The Arts Theatre in London is a theatre in Great Newport Street, in Westminster, Central London and operates as the West End's smallest commercial receiving house
The Arts Theatre seats 350 people in a two-tier basement auditorium. It opened on 20th April 1927 as a members only club for the performance of unlicensed plays, thus avoiding theatre censorship by the Lord chamberlain's Office. It was one of a small number of committed, independent theatre companies which took risks by producing a diverse range of new and experimental plays, or plays that were thought to be commercially non-viable on the regular west end stage. The theatrical producer Norman Marshall referred to these as ‘The Other Theatre' in his book of the same name in 1947.
The Arts theatre opened with Picnic, which was a revue by Herbert Farjeon, produced by Harold Scott and music by Beverley Nichols. Its first important production was Young Woodley staged in 1928, which later transferred to the Savoy Theatre when the Lord Chamberlain's ban was finally lifted. In 1938 a four week revival of the Stokes brothers Oscar Wilde starring Francis L. Sullivan opened on 25 October. This coincided with a Broadway production of the play. In 1942 Alec Clunes and John Hanau took over running of the theatre, and for the next ten years produced a wide range of plays, winning a reputation as a 'pocket national theatre.'
In August 1955, Peter Hall aged just 24, directed the English language premiere of Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot at the theatre which was an important turning point in modern theatre in th UK..Subsequently, from 1956 to 1959, Hall ran the Arts Theatre.
According to Who's Who in the Theatre, between April 1962 and January 1967 the Arts Theatre was known the New Arts Theatre.and from 1967 to 1999, the Arts also became a home for The Unicorn children's theatre under the direction of its founder Caryl Jenner who took over the lease. Meanwhile adult performances continued in the evening, including Tom Stoppard's satirical double-bill, Dirty Linen and Newfoundland which after opening in June 1976, ran for four years at the Arts.
The lease of the theatre was taken over by a consortium of UK and US producers in 2000, for a five-year period, and relaunched as a West End Theatre. The Arts now operates as the West End's smallest commercial receiving house.
Theatre tickets to performances at the Arts Theatre can be purchased securely online through this website.
