Noël Coward Theatre
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| Noël Coward Theatre | |
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| New Theatre, postcard, circa 1905 | |
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| Address |
St Martin's Lane
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| City | |
| Designation | Grade II listed |
| Architect | W.G.R. Sprague |
| Owned by | Delfont Mackintosh |
| Capacity | 872 on 4 levels |
| Type | West End theatre |
| Opened | 1903 |
| Previous names | New Theatre Albery Theatre |
| Production | Avenue Q |
| http://www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk/theatres/albery/ | |
| Coordinates: | |
The Noël Coward Theatre is a West End theatre on St. Martin's Lane in the City of Westminster. It opened on March 12, 1903 as the New Theatre, and was built by Sir Charles Wyndham behind Wyndham's Theatre which was completed in 1899. The building was designed by architect W.G.R. Sprague with an exterior in the Classical style and an interior in the Rococo style.
In 1973 it was renamed the Albery Theatre in tribute to the late Sir Bronson Albery who had presided as its manager for many years. Since September 2005, the theatre has been owned by Delfont-Mackintosh Ltd. It underwent major refurbishment in 2006, and was renamed the Noël Coward Theatre when it re-opened for the London premiere of Avenue Q on 1 June 2006. Coward, one of Britain's greatest playwrights and actors, made his West End debut in his own play, I'll Leave It To You, at the then New Theatre in 1920.
The theatre seats 872 patrons on 4 levels. The building is now a Grade II Listed structure.
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[edit] Notable productions
After opening in 1903 with a production of Rosemary starring Charles Wyndham and his wife, Mary Moore, the Noël Coward Theatre has hosted a number of notable productions. I'll Leave it to You, in 1920, was Coward's first play. George Bernard Shaw's St. Joan with an acclaimed performance by actress Sybil Thorndike ran in 1924.
The 1930s saw the greatest commercial success of John Gielgud's career, Richard of Bordeaux (1933). Gielgud followed up this triumph with a legendary production of Hamlet in which he both played the title role and directed a company that included Jessica Tandy, Jack Hawkins, and a young Alec Guinness in one of his first professional roles as Osric. Gielgud also appeared with Laurence Olivier, Peggy Ashcroft and Edith Evans in Romeo and Juliet. With the Blitz, came the destruction of the theatres that were home to the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells Theatre Companies. Both companies made the New Theatre home until their respective theatres were rebuilt in the 1950s. One of the most successful shows to play the New Theatre opened 30 June 1960, it was Lionel Bart's musical retelling of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, Oliver!. It ran for 2,618 performances.
In 1981, Children of a Lesser God won Olivier Awards for Best New Play and for actors Trevor Eve and Elizabeth Quinn. Among some of the notable productions recently is the 1994 revival of Turgenev's A Month in the Country starring Helen Mirren and John Hurt.
Recently, the theatre has played host to some notable Shakespeare productions including a production of Twelfth Night set in India with an entirely Asian cast. The production played to packed houses and only closed as the Royal Shakespeare Company themselves had exclusive rights to perform their annual London season of Tragedies there. Between December 2004 and April 2005, they presented Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, King Lear and a brand new production of Euripedes' Hecuba starring Vanessa Redgrave.
On 8 June 2005, Dion Boucicault's Victorian melodrama The Shaughraun opened; however, its success at the Dublin Gate Theatre was not repeated in London and it closed on 30 July. A dark period of around three months followed before the theatre was transferred to the ownership of Delfont Mackintosh Limited and reopened in October 2005 with The Right Size's new production Ducktastic!. Once again this failed to live up to expectations and closed just three weeks after opening on 19 November 2005. A short Christmas season of Patrick Stewart's one-man version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol played from 6 December to 31 December 2005, before the theatre hosted the Edinburgh Festival hit drama Blackbird starring Roger Allam. It is currently hosting the European premiere of the Broadway hit, Avenue Q, which started previewing on 2nd June 2006 and had its opening night on 28th June 2006.
[edit] Recent and present productions
- Endgame (10 March 2004 - 1 May 2004) by Samuel Beckett, starring Lee Evans and Michael Gambon
- Suddenly Last Summer (14 May 2004 - 31 July 2004) by Tennessee Williams, starring Diana Rigg
- Twelfth Night (26 August 2004 - 30 October 2004) by William Shakespeare, starring Raza Jaffrey and Kulvinder Ghir
- The RSC's Hamlet (23 November 2004 - 11 December 2004) by William Shakespeare, starring Toby Stephens
- Peter Pan - 100 Years of Peter Pan (19 December 2004) by JM Barrie
- The RSC's Romeo and Juliet (21 December 2004 - 8 January 2005) by William Shakespeare
- The RSC's King Lear (18 January 2005 - 5 February 2005) by William Shakespeare, starring Corin Redgrave
- The RSC's Macbeth (16 February 2005 - 5 March 2005) by William Shakespeare
- The RSC's Hecuba (7 April 2005 - 7 May 2005) by Tony Harrison, adapted from Euripides, starring Vanessa Redgrave
- The Shaughraun (8 June 2005 - 30 July 2005) by Dion Boucicault
- Ducktastic! (19 October 2005 - 19 November 2005) by Sean Foley and Hamish McColl
- Celebration - Harold Pinter (1 December 2005 - 3 December 2005) by Harold Pinter
- A Christmas Carol (7 December 2005 - 31 December 2005) by Patrick Stewart. adapted from Charles Dickens, starring Patrick Stewart
- Blackbird (13 February 2006 - 13 May 2006) by David Harrower, starring Roger Allam and Jodhi May
- Avenue Q (28 June 2006 - )
[edit] References
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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008) |
- Guide to British Theatres 1750-1950, John Earl and Michael Sell pp. 97 (Theatres Trust, 2000) ISBN 0-7136-5688-3
[edit] External links
- DelfontMackintosh.co.uk — official webpage for the Noël Coward Theatre on the Delfont Mackintosh website
- Theatre History
