475: A conventional juvenile lead had challenges of its own and helped him improve his technique. During the run of the play he made another film, Insult (1932), a melodrama about the French Foreign Legion , and he starred in a cinema version of The Good Companions in 1933, with Jessie Matthews . A letter to a friend reveals Gielgud's view of film acting: "There is talk of my doing Inigo in
1040-522: A few hours it might suggest some reminiscences: as it is I don't even know what the piece was about!" Gilbert had, however, been back at the theatre in 1877 with his farce, On Bail (a revised version of his 1874 work, Committed for Trial ); in 1881, with another farce, Foggerty's Fairy ; and in 1892, with a comic opera , Haste to the Wedding , with music by George Grossmith (an operatic version of Gilbert's 1873 play, The Wedding March ). Haste to
1170-530: 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." Successful productions from the non-commercial theatres sometimes transfer to one of the commercial West End houses for an extended run. The Royal Opera House
1300-493: A kind of brilliant butterfly, while I was a very gloomy sort of boy", and "I found his clothes extravagant, I found his conversation flippant. He was the New Young Man of his time and I didn't like him." The first production of the season was Henry IV, Part 1 , in which Gielgud as Hotspur had the best of the reviews. Richardson's notices, and the relationship of the two leading men, improved markedly when Gielgud, who
1430-598: A leading light comedian. 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. "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
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#17327729507691560-586: A major step up in his career. For the first weeks of the run Gielgud played Mercutio and Olivier played Romeo, after which they exchanged roles. As at Oxford, Ashcroft and Evans were Juliet and the nurse. The production broke all box-office records for the play, running at the New Theatre for 189 performances. Olivier was enraged at the notices after the first night, which praised the virility of his performance but fiercely criticised his speaking of Shakespeare's verse, comparing it with his co-star's mastery of
1690-437: A piece by W. S. Gilbert , with music by Alfred Cellier , entitled Topsyturveydom . The event apparently did not make much of an impression on Gilbert. In a 1903 letter to Thomas Edgar Pemberton , author of the book on The Criterion, Gilbert wrote: "I am sorry to say that in my mind is an absolute blank to the opening of The Criterion. I never saw Topseyturveydom . If you happen to have a copy of it and could lend it to me for
1820-584: 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. 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
1950-641: A record-breaking nine Olivier Awards in 2017. "Theatre is such an important part of British history and British culture" —Dame Helen Mirren after receiving the Evening Standard Award in 2013 for her performance as the Queen in The Audience . 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. The term "West End theatre"
2080-567: A regular film career until his sixties. He appeared in more than sixty films between Becket (1964), for which he received his first Academy Award nomination for playing Louis VII of France , and Elizabeth (1998). As the acid-tongued Hobson in Arthur (1981) he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor . His film work further earned him a Golden Globe Award and two BAFTAs . Although largely indifferent to awards, Gielgud had
2210-473: A scholarship. He was sent as a day boy to Westminster School where, as he later said, he had access to the West End "in time to touch the fringe of the great century of the theatre". He saw Sarah Bernhardt act, Adeline Genée dance and Albert Chevalier , Vesta Tilley and Marie Lloyd perform in the music halls . The school choir sang in services at Westminster Abbey , which appealed to his fondness for ritual. He showed talent at sketching, and for
2340-512: A sell-out hit and played in London and on tour over the next three years. Between seasons of Richard , in 1934 Gielgud returned to Hamlet in London and on tour, directing and playing the title role. The production was a box-office success, and the critics were lavish in their praise. In The New York Times , Charles Morgan wrote, "I have never before heard the rhythm and verse and the naturalness of speech so gently combined. ... If I see
2470-422: A showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan —was entirely lit by electricity in 1881. The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) announced that 2018 was a record year for the capital's theatre industry with attendances topping 15.5 million for the first time since the organisation began collecting audience data in 1986. Box office revenues exceeded £765 million. While attendance in 2019
2600-452: A theatre. The composers' names, which line the tiled staircases, were retained and can still be seen. The redesign placed the large Criterion Restaurant and dining rooms above the theatre, with a ballroom on the top floor. When Spiers and Pond applied for a licence to operate, the authorities were unhappy because the theatre was underground and lit by gas, creating the risk of toxic fumes. The Metropolitan Board of Works had to vote twice before
2730-531: A triple bill of short plays, including two from Coward's Tonight at 8.30 , but he found at first that less highbrow performers like Beatrice Lillie were better than he at entertaining the troops. He returned to filming in 1940, as Disraeli in Thorold Dickinson 's The Prime Minister . In this morale-boosting film he portrayed the politician from ages thirty to seventy; this was, in Morley's view,
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#17327729507692860-504: A while thought of scenic design as a possible career. The young Gielgud's father took him to concerts, which he liked, and galleries and museums, "which bored me rigid". Both parents were keen theatregoers, but did not encourage their children to follow an acting career. Val Gielgud recalled, "Our parents looked distinctly sideways at the Stage as a means of livelihood, and when John showed some talent for drawing his father spoke crisply of
2990-560: 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,
3120-669: Is a mountain of a part, and at the end of the evening the peak remains unscaled"; in The Manchester Guardian , however, Brown wrote that Gielgud "is a match for the thunder, and at length takes the Dover road with a broken tranquillity that allowed every word of the King's agony to be clear as well as poignant". Returning to the West End, Gielgud starred in J. B. Priestley 's The Good Companions , adapted for
3250-794: 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
3380-439: Is now completely and authoritatively master of this tremendous part. ... I hold that this is, and is likely to remain, the best Hamlet of our time." Also in the season were A Midsummer Night's Dream , The Duchess of Malfi and the first major revival of Lady Windermere's Fan (1945). These productions attracted much praise, but at this point in his career Gielgud was somewhat overshadowed by his old colleagues. Olivier
3510-486: Is the high water-mark of English Shakespearean acting of our time." Hamlet was a role with which Gielgud was associated over the next decade and more. After the run at the Queen's finished he turned to another part for which he became well known, John Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest . Gielgud's biographer Jonathan Croall comments that the two roles illustrated two sides of the actor's personality: on
3640-637: 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. Many theatres in
3770-693: 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. Likewise,
3900-562: 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. 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. One of the most popular playwrights in London in
4030-476: The BBC Radio 4 comedy Bleak Expectations ran from 3 May to 13 August 2023. Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) with Sam Tutty and Dujonna Gift opened on 4 April 2024 West End theatre West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London . Along with New York City 's Broadway theatre , West End theatre represents
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4160-462: The COVID-19 pandemic . More than a year later, the musical Amélie opened on 20 May 2021 running until 25 September 2021. Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) followed, playing from 15 October 2021 to 6 February 2022. 2:22 A Ghost Story opened on 10 May 2022 and ran until 8 January 2023. The Unfriend by Steven Moffatt and Mark Gatiss opened on 17 January 2023. A theatrical adaptation of
4290-559: 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
4420-743: The Emperor in Androcles and the Lion and the title role in Pirandello 's The Man with the Flower in His Mouth . In April 1930 Gielgud finished the season playing Hamlet . Williams's production used the complete text of the play. This was regarded as a radical innovation; extensive cuts had been customary for earlier productions. A running time of nearly five hours did not dampen the enthusiasm of
4550-742: The First World War . 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
4680-547: The Grand Duke Alexander in Alfred Neumann 's The Patriot . The play was a failure, closing after a week, but Gielgud liked New York and received favourable reviews from critics including Alexander Woollcott and Brooks Atkinson . After returning to London he starred in a succession of short runs, including Ibsen 's Ghosts with Mrs Patrick Campbell (1928), and Reginald Berkeley 's The Lady with
4810-724: 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
4940-1009: 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 . 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
5070-689: The Pavilion Theatre in Whitechapel . 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. 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
5200-639: The Red Cross and UNESCO , and Val , later head of BBC radio drama; his younger sister Eleanor became John's secretary for many years. On his father's side, Gielgud was of Lithuanian and Polish descent. The surname derives from Gelgaudiškis , a village in Lithuania. The Counts Gielgud had owned the Gelgaudiškis Manor on the Nemunas river, but their estates were confiscated after they took part in
5330-571: The Reduced Shakespeare Company , notably The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) . From 2006 to 2015, the Criterion hosted the long-running melodrama The 39 Steps , adapted by Patrick Barlow from John Buchan 's 1915 novel, which was adapted for film by Alfred Hitchcock (1935). In 2016 Mischief Theatre 's The Comedy About a Bank Robbery opened. It played its final performance on 15 March 2020 due to
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5460-639: 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,
5590-522: The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked in repertory theatre and in the West End before establishing himself at the Old Vic as an exponent of Shakespeare in 1929–31. During the 1930s Gielgud was a stage star in the West End and on Broadway , appearing in new works and classics. He began a parallel career as a director, and set up his own company at the Queen's Theatre , London. He
5720-714: The Royal Strand Theatre in Westminster where she funded and operated a dramatic school, the earliest record of a drama school in England. In 1840 she financed the Royalty Theatre in Soho which opened as Miss Kelly's Theatre and Dramatic School. There are a number of annual awards for outstanding achievements in London theatre: John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud ( / ˈ ɡ iː l ɡ ʊ d / GHEEL -guud ; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000)
5850-507: The Victoria Palace Theatre following the run of Billy Elliot in 2016. 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. 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. In 2013, sales again rose this time by 11% to £585,506,455, with attendances rising to 14,587,276. This
5980-406: The interregnum of 1649. 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 . After the Restoration (1660), Puritan legislation was declared null and void, and theatre (among other arts) exploded. Two companies were licensed to perform,
6110-401: 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. In 1878, Ellen Terry joined Henry Irving 's company as his leading lady, and for more than the next two decades she
6240-469: The GLC Planning Committee approved the development on the condition that the theatre continued in "full, continuous and uninterrupted use" while the redevelopments took place. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s the argument increased, and the Equity Save London's Theatre Committee organised high-profile demonstrations (campaigners included John Gielgud , Marius Goring , Edward Woodward , Diana Rigg , Robert Morley and Prunella Scales ) as they feared that
6370-399: The New York press was over almost as soon as it had begun. Howard's version closed within a month; the run of Gielgud's production beat Broadway records for the play. After his return from America in February 1937 Gielgud starred in He Was Born Gay by Emlyn Williams . This romantic tragedy about French royalty after the Revolution was quite well received during its pre-London tour, but
6500-436: The Nurse. The rest of the cast were students, led by Christopher Hassall as Romeo, and included Devine, William Devlin and Terence Rattigan . The experience was satisfactory to Gielgud: he enjoyed the attentions of the undergraduates, had a brief affair with one of them, James Lees-Milne , and was widely praised for his inspiring direction and his protégés' success with the play. Already notorious for his innocent slips of
6630-403: The Old Vic, invited Gielgud to join the company for the forthcoming season. The Old Vic, in an unfashionable area of London south of the Thames , was run by Lilian Baylis to offer plays and operas to a mostly working-class audience at low ticket prices. She paid her performers very modest wages, but the theatre was known for its unrivalled repertory of classics, mostly Shakespeare , and Gielgud
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#17327729507696760-424: The Old Vic, with Malcolm Keen as Shylock and Ashcroft as Portia. In 1932 he starred in Richard of Bordeaux by Elizabeth MacKintosh . This, a retelling in modern language of the events of Richard II , was greeted as the most successful historical play since Shaw's Saint Joan nine years earlier, more faithful to the events than Shakespeare had been. After an uncertain start in the West End it rapidly became
6890-442: The President of the Magicians' Union ... a clear, arresting picture of a virile Renaissance notable", according to Brown. The critics singled out, among the other players, Jack Hawkins as Caliban, Marius Goring as Ariel, Jessica Tandy as Miranda and Alec Guinness as Ferdinand. Following the example of several of his stage colleagues, Gielgud joined tours of military camps. He gave recitals of prose and poetry, and acted in
7020-415: The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. One of the first actresses on the stage, Nell Gwyn became a star of restoration comedy. 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, it operated as a "Musick House", with performances of opera; as it was not licensed for plays. In
7150-409: The Wedding was a flop, but it introduced the 18-year-old George Grossmith, Jr. , the composer's son, to the London stage. The younger Grossmith would go on to become a major star in Edwardian musical comedies . Charles Wyndham became the manager and lessee in 1875, and under his management the Criterion became one of the leading light comedy houses in London. The first production under the manager
7280-474: 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. 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
7410-411: The West End, and Macbeth on tour. Returning, with more assurance than before, to entertaining the troops, he so far departed from his classical style as to join Lillie and Michael Wilding singing a comic trio. His 1943 revival of William Congreve 's Love for Love on tour and then in London received high praise from reviewers. In 1944 he was approached by Ralph Richardson, who had been asked by
7540-482: 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. 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." Another musical show, Tom and Jerry, or Life in London (1821),
7670-427: The academy at the end of 1923 Gielgud played a Christmas season as Charley in Charley's Aunt in the West End, and then joined Fagan's repertory company at the Oxford Playhouse . Gielgud was in the Oxford company in January and February 1924, from October 1924 to the end of January 1925, and in August 1925. He played a wide range of parts in classics and modern plays, greatly increasing his technical abilities in
7800-489: The advantages of an architect's office." On leaving Westminster in 1921, Gielgud persuaded his reluctant parents to let him take drama lessons on the understanding that if he was not self-supporting by the age of twenty-five he would seek an office post. Gielgud, aged seventeen, joined a private drama school run by Constance Benson, wife of the actor-manager Sir Frank Benson . On the new boy's first day Lady Benson remarked on his physical awkwardness: "she said I walked like
7930-412: The armed forces. Gielgud directed Michael Redgrave in a 1940 London production of The Beggar's Opera for the Glyndebourne Festival . This was a chaotic affair: Gielgud's direction confused his star, and when Redgrave lost his voice Gielgud had to step in and sing the role as best he could. Gielgud felt that something serious or even solemn was necessary for wartime London , where most entertainment
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#17327729507698060-481: The best piece of Shakespearean acting on the English stage today". Olivier said that Gielgud's Joseph Surface was "the best light comedy performance I've ever seen, or ever shall see". The venture did not make much money, and in July 1938 Gielgud turned to more conventional West End enterprises, in unconventional circumstances. He directed Spring Meeting , a farce by Perry and Molly Keane , presented by Binkie Beaumont , for whom Perry had just left Gielgud. Somehow
8190-412: The block that exists today was built around it. After the refurbishment, the Criterion retains a well-preserved Victorian auditorium with an intimate atmosphere. Major productions in the last two decades of the century included Tom Foolery (1980–1981), Can't Pay? Won't Pay! (1981–1983), and the long-running Run for Your Wife (1983–1989). From 1996 to 2005, the theatre was home to productions of
8320-481: 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, and stated that 60% of theatres had seats from which the stage was not fully visible. The theatre owners unsuccessfully requested tax concessions to help them meet
8450-539: 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
8580-400: The company. Donald Wolfit , who loathed him and was himself disliked by his colleagues, was dropped, as was Adele Dixon. Gielgud was uncertain of the suitability of the most prominent new recruit, Ralph Richardson , but Williams was sure that after this season Gielgud would move on; he saw Richardson as a potential replacement. The two actors had little in common. Richardson recalled, "He was
8710-481: The costs. 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. Of these earlier incidents, only one led to people being hurt, but at the Apollo 76 people needed medical treatment for their injuries. A number of West End theatres have undergone refurbishments, including
8840-415: 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
8970-421: The end of Richardson's life. Gielgud's other roles in this season were Lord Trinket in The Jealous Wife , Richard II again, Antony in Antony and Cleopatra , Malvolio in Twelfth Night , Sergius in Arms and the Man , Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing – another role for which he became celebrated – and he concluded the season as King Lear . His performance divided opinion. The Times commented, "It
9100-442: The film of The Good Companions , which appals my soul but appeals to my pocket." In his first volume of memoirs, published in 1939, Gielgud devoted two pages to describing the things about filming that he detested. Unlike his contemporaries Richardson and Laurence Olivier , he made few films until after the Second World War, and did not establish himself as a prominent film actor until many years after that. As he put it in 1994, "I
9230-579: The first time he seemed at home before the camera. Gielgud made no more films for the next ten years; he turned down the role of Julius Caesar in the 1945 film of Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra with Vivien Leigh . He and Leigh were close friends, and Shaw tried hard to persuade him to play the part, but Gielgud had taken a strong dislike to the director, Gabriel Pascal . Caesar was eventually played by Gielgud's former teacher, Claude Rains. Throughout 1941 and 1942 Gielgud worked continually, in Barrie's Dear Brutus , another Importance of Being Earnest in
9360-459: The governors of the Old Vic to form a new company. Unwilling to take sole charge, Richardson proposed a managing triumvirate of Gielgud, Olivier and himself. Gielgud declined: "It would be a disaster, you would have to spend your whole time as referee between Larry and me." A 1944–45 season at the Haymarket for Beaumont included a Hamlet that many considered his finest. Agate wrote, "Mr Gielgud
9490-641: The highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world . Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity in London . Famous screen actors, British and international alike, frequently appear on the London stage. There are approximately 40 theatres in the West End, with the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane , opened in May 1663, the oldest theatre in London. The Savoy Theatre —built as
9620-510: The last time. He was Raskolnikoff in a stage version of Crime and Punishment , in the West End in 1946 and on Broadway the following year. Agate thought it the best thing Gielgud had done so far, other than Hamlet. Between these two engagements Gielgud toured North America in The Importance of Being Earnest and Love for Love . Edith Evans was tired of the role of Lady Bracknell, and refused to join him; Margaret Rutherford played
9750-512: The later 1950s he found no new suitable stage roles, and for several years he was best known in the theatre for his one-man Shakespeare show The Ages of Man . From the late 1960s he found new plays that suited him, by authors including Alan Bennett , David Storey and Harold Pinter . During the first half of his career Gielgud did not take the cinema seriously. Though he made his first film in 1924, and had successes with The Good Companions (1933) and Julius Caesar (1953), he did not begin
9880-569: The necessary licence was issued, and fresh air had to be pumped into the auditorium to prevent the audience from being asphyxiated. It was not until October 1881, at the Savoy, that the first theatre was lit electrically. The building was completed in 1873 with the interior decoration carried out by W. B. Simpson & Sons. The first production opened on 21 March 1874 under the management of Henry J. Byron & EP Hingston. The programme consisted of An American Lady written and performed by Byron and
10010-518: The new production "caught the gaiety and exactly the right atmosphere. It's all delightful!" At the start of the Second World War Gielgud volunteered for active service, but was told that men of his age, thirty-five, would not be wanted for at least six months. The government quickly came to the view that most actors would do more good performing to entertain the troops and the general public than serving, whether suitable or not, in
10140-564: The non-musical Agatha Christie play The Mousetrap is the longest-running production in the world, and has been performed continuously since 1952. Running since 2011, Matilda the Musical , an adaptation of Roald Dahl 's Matilda , won a then-record seven Olivier Awards in 2012. 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
10270-427: The one hand the romantic and soulful Hamlet, and on the other the witty and superficial Worthing. The formidable Lady Bracknell was played by his aunt, Mabel Terry-Lewis. The Times observed, "Mr Gielgud and Miss Terry-Lewis together are brilliant ... they have the supreme grace of always allowing Wilde to speak in his own voice." Returning to the Old Vic for the 1930–31 season, Gielgud found several changes to
10400-472: The part to great acclaim. Gielgud was in demand as a director, with six productions in 1948–49. They included The Heiress in 1949, when he was brought in at the last moment to direct Richardson and Ashcroft, saving what seemed a doomed production; it ran for 644 performances. His last big hit of the 1940s was as Thomas Mendip in The Lady's Not for Burning , which he also directed. The London cast included
10530-471: 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 . There are many theatres located throughout Greater London , such as
10660-414: The poetry far better than Mr Olivier ... Yet – I must out with it – the fire of Mr Olivier's passion carried the play along as Mr Gielgud's doesn't quite. Herbert Farjeon on the rival Romeos. The following year Gielgud staged perhaps his most famous Shakespeare production, a Romeo and Juliet in which he co-starred with Ashcroft and Olivier. Gielgud had spotted Olivier's potential and gave him
10790-851: The poetry. The friendship between the two men was prickly, on Olivier's side, for the rest of his life. In May 1936 Gielgud played Trigorin in The Seagull , with Evans as Arkadina and Ashcroft as Nina. Komisarjevsky directed, which made rehearsals difficult as Ashcroft, with whom he had been living, had just left him. Nonetheless, Morley writes, the critical reception was ecstatic. In the same year Gielgud made his last pre-war film, co-starring with Madeleine Carroll in Alfred Hitchcock 's Secret Agent . The director's insensitivity to actors made Gielgud nervous and further increased his dislike of filming. The two stars were praised for their performances, but Hitchcock's "preoccupation with incident"
10920-401: The position of understudy, with a guarantee that he would take over the lead from Coward when the latter, who disliked playing in long runs, left. In the event Coward, who had been overworking, suffered a nervous collapse three weeks after the opening night, and Gielgud played the lead for the rest of the run. The play ran for nearly a year in London and then went on tour. By this time Gielgud
11050-595: The process. The role he most enjoyed was Trofimov in The Cherry Orchard , his first experience of Chekhov : "It was the first time I ever went out on stage feeling that perhaps, after all, I could really be an actor." Between Gielgud's first two Oxford seasons, the producer Barry Jackson cast him as Romeo to the Juliet of Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies at the Regent's Theatre, London, in May 1924. The production
11180-403: The public, the critics or the acting profession. Sybil Thorndike said, "I never hoped to see Hamlet played as in one's dreams ... I've had an evening of being swept right off my feet into another life – far more real than the life I live in, and moved, moved beyond words." The production gained such a reputation that the Old Vic began to attract large numbers of West End theatregoers. Demand
11310-403: The rare distinction of winning an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Tony . He was famous from the start of his career for his voice and his mastery of Shakespearean verse. He broadcast more than a hundred radio and television dramas between 1929 and 1994, and made commercial recordings of many plays, including ten of Shakespeare's and three recordings from his own "Ages of Man". Among his honours, he
11440-508: The relaxed attitude there to homosexuality. Returning to London later in 1953 Gielgud took over management of the Lyric, Hammersmith, for a classical season of Richard II , Congreve's The Way of the World , and Thomas Otway 's Venice Preserv'd , directing the first, acting in the last, and doing both in the second. Feeling he was too old for Richard, he cast the young Paul Scofield ; both
11570-629: The same year Noël Coward chose Gielgud as his understudy in his play The Vortex . For the last month of the West End run Gielgud took over Coward's role of Nicky Lancaster, the drug-addicted son of a nymphomaniac mother. It was in Gielgud's words "a highly-strung, nervous, hysterical part which depended a lot upon emotion". He found it tiring to play because he had not yet learned how to pace himself, but he thought it "a thrilling engagement because it led to so many great things afterwards". The success of The Cherry Orchard led to what one critic called
11700-575: The school. In class, he hated mathematics, was fair at classics , and excelled at English and divinity . Hillside encouraged his interest in drama, and he played several leading roles in school productions, including Mark Antony in Julius Caesar and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice . After Hillside, Lewis and Val had won scholarships to Eton and Rugby , respectively; lacking their academic achievement, John failed to secure such
11830-806: The season in walk-on parts in King Lear , Wat Tyler and Peer Gynt , with no lines. If your great-aunt happens to be Ellen Terry, your great-uncle Fred Terry, your cousins Gordon Craig and Phyllis Neilson-Terry, and your grandmother the greatest Shakespearean actress in all Lithuania, you are hardly likely to drift into the fish trade. Gielgud on his theatrical background. Gielgud's first substantial engagement came through his family. In 1922 his cousin Phyllis Neilson-Terry invited him to tour in J. B. Fagan 's The Wheel as understudy , bit-part player and assistant stage manager, an invitation he accepted. A colleague, recognising that
11960-432: The stage by the author and Edward Knoblock . The production ran from May 1931 for 331 performances, and Gielgud described it as his first real taste of commercial success. He played Inigo Jollifant, a young schoolmaster who abandons teaching to join a travelling theatre troupe. This crowd-pleaser drew disapproval from the more austere reviewers, who felt Gielgud should be doing something more demanding, but he found playing
12090-496: The stage dynasty that included Ellen , Fred and Marion Terry , Mabel Terry-Lewis and Edith and Edward Gordon Craig . Frank had no theatrical ambitions and worked all his life as a stockbroker in the City of London . In 1912, aged eight, Gielgud went to Hillside preparatory school in Surrey as his elder brothers had done. For a child with no interest in sport he acquitted himself reasonably well in cricket and rugby for
12220-541: The ten-year-old auditorium, some thirty feet below street level, was deemed unsatisfactory. Thomas Verity supervised the alterations (Verity by now had also designed the Comedy Theatre in 1881 and the Empire Theatre in 1882). The new direct access ventilation shaft meant cutting off a considerable portion of the adjoining Criterion Restaurant. New corridors were built, with several new exits. The auditorium
12350-656: The theatre on behalf of the school. There is 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
12480-482: The theatre would still be lost. In the 1980s, the theatre building was purchased by Robert Bourne, a property tycoon and patron of the arts, and his wife, theatre impresario Sally Greene . The couple set up the Criterion Theatre Trust, a registered charity created to protect the Criterion's future. From 1989 to 1992 the theatre was renovated both in the back and front of the house. During that time,
12610-509: The three men remained on excellent terms. In September of the same year Gielgud appeared in Dodie Smith 's sentimental comedy Dear Octopus . The following year he directed and appeared in The Importance of Being Earnest at the Globe , with Evans playing Lady Bracknell for the first time. They were gratified when Allan Aynesworth , who had played Algernon in the 1895 premiere, said that
12740-417: The tongue (he called them "Gielgoofs"), in a speech after the final performance he referred to Ashcroft and Evans as "Two leading ladies, the like of whom I hope I shall never meet again". During the rest of 1932 Gielgud played in a new piece, Musical Chairs by Ronald Mackenzie, and directed one new and one classic play, Strange Orchestra by Rodney Ackland in the West End, and The Merchant of Venice at
12870-491: The war, the Criterion repertoire included avant-garde works such as Samuel Beckett 's Waiting for Godot . The early part of 1956 saw the arrival of Anouilh 's popular comedy, The Waltz of the Toreadors , with impressive performances by Hugh Griffith and Beatrix Lehmann . In the 1970s, the Criterion site was proposed for redevelopment, which caused protest, as people feared the theatre would be lost. In February 1975,
13000-531: The world wars, productions included Musical Chairs with John Gielgud and in 1936, French Without Tears which ran for 1,039 performances and launched the writing career of Terence Rattigan . During the Second World War, the Criterion was requisitioned by the BBC – as an underground theatre it made an ideal studio safe from the Blitz – and light entertainment programmes were both recorded and broadcast live. After
13130-834: The young Claire Bloom and Richard Burton , who went with Gielgud when he took the piece to the US the following year. At the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre , Stratford-upon-Avon , Gielgud did much to reclaim his position as a leading Shakespearean. His cold, unsympathetic Angelo in Peter Brook 's production of Measure for Measure (1950) showed the public a new, naturalistic manner in his playing. He followed this with three other Shakespeare productions with Brook, which were well received. His own attempt at direction in Stratford, for Richardson's Macbeth in 1952,
13260-414: The young man had talent but lacked technique, recommended him to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). Gielgud was awarded a scholarship to the academy and trained there throughout 1923 under Kenneth Barnes , Helen Haye and Claude Rains . The actor-manager Nigel Playfair , a friend of Gielgud's family, saw him in a student presentation of J. M. Barrie 's The Admirable Crichton . Playfair
13390-602: Was The Great Divorce Case , opening on 15 April 1876. When Wyndham left in 1899 to open his own theatre, Wyndham's Theatre (and then the New Theatre, now called the Noël Coward Theatre , in 1903) he remained the lessee bringing in various managements and their companies. In March 1883, the theatre closed for alterations demanded by the Metropolitan Board of Works. The pumping of fresh air into
13520-596: Was knighted in 1953 and the Gielgud Theatre was named after him in 1994. From 1977 to 1989, he was president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Gielgud was born on 14 April 1904 in South Kensington , London, the third of the four children of Frank Henry Gielgud and his second wife, Kate Terry-Gielgud, née Terry-Lewis. Gielgud's elder brothers were Lewis , who became a senior official of
13650-456: Was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier , he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. A member of the Terry family theatrical dynasty, he gained his first paid acting work as a junior member of his cousin Phyllis Neilson-Terry 's company in 1922. After studying at
13780-568: Was celebrated for his recent film of Henry V , and with Richardson (and John Burrell in Gielgud's stead) was making the Old Vic "the most famous theatre in the Anglo-Saxon world" according to the critic Harold Hobson . In late 1945 and early 1946 Gielgud toured for ENSA in the Middle and Far East with Hamlet and Coward's Blithe Spirit . During this tour he played Hamlet on stage for
13910-502: Was comfortable but unexciting, he saw no future in a film career, and the Old Vic could not afford to stage the classics on the large scale to which he aspired. He decided that he must form his own company to play Shakespeare and other classic plays in the West End. Gielgud invested £5,000, most of his earnings from the American Hamlet ; Perry, who had family money, put in the same sum. From September 1937 to April 1938 Gielgud
14040-567: Was considered the leading Shakespearean and comic actress in Britain. 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. 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. The theatre building boom continued until about
14170-521: Was despite slightly fewer performances occurring in 2013. On 16 March 2020, following government advice due to the COVID-19 pandemic , all theatres in the West End were closed until further notice. Theatres in London were allowed to re-open (with social distancing) on 17 May 2021, with full capacity permitted from 19 July. Opening in October 2022, @sohoplace is the first new West End theatre in 50 years. The length of West End shows depends on ticket sales. The longest-running musical in West End history
14300-730: Was down 1.4% compared to the previous year, box office revenues reached a record £799 million. The majority of West End theatres are owned by the ATG Entertainment , Delfont Mackintosh Theatres , Nimax Theatres , LW Theatres , and the Nederlander Organization . 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
14430-539: Was earning enough to leave the family home and take a small flat in the West End. He had his first serious romantic relationship, living with John Perry, an unsuccessful actor, later a writer, who remained a lifelong friend after their affair ended. Morley makes the point that, like Coward, Gielgud's principal passion was the stage; both men had casual dalliances, but were more comfortable with "low-maintenance" long-term partners who did not impede their theatrical work and ambitions. In 1928 Gielgud made his Broadway debut as
14560-462: Was elusive. In 1926 the producer Basil Dean offered Gielgud the lead role, Lewis Dodd, in a dramatisation of Margaret Kennedy 's best-selling novel, The Constant Nymph . Before rehearsals began Dean found that a bigger star than Gielgud was available, namely Coward, to whom he gave the part. Gielgud had an enforceable contractual claim to the role, but Dean, a notorious bully, was a powerful force in British theatre. Intimidated, Gielgud accepted
14690-520: Was felt by critics to make the leading roles one-dimensional, and the laurels went to Peter Lorre as Gielgud's deranged assistant. From September 1936 to February 1937 Gielgud played Hamlet in North America, opening in Toronto before moving to New York and Boston. He was nervous about starring on Broadway for the first time, particularly as it became known that the popular actor Leslie Howard
14820-414: Was held for the design of a concert hall complex, with Thomas Verity winning out of 15 entries. He was commissioned to design a large restaurant, dining rooms, ballroom, and galleried concert hall in the basement. The frontage, which was the façade of the restaurant, showed a French Renaissance influence using Portland stone . After the building work began, it was decided to change the concert hall into
14950-558: Was impressed and cast him as Felix, the poet-butterfly, in the British premiere of the Čapek brothers' The Insect Play . Gielgud later said that he made a poor impression in the part: "I am surprised that the audience did not throw things at me." The critics were cautious but not hostile to the play; it did not attract the public and closed after a month. While still continuing his studies at RADA, Gielgud appeared again for Playfair in Robert E Lee by John Drinkwater . After leaving
15080-412: Was light-hearted. Together with Harley Granville-Barker and Guthrie he reopened the Old Vic with Shakespeare. His King Lear once again divided the critics, but his Prospero was a considerable success. He played the role quite differently from his attempt on the same stage in 1930: in place of the "manic conjurer" his Prospero was "very far from the usual mixture of Father Christmas, a Colonial Bishop, and
15210-641: Was much less successful, with poor notices for the star and worse ones for the director. In 1953 Gielgud made his first Hollywood film, the sole classical actor in Joseph L. Mankiewicz 's Julius Caesar , playing Cassius . Marlon Brando (Mark Antony) was in awe of him, and James Mason (Brutus) was disheartened at Gielgud's seemingly effortless skill. Gielgud, for his part, felt he learned much about film technique from Mason. Gielgud enjoyed his four-month stay in California, not least, as Morley comments, for
15340-796: Was not a great success, but the two performers became close friends and frequently worked together throughout their careers. Gielgud made his screen debut during 1924 as Daniel Arnault in Walter Summers 's silent film Who Is the Man? (1924). In May 1925 the Oxford production of The Cherry Orchard was brought to the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith . Gielgud again played Trofimov. His distinctive speaking voice attracted attention and led to work for BBC Radio , which his biographer Sheridan Morley calls "a medium he made his own for seventy years". In
15470-667: Was not the first West End star to take a large pay cut to work there. It was, in Morley's words, the place to learn Shakespearean technique and try new ideas. During his first season at the Old Vic, Gielgud played Romeo to the Juliet of Adele Dixon , Antonio in The Merchant of Venice , Cleante in The Imaginary Invalid , the title role in Richard II , and Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream . His Romeo
15600-615: Was not well reviewed, but as Richard II Gielgud was recognised by critics as a Shakespearean actor of undoubted authority. The reviewer in The Times commented on his sensitiveness, strength and firmness, and called his performance "work of genuine distinction, not only in its grasp of character, but in its control of language". Later in the season he was cast as Mark Antony in Julius Caesar , Orlando in As You Like It ,
15730-529: Was playing Prospero in The Tempest , helped Richardson with his performance as Caliban : He gave me about two hundred ideas, as he usually does, twenty-five of which I eagerly seized on, and when I went away I thought, "This chap, you know, I don't like him very much but by God he knows something about this here play." ... And then out of that we formed a friendship. The friendship and professional association lasted for more than fifty years, until
15860-432: Was reconstructed and the stage re-equipped. The old dressing rooms were demolished and new ones built. Most importantly, electricity was installed. Dramatic Notes (1884) states "The Criterion Theatre, transformed from a stuffy band-box to a convenient, handsome, and well ventilated house, reopened on April 16". Further alterations and redecorations took place in 1902–03, when the theatre was closed for seven months. Between
15990-419: Was regarded by many as the finest Hamlet of his era, and was also known for high comedy roles such as John Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest . In the 1950s Gielgud feared that his career was threatened when he was convicted and fined for a homosexual offence, but his colleagues and the public supported him loyally. When avant-garde plays began to supersede traditional West End productions in
16120-556: Was savaged by the critics in the West End. The Times said, "This is one of those occasions on which criticism does not stand about talking, but rubs its eyes and withdraws hastily with an embarrassed, incredulous, and uncomprehending blush. What made Mr Emlyn Williams write this play or Mr Gielgud and Miss Ffrangcon-Davies appear in it is not to be understood." The play closed after twelve performances. Its failure, so soon after his Shakespearean triumphs, prompted Gielgud to examine his career and his life. His domestic relationship with Perry
16250-512: Was so great that the cast moved to the Queen's Theatre , in Shaftesbury Avenue , where Williams staged the piece with the text discreetly shortened. The effect of the cuts was to give the title role even more prominence. Gielgud's Hamlet was richly praised by the critics. Ivor Brown called it "a tremendous performance ... the best Hamlet of [my] experience". James Agate wrote, "I have no hesitation whatsoever in saying that it
16380-575: 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
16510-496: Was stupid enough to toss my head and stick to the stage while watching Larry and Ralph sign lucrative Korda contracts." In 1932 Gielgud turned to directing. At the invitation of George Devine , the president of the Oxford University Dramatic Society , Gielgud took charge of a production of Romeo and Juliet by the society, featuring two guest stars: Peggy Ashcroft as Juliet and Edith Evans as
16640-447: Was the first London production to reach 100 consecutive performances . 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". The Patent theatre companies retained their duopoly on drama well into the 19th century, and all other theatres could perform only musical entertainments. By
16770-547: Was the tenant of the Queen's Theatre, where he presented a season consisting of Richard II , The School for Scandal , Three Sisters , and The Merchant of Venice . His company included Harry Andrews , Peggy Ashcroft, Glen Byam Shaw , George Devine, Michael Redgrave and Harcourt Williams, with Angela Baddeley and Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies as guests. His own roles were King Richard, Joseph Surface, Vershinin and Shylock. Gielgud's performances drew superlatives from reviewers and colleagues. Agate considered his Richard II, "probably
16900-475: Was to appear there in a rival production of the play. When Gielgud opened at the Empire Theatre in October the reviews were mixed, but, as the actor wrote to his mother, the audience response was extraordinary. "They stay at the end and shout every night and the stage door is beset by fans." Howard's production opened in November; it was, in Gielgud's words, a débâcle, and the "battle of the Hamlets" heralded in
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