Ian McKellen On Stage With Tolkien, Shakespeare, Others and YOU! Sir Ian McKellen has joined with Ambassador Theatre Group to present his biggest adventure to date. To celebrate his 80th Birthday, Ian has been touring the UK playing 80 of his favourite theatres, all to raise money for British Theatre. Now, Ian completes his epic journey by returning to the West End for a strictly limited run of the show that has been loved by audiences young and old, all around the country. From Gandalf to … [Read more...]
Harold Pinter Theatre London Tickets, News & Reviews
The Watsons at The Harold Pinter Theatre
Nineteen and new in town, Emma Watson’s been cut off by her wealthy aunt. She needs to marry, and fast, or be faced with a life of poverty and spinsterhood stuck in her humdrum family home.
Luckily, she has plenty of prospective suitors asking to dance, from dashing socialite Tom Musgrave to the stinking rich, socially awkward Lord Osborne. Which partner to pick?
So far, so familiar, but that’s when Jane Austen stopped writing. Two hundred years on, her forgotten heroine’s happy ending still hangs in the balance.
Picking up an unfinished novel, Olivier Award-winner Laura Wade’s ‘ingenious and triumphant’ (Evening Standard) new comedy pops the bonnet on Jane Austen’s world. Directed by Samuel West, The Watsons transfers to the West End following sold-out runs at the Menier Chocolate Factory and Chichester Festival Theatre.
What happens when a writer loses the plot and fictional characters take control of their tale?
★★★★ “Excellent. Jane Austen has never been quite as much fun.” The Times
“Laura Wade triumphs spinning Jane Austen into major theatrical gold.” Variety
★★★★★ “A beautiful bold production. A stunning play.” The Guardian
The Watsons at The Harold Pinter Theatre
The Watsons at The Harold Pinter Theatre from Friday 8th May to Saturday 26th September 2020.
The Harold Pinter Theatre London
Opening on 15th October 1881 this Victorian theatre only took six months to build, and was at first called the Royal Comedy Theatre, with the The Royal being dropped by 1884.
The theatre’s reputation was enhanced during the First World War when C B Cochran and André Charlot presented their review shows.
Significant reconstruction took place in the mid-1950′s with the theatre reopening on 14th December, 1955. One feature of this theatre is the use of columns to support the circle seating areas, which means that a number of the seats have a somewhat restricted view. The Comedy was possibly best known for the role it played in the late 1950′s, helping to overturn stage censorship.
More recent productions include the award winning comedy Steaming, and the fabulous award winning musical Little Shop of Horrors making its West End debut in 1979, both of which played at The Comedy in the early 1980s.
The Comedy was renamed the Harold Pinter Theatre in 2011 after Harold Pinter CH, CBE Playwright, screenwriter, actor, theatre director and poet.
The Harold Pinter Theatre London
6 Panton Street, London, SW1Y 4DN
Harold Pinter Theatre Seating Plan
Venue and Travel Information
Nearest Tube: Piccadilly Circus
Tube Lines: Bakerloo, Piccadilly
Directions from nearest tube: Coventry Street to Oxendon Road; the theatre is 100 metres along on the right.
Railway Station: Charing Cross
Bus Numbers: (Haymarket) 3, 6, 12, 13, 19, 23, 38, 88, 139; (Piccadilly Circus) 14, 22, 94
Night Bus Numbers: (Haymarket) 6, 12, 23, 139, 88, N3, N13, N18, N19, N38, N97, N136, N550, N551; (Piccadilly Circus) 14, 94, N22
Car Park: Leicester Square, Whitcomb Street
Within Congestion Zone: Yes
Venue Facilities: Air conditioned, Bar, Disabled toilets, Infrared hearing loop, Toilets, Wheelchair accessible
Betrayal by Harold Pinter at the Harold Pinter Theatre
In some respects, there are quite a few plays out there like Betrayal. Robert (Tom Hiddleston) is married to Emma (Zawe Ashton) but then there’s Jerry (Charlie Cox), Robert’s best friend who is attracted to Emma, feelings which Emma responds to in kind. Given the play’s title, it doesn’t take a genius to join the dots. But what makes Betrayal relatively unique, particularly with so many contemporary plays in the post-Pinter era that provide an insight into characters’ personal lives, is that it … [Read more...]
A Slight Ache and The Dumb Waiter at the Harold Pinter Theatre
The clipped tones of Flora (Gemma Whelan) and Edward (John Heffernan) in A Slight Ache almost called to mind the Noel Coward comedies. This being a Harold Pinter play, it doesn’t quite match the rapidity and breeziness of Coward but is very much in the mould of the ‘Pinter at the Pinter’ series: the surrealness begins fairly early on, as it does in The Dumb Waiter which follows. There is a match seller outside this couple’s house, but he does not speak, inasmuch as he does not have any lines in … [Read more...]
Zawe Ashton and Charlie Cox join Tom Hiddleston in Betrayal
Two of the country’s most exciting young stars, Zawe Ashton and Charlie Cox, will join Golden Globe, Olivier and Evening Standard Award winner Tom Hiddleston in The Jamie Lloyd Company production of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal at the Harold Pinter Theatre from 5th March 2019 (press night 13 March) for a strictly limited season ending on 1 June, directed by Jamie Lloyd. The production forms the culmination of the historic Pinter at the Pinter season. With poetic precision, rich humour and an … [Read more...]
Pinter Five and Pinter Six at the Harold Pinter Theatre | Review
A triple bill forms Pinter Five, the rather unimaginatively (if consistently) titled latest instalment in the ‘Pinter at the Pinter’ series, in which a whole load of miscommunication goes on. This could, justifiably, give rise to some frustration for some members of the audience, given the relentlessness with which a sheer inability for characters to have straightforward conversations is repeatedly demonstrated. In ‘The Room’, Rose Hudd (Jane Horrocks) begins by doing all of the talking, leaving … [Read more...]