By Neil Cheesman


The Playhouse Theatre is situated at Northumberland Avenue, London, WC2N 5DE. The nearest Rail Station and tube station is Charing Cross.

The Royal Avenue Theatre opened on the 11th March 1882 with a revival of Offenbach's Madam Favart. The prefix "Royal" was soon dropped from the theatre's name, but comic operas, burlesques and so forth remained the staple fare for several years. For much of this time, Arthur Roberts, a common star of the music halls, led the company at the Avenue.

In early 1890s the emphasis changed to drama and in 1894 Miss Horniman, the tea heiress, later a pioneer of the repertory movement, anonymously sponsored the actress Florence Farr in a season of plays.

Sadly, the first production failed but Miss Farr persuaded her friend, a certain George Bernard Shaw, to complete his play, Arms and the Man, as a speedy replacement and his first West End production. It turned out successful enough to allow him shed his music criticism in favour of play writing.

Since that time, the gorgeous Playhouse has hosted the kind of WS Gilbert, legendary actress-manager Gladys Cooper, the BBC, The Almeida Theatre Company, The Peter Hall Company, and Janet McTeer.

In January 2003, Maidstone Productions took over as the new independent owners of the Theatre. Maidstone Productions, belonging to London and Broadway producers Ted and Norman Tulchin, have been behind a string of hit productions on both sides of the Atlantic, including Gagarin Way, Eden and Vincent in Brixton in the West End.

Yazmina Reza's The Unexpected Man, along with Donald Margulies' Dinner with Friends, which won the Pulitzer Prize. This was in addition to Turgenev's Fortune's Fool on Broadway, starring Alan Bates and Frank Langella, both winning Tony Awards for best actor and best supporting actor.

In March 2003, the Ambassador Theatre Group took over the stewardship of the Playhouse Theatre and is responsible for the theatre's management and programming, working with Maidstone Productions and the team at the theatre. Recent productions include Richard Eyre's production Vincent in Brixton starring Clare Higgins and Journey's End directed by David Grindley.

Dreamboats and Petticoats is current playing at The Playhouse taking you back to a time when each passing week brought another classic track. Featuring songs from Roy Orbison, The Shadows, Eddie Cochran, Billy Fury, Chuck Berry and many more.




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