Theatre Royal Haymarket
Sections:
Theatre build date:
1821
History:
Although the Theatre Royal Haymarket as we know it today was built in 1821, the Haymarket has had a theatre on the site since 1720, making the Theatre Royal London’s third oldest active theatre, after the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and the Royal Opera House. During the eighteenth century, the Haymarket Theatre was known as an alternative to the predominantly opera and pantomime houses of London, staging mock operas and political satire.
In 1794, King George III attended the theatre and the crush to see the monarch resulted in twenty people being killed in the stalls. The nineteenth century saw the Haymarket make a name for itself as a great comedy house, hosting a 400 night run of Our American Cousin in 1862. This farcical comedy was one of the first to transfer from London to the US, and it was during a performance in Washington DC in 1865 that president Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.
The late nineteenth century saw the premieres of Oscar Wilde’s A Woman of No Importance (1893) and An Ideal Husband (1895), and the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have seen the Haymarket successfully staging dramatic plays with notable productions including General Post (1917), Mr & Mrs Fraser (1929), A Voyage Round My Father (1971) and The Breath Of Life (2003).
Previously called:
Little Theatre in the Haymarket
Previously showing:
A Man For All Seasons (2006)
Hay Fever (2006)
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (2006)
Pinter’s People (2007)
The Lady From Dubuque (2007)
The Last Confession (2007)
The Country Wife (2007)
The Sea (2008)
Contact Details
Theatre Royal Haymarket
Haymarket
SW1Y 4HT
For all ticket enquiries, call:
0871 789 1004
Map
Facilities
Theatre capacity:
905
Stage door location:
The Haymarket\'s stage door is accessible down a small side street that links Haymarket to Pall Mall, a few doors down to the right of the theatre.
Theatre layout:
The Haymarket is arranged on four levels: the stalls, the Dress Circle, the Upper Circle and the balcony. The theatre is very narrow and so a number of seats in the stalls are affaected very slightly by sidelined views. The back three rows of the stalls (V-X) are severely restricted by overhang from the Dress Circle.
The Upper Circle suffers from sidelined views in the first and last four seats in each row. There is a plastic safety barrier along the front of the circle which affects the view from rows A-C.
The balcony (sometimes called the Gallery in the Haymarket) can offer great value for money despite the first row being severely restricted by a metal bar. Also note that seats in the balcony are actually benches and rows are not as tiered as they are in the two circles below.
Air conditioned:
Yes
