Aldwych Theatre
Sections:
Dirty Dancing at the Aldwych Theatre, London
The Aldwych Theatre is fondly remembered as the pre-Barbican home of the Royal Shakespeare Company. It has a seating capacity of 1,176. For the last 4 years Dirty Dancing has been performed at the Aldwych Theatre. Visit the show page to book Dirty Dancing Theatre Tickets and also find out more about the venue box office, seating plan and restaurants near the Aldwych Theatre.
Theatre build date:
1905
History:
The Aldwych Theatre was built at the turn of the twentieth century as part of a vast new construction to crown London’s new Aldwych. This new building also consisted of the Aldwych Theatre’s not quite identical twin, the Waldorf Theatre (known today as the Novello) with the imposing Waldorf hotel sandwiched in between, the vision of Australian theatre designer W.G.R. Sprague.
The Aldwych’s first production was Blue Bell, an adaptation a popular pantomime by the dated name of Bluebell In Fairyland. This was followed in quick succession by other such absurd titles as The Beauty of Bath in 1906 and The Gay Gordons in 1907. From 1925-1933, the Aldwych Theatre gained a following of its own, playing host exclusively to the farces of Ben Travers, which subsequently became known as the Aldwych Farces with a company of contemporary celebrities, including comedy legend Tom Walls and singer Yvonne Arnaud.
Other notable productions include A Streetcar Named Desire (1949) starring Vivien Leigh and directed by Laurence Olivier, and a number of Harold Pinter’s plays made their debuts at the Aldwych, including The Collection (1962), The Homecoming (1965) and Old Times (1971). From 1960-1982, the Aldwych Theatre was home to the Royal Shakespeare Company who, in 1980, staged the two part, nine hour epic The Life & Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, which was televised in hour-long episodes as Channel 4’s very first drama series.
Previously showing:
Dancing In The Streets (2006)
Fame: The Musical (2002)
Close to:
Charing Cross Station
The Waldorf Hilton
Waterloo Bridge
Kings College
Contact Details
Aldwych Theatre
Aldwych
WC2B 4DF
For all ticket enquiries, call:
0871 789 1004
Map
Facilities
Theatre capacity:
Seating capacity of 1092, but with its rarely used standing areas, the Aldwych Theatre can hold up to 1176.
Stage door location:
The stage door is situated on Tavistock Street, at the rear of the building.
Theatre layout:
There are two aisles in the Stalls of the Aldwych Theatre that, unusually, only run from the back to row HH. From row H forwards, the front section is in one central block with no gangway. This works well given that the stage itself is not wide, and so the side sections created by the two aisles begin at an adequate distance from the stage so that there are no sideline views in the Stalls.
The Dress Circle allows fantastic views down onto the stage, although the very back row (row M) is affected by the overhang from the Upper Circle. There are slip seats towards the sides of the Dress Circle (A 1-6 and 28-33). These seats do not face the stage directly, but this can be rectified by simply leaning forward. Based on this, the slips seats are in price band B but are still essentially the front row of the dress circle and do offer great value for money.
As in most theatres, the best seats the Upper Circle has to offer are a few rows from the front. There are a few classified restricted view seats towards the back caused by the curvature of the Upper Circle, and the view from the front row may be affected by a handrail.
Air conditioned:
Air-cooled.
