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     Aldwych Theatre - Information & History
The Aldwych Theatre is located just off the Aldwych building which extends from the Strand adjacent to Covent Garden and Drury Lane in the heart of the West End. The Aldwych Theatre was designed by the famous specialist theatre architect Mr WGR Sprague and was built in 1905 as one of a pair of theatres. The other theatre was known as the Waldorf Theatre and is now known as the Strand Theatre. The famous Waldorf hotel was erected between the sister theatres.
The Aldwych Theatre has gone through many refurbishments but still retains a great deal of its original features with one main change, originally designed to have 4 tiers of seating for 1092 seats the current building has 3 tiers for 1200 seats.
The Aldwych Theatre became famous as one of the leading London theatre venues during the roaring twenties when it staged several 'farces', the first being the production of 'A Cuckoo in the Nest' in 1925. There was the production of 'Thark' in 1933 and several other farce performances after the Second World War and through the fifties. More recently the Royal Shakespeare Company virtually took over the stage of the Aldwych Theatre in 1960, when the Theatre needed financial backing to even continue, for the next 21 years before they relocated to the Barbican Theatre.
There can be no other theatre in the world which has had two distinctly opposite types of productions as being the home to farce productions and once the home of the internationally renowned Royal Shakespeare Company.
Numerous productions have been staged recently at the Aldwych Theatre, namely a series of Chekhov's plays, and short stories such as 'The Sneeze' starring TV funny man and comedian Rowan Atkinson. More recently there have been performances of 'The Nerd', Chekhov's 'The Cherry Orchard', starring Dame Judy Dench, and Noel Coward's recreation of 'Private Lives', starring Ms Joan Collins. Even Roald Dahl's tale The Big Friendly Giant, the 'BFG' was staged at the Aldwych Theatre, and the production of 'Who's afraid of Virginia Wolfe' was highly successful.
One of the most electric of performances staged at the Aldwych Theatre must be the dance production of academy award wining movie 'Fame', which managed 5 years at the Aldwych Theatre. The latest performance is another famous dance production of yet another movie 'Dirty Dancing' to continue the dance vogue at the Aldwych Theatre and indications are that this performance will dance for many years to come as audiences are dancing in the isles.
Showing: Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story on Stage Aldwych Theatre | Performances | Information | Directions | History
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