The Aldwych Theatre in London is a west end theatre, located on Aldwych in the City Of Westminster. The theatre was Grade II listed on 20th July 1971 and its seating capacity is 1200.
The Aldwych theatre was built as a pair with the Waldorf Theatre (now the Novello Theatre), both being designed by W.G.R Sprague. Funded by Seymour Hicks in association with the American impressario Charles Frohman and built by Walter Wallis. The ornate decorations of the theatre were in the Georgian style and it was was constructed on the newly built Aldwych.
The Aldwych theatre first opened its doors on 23rd December 1905 with a production of Blue Bell, a new version of Hicks' popular pantomime, Bluebell In Fairyland. In 1906, Hicks' The Beauty Of Bath followed and in 1907, The Gay Gordans played at the theatre. From 1925-1933, it became the home of Ben Travers' farces, which also became known as The Aldwych Farces. From the mid-1930s until about 1960, the theatre was owned by the Abrahams family.
Vivien Leigh who had won an Academy Award for the film version, appeared in a 1949 London theatre production of A Streetcar Named Desire at the Aldwych, which was directed by her husband, Laurence Olivier.
On 15th December 1960, after intense speculation, it was announced that the Royal Shakespeare Company was to base its London productions in the Aldwych Theatre for the next three years. In fact they stayed for over two decades, finally moving to the Barbican Arts Theatre in 1982. Among many notable productions were The Greeks, The War Of The Roses and Nicholas Nickleby as well as numerous Shakespeare productions.
During absences of the RSC, the Aldwych hosted the annual World Theatre Seasons, foreign plays in their original productions, invited to London by the theatre impresario Peter Daubeny, annually from 1964 to 1973.
In 1990-91, Joan Collins starred in Private Lives at the Aldwych. Other recent productions at the Aldwych Theatre include Whistle Down The Wind, Fame and up to July 2011 Dirty Dancing. The Aldwych Theatre in London remains one of the capitals top venues to use theatre tickets for a night out.
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