Gielgud Theatre

Gielgud Theatre is a London theatre venue featured on British Theatre. Explore upcoming shows

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The Gielgud Theatre

originally called the Hicks Theatre

opened on 27 December 1906. It’s first two productions

the musicals The Beauty of Bath and My Darling

were both written by Seymour Hicks

who the theatre was named after. When Hick’s wife missed several performances of The Dashing Little Duke (1909) due to illness

he stepped into the role personally. In that same year

Charles Frohman became sole manager of theatre and quickly renamed it the Globe Theatre. Lady Randolph Churchill (Winston Churchill’s mother) wrote the reopening production

His Borrowed Plumes. The next two decades were peppered with successful productions such as Fallen Angels in 1925

Call It a Day in 1935 (which ran for 509 performances)

and John Gielgud’s production of The Importance of Being Earnest in 1938 (in which Gielgud both starred and directed). Gielgud’s next production

Christopher Fry’s The Lady’s Not for Burning

has a successful premiere in 1949

and that success was followed up in the next decades with A Man For All Seasons (1960

also its stage premiere)

There’s a Girl in My Soup (1966

ran for 1

064) and Daisy Pulls it Off (1983

1

180 performance

the theatre’s longest run). With the opening of Shakespeare’s Globe on the South Bank

the theatre was renamed the Gielgud Theatre in 1994

both in honor of the actor’s contribution

and to avoid public confusion over two similar venue titles. An extensive refurbishment took place between 2007-8.

Blithe Spirit (2014)
Strangers On A Train (2014)
Private Lives, The Audience, Strangers on a Train (2013)
Chariots of Fire (2012)
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Lend Me a Tenor, The Ladykillers (2011)
Hair, Yes Prime Minister (2010)
Enjoy, Avenue Q (2009)
Gilbert and Sullivan Season, God of Carnage, Six Characters in Search of an Author (2008)
Equus, Macbeth, Nicholas Nickleby (2007)
The Crucible, The Canterbury Tales, Frost/Nixon (2006)
Don Carlos, Some Girls, And Then There Were None (2005)
All’s Well That Ends Well, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (2004)
Tell Me on a Sunday (2003)

WHEELCHAIR ACCESS:

Wheelchair accessible entrance and seats available

Are there adapted toilets?

An adapted toilet is available in the foyer.

ASSISTED PERFORMANCES:Are there facilities for the hard-of-hearing?

There is an infrared system working throughout the auditorium with conventional headsets.

Are guide dogs and/or hearing dogs permitted?

Access dogs are allowed inside the auditorium. Staff can also dog-sit.

Please contact the theatre directly for further information.