The Donmar Warehouse’s production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Sweat by Lynn Nottage announces casting for the West End transfer to London’s Gielgud Theatre for a limited 6 week run from Friday 7th June 2019 for 50 performances only. Returning from Lynette Linton’s acclaimed original Donmar run are Leanne Best (Jessie), Osy Ikhile (Chris), Wil Johnson (Brucie), Stuart McQuarrie (Stan), Clare Perkins (Cynthia), Martha Plimpton (Tracey), Sule Rimi (Evan) and Sebastian Viveros (Oscar). Sweat … [Read more...]
Gielgud Theatre London Tickets, News & Reviews
35-37 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1D 6AR
Gielgud Theatre Seating Plan
Gielgud Theatre Box Office Opening Hours:
Gielgud Theatre Box Office Telephone: 0844 482 5130
Monday - Saturday: 10am - 7.45pm
Venue and Travel Information
Nearest Tube: Piccadilly Circus (approximately. 250m), Charing Cross (approx. 550m)
Nearest Tube Lines: Bakerloo, Piccadilly
Directions from nearest tube: Take Shaftesbury Avenue along the side where the famous illuminated signs are. The theatre is on the left after about 100 metres.
Nearest Railway Station: Charing Cross (approximately. 550m)
Bus Numbers: (Shaftesbury Avenue) 14, 19, 38
Car Park: Brewer Street (3 minutes)
Within Congestion Zone: Yes
Venue Facilities: Air-conditioned, Bar, Disabled toilets, Infrared hearing loop, Toilets, Wheelchair accessible
The Gielgud Theatre London Brief History
The theatre opened on 27th December 1906 as the Hicks Theatre after actor, manager and playwright Seymour Hicks, for whom it was built. Designed by W G R Sprague in the style of Louis XVI, the theatre had 970 seats. The theatre was constructed as one of two with the Queen’s Theatre, which subsequently opened in 1907 on the adjacent street corner.
The first performance at the theatre was a musical called The Beauty of Bath by Hicks and Cosmo Hamilton. Another Hicks musical My Darling, followed in 1907, with the Straus operetta after that and then A Waltz Dream in 1908. During the run of the theatre’s next major work, The Dashing Little Duke (1909), Hicks’ wife Ellaline Terriss, played the title role (a woman playing a man), and when she missed several performances due to illness, Hicks stepped forward into the role.
In 1909, the American impresario Charles Frohman became manager of the theatre and renamed it The Globe Theatre and then reopened with His Borrowed Plumes written by Winston Churchill’s mother, Lady Randolph Churchill. Another Globe Theatre, situated on Newcastle Street, had been demolished in 1902 to make way for the construction of the Aldwych, and so the name became available. Several celebrated productions followed which included Call It A Day by Dodie Smith which opened in 1935 and ran for 509 performances, and was considered extremely successful for this period.
Terence Frisby’s There’s a Girl in My Soup, opening in 1966, running for 1,064 performances at the theatre, a record that was not passed until Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Olivier Award-winning comedy Daisy Pulls It Off by Densie Deegan which opened in April 1983 to run for 1,180 performances, which remains the theatre’s longest run. In 1987 Peter Shaffer’s play Lettice and Lovage was a huge hit with Maggie Smith and Margaret Tyzack starring and running for two years. The Globe was at one time the home of a resident theatre cat named Beerbohm. The cat’s portrait hangs in the corridor near the stalls. Beerbohm appeared on stage at least once during each production, causing the actors to improvise. The cat occupied certain actors’ dressing rooms while they were at the theatre, including Peter Bowles, Michael Gambon and Penelope Keith. Beerbohm was mentioned several times on Desert Island Discs, and he was the only cat to have a front page obituary in the theatrical publication, The Stage. Beerbohm died in March 1995 at the grand old age of 20.
The theatre was refurbished in 1987, which included extensive work on the gold leaf in the auditorium. The theatre is renowned for its beautiful circular Regency staircase, oval gallery and tower. The theatre has presented a number of Alan Ayckbourn premieres, including 1990′s Man of the Moment. Subsequently, Oscar Wilde’s classic comedy, An Ideal Husband (1992) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (2004) which saw notable revivals.
In 1994, in preparation for the 1997 opening of a reconstruction of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre on the South Bank by Sam Wanamaker, the theatre was renamed in honour of British actor John Gielgud. In 2003, Sir Cameron Mackintosh announced plans to refurbish the Gielgud, including a joint entrance foyer, with the adjacent Queen’s Theatre, looking out on to Shaftesbury Avenue. Mackintosh’s Delfont Mackintosh Theatres took control of the Gielgud from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Theatre Group in 2006.
Work on the front of the theatre started in March 2007 and the interior restoration, including reinstating the boxes at the back of the dress circle, was completed in January 2008.
Sweat by Lynn Nottage at London’s Gielgud Theatre
The Donmar Warehouse’s sold-out production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Sweat by Lynn Nottage will transfer to London’s Gielgud Theatre for a limited 6 week run from Friday 7 June 2019. Martha Plimpton will reprise her role as Tracey in Lynette Linton’s acclaimed production, with further casting to be announced. Speaking about the transfer, Sweat Playwright Lynn Nottage said: “I’m beyond thrilled that this beautiful and haunting production of Sweat will have the opportunity to be in … [Read more...]
Les Misérables Concert: Starring Michael Ball, Alfie Boe, Carrie Hope Fletcher and Matt Lucas
Cameron Mackintosh today (6 February 2019) announces that for 16 weeks only Michael Ball (Javert), Alfie Boe (Jean Valjean), Carrie Hope Fletcher (Fantine) and Matt Lucas (Thénardier) will lead a large cast and orchestra of over sixty-five in the concert version of Les Misérables. Katy Secombe also joins to play Madame Thénardier and for three performances a week, the role of Jean Valjean will be played by John Owen-Jones. Further casting will be announced shortly. Click here for cast … [Read more...]
Les Misérables announces West End move dates…
LES MISÉRABLES, the World’s longest running musical produced by Cameron Mackintosh, continues its astounding success into its 34th year, confounding the British critics who dismissed it when it first opened. The acclaimed New production was created for the show's 25th Anniversary in the UK in 2009 and has gone on to enjoy huge success around the world all over again, including returning to Broadway. The New touring production which has just opened to rave reviews in Dublin has already taken a … [Read more...]
Company ‘is an absolute delight’ at the Gielgud Theatre | Review
The clamour, over recent years, for more roles, substantial roles, for women in plays and musicals has led to the current trend of re-writing/re-modelling established shows for female leads rather than males. In the vanguard of this movement, last year at the National, we saw Simon Godwin’s superlative Twelfth Night, that mother of all cross-dressing extravaganzas, staged with Tamsin Greig being boldly, and outstandingly, cast as Malvolio. Did it work? Oh, yes; and some. It has to be said … [Read more...]