Garrick Theatre
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The Garrick Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster, named after the stage actor David Garrick.[2] It opened in 1889 with The Profligate, a play by Arthur Wing Pinero, and another Pinero play, The Notorious Mrs. Ebbsmith, was an early success at the theatre. In its early years, the Garrick appears to have specialised in the performance of melodrama. The theatre later became associated with comedies, including No Sex Please, We're British, which played for four years from 1982 to 1986.
History
There was previously another theatre that was sometimes called the Garrick in London, in Leman Street, opened in 1831 and demolished in 1881.[3]
The new Garrick Theatre was financed in 1889 by the playwright
The theatre's first manager was Gilbert's friend
In 1900, the theatre hosted
A proposed redevelopment of
The theatre has mostly been associated with comedies or comedy-dramas. More recent productions are listed below and include No Sex Please, We're British (1982), which played for four years at the theatre before transferring to the Duchess Theatre in 1986. In 1995, the Royal National Theatre's multi-award-winning production of J. B. Priestley's An Inspector Calls opened here, having played successful seasons at the Royal National Theatre's Lyttelton and Olivier theatres as well as the Aldwych Theatre and a season on Broadway.
In 1986, the Garrick was acquired by the
.The interior retains many of its original features, and was Grade II* listed by English Heritage in September 1960.[7]
Notable productions
- 1890 – A Pair of Spectacles by Sydney Grundy
- 1895 – The Notorious Mrs. Ebbsmith, starring Mrs Patrick Campbell
- 1902 – Water Babies, an adaptation by Rutland Barrington of Charles Kingsley's novel, with music by Alfred Cellier and others.
- 1924 – The Rat, written by and starring Ivor Novello
- 1947 – Laurence Olivier directed Jack Buchanan in Born Yesterday
- 1955 – La Plume de Ma Tante ran to 1957
- 1960 – Lionel Bart's Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be began a two-year run with Miriam Karlin
- 1967 – Brian Rix presented and appeared in Stand By Your Bedouin, the first in several seasons of farces, including Uproar in the House and Let Sleeping Wives Lie
- 1971 – The last of these farces was Don't Just Lie There, Say Something!
- 1972 – Anthony Shaffer's Sleuth transferred
- 1977 – Side By Side By Sondheimtransferred and was a continuing success
- 1978 – Ira Levin's thriller Deathtrap ran until 1981
- 1982 – No Sex Please, We're British transferred from the Strand Theatre and remained until 1986
- 1995 – An Inspector Calls played its second prolonged West End season
- 2002 – This Is Our Youth played two seasons
- 2009 – A Little Night Music played until 2011
- 2011 – Chicago transferred from the Cambridge Theatre; closed in 2012 after 15 years in the West End
- 2013 – Rock of Ages transferred from the Shaftesbury Theatre for its last year in the West End[8]
- 2014 – Let It Be transferred from the Savoy Theatre; played briefly in 2014 and through most of 2015
- 2017 – Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein, directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman starring Hadley Fraser, Ross Noble, Lesley Joseph, Summer Strallen, Shuler Hensley, Cory English
- 2019 – Bitter Wheat, written and directed by David Mamet, starring John Malkovich.[9]
- 2020 – Death Drop,[10] starring Courtney Act and Monét X Change.[11] After closing due to COVID-19 the show reopened in May 2021 starring Willam Belli and Latrice Royale.[12]
- 2021 – The Drifters Girl, musical starring Beverley Knight as The Drifters manager Faye Treadwell.[13]
- 2022 – My Son's a Queer (But What Can You Do?) written and performed by Rob Madge
- 2022 – Orlando by Virginia Woolf, adapted by Neil Bartlett, directed by Michael Grandage starring Emma Corrin
- 2023 – Bonnie & Clyde by Frank Wildhorn, Don Black and Ivan Menchell
- 2023 – Hamnet, based on Maggie O'Farrell's novel, adapted for the theatre by Lolita Chakrabarti
Notes
- ^ "Garrick Theatre". nimaxtheatres.com. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
- ^ Holland, Peter. "David Garrick", in Banham, Martin (ed.) The Cambridge Guide to Theatre, London, Cambridge University Press (1995), pp. 411–412
- ^ a b Allingham, Philip V. "Theatres in Victorian London", The Victorian Web, 29 November 2015
- ^ a b "Garrick Theatre – Theatre history", Best of Theatre, accessed 24 December 2015
- ^ Littlewood, S. R. "Vanbrugh, Dame Irene (1872–1949)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, January 2011, accessed 7 Jan 2011 (subscription required)
- ^ "Theatre History", Vaudeville Theatre, accessed 12 June 2013
- ^ English Heritage listing details, accessed 28 April 2007
- ^ The Garrick Theatre, London, London Theatre Direct, accessed 25 January 2017
- ^ BBC News, BBC News, accessed 22 September 2019
- ^ "Death Drop - A Dragatha Christie Murder Mystery". www.deathdropplay.com. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
- ^ "Courtney Act and Monét X Change to star in new comedy Death Drop in the West End this Christmas | WhatsOnStage". www.whatsonstage.com. 12 October 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
- ^ "Death Drop". Nimax Theatres. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
- ^ Official London Theatre, Official London Theatre, accessed 29 May 2022
References
- Earl, John; Sell, Michael (2000). Guide to British Theatres 1750–1950. Theatres Trust. p. 111. ISBN 0-7136-5688-3.
- Parker, John, ed. (1947). Who's Who in the Theatre (tenth, revised ed.). London. pp. 477–478, 1184.
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External links
