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     London Theatre Tickets » List of London Theatres » Criterion Theatre » History
Criterion Theatre - Information & History
The Criterion Theatre is one of a handful of theatres still in use today that was constructed pre 1880. The Criterion Theatre is situated on Piccadilly and couldn't be more central. The site was formerly occupied by the White Bear Inn which had been there from 1685, and was acquired by the caterers Spiers & Pond in 1870, along with the adjoining properties between Piccadilly Circus and Jermyn Street. They commissioned the established architect Thomas Verity to develop the site and adjacent buildings to design a development consisting of a large Restaurant, Dining Rooms, Ballroom and Galleried Concert Hall, which later became the Criterion Theatre in 1874.
The Criterion Theatre opened its doors on the 21st of March 1874 with a comedy production entitled 'An American Lady', which doubled up with a short one act musical called 'Topseyturveydom'.
The unusual design of the Criterion is that the Theatre is virtually all subterranean and under ground level, and the Criterion is only accessible by descending a flight of stairs, even the dress circle can only be accessed by going down a flight of stairs. The exterior façade of the Criterion is virtually unchanged since its creation and is considered to be the best surviving example of Thomas Verity's architecture design.
The only problem with the subterranean existence came into question when the Metropolitan Board of Works expressed concerns about the auditorium's ventilation and decided to force closure of the Criterion and insisted upon redevelopment works in 1883. The Criterion finally re-opened a year later in April 1884 with the added ventilation and a new fangled facility called Electricity.
The main changes were a large area opened from the basement to the sky by cutting off a large chunk of the adjoining restaurant, thereby bringing direct light (rays of sunshine into the Pit) and air into the auditorium, widened corridors, reducing the possibility of crushing in the event of evacuation, and additional exits into Jermyn Street. The seating capacity was also reduced to a respectable 600 across 3 levels, the stalls, dress circle and upper circles, and the balconies were supported by thinner iron columns, which reduced the obstruction and enhanced the site lines.
The logistics for the set directors and stage hands are both complex and arduous, as the stage of the Criterion is small and access to the stage, known as the 'Get in', is via a ramp, which means that all scenery has to be lowered down this ramp and, even worse, it has to be hauled back up the ramp to remove it.
The Criterion Theatre is as close to the original Victorian Theatre ambiance with its intimacy and atmosphere as you can get and is like stepping back in time and is an experience not to be missed by any London theatre goer.
In 1970 the Criterion site including the Theatre was proposed for total redevelopment and much protest was made to prevent the Criterion Theatre from being lost to a new design. Finally the Criterion Theatre was closed in 1989 until it was saved from redevelopment and new funding was found to give the Criterion a major refurbishment and face lift whilst still retaining the original Victorian design and atmosphere. The Criterion finally reopened its doors in October 1992 and is a pleasure both to visit and to work in for all that are interested in the Theatre business.
The Criterion was notably a home for a number of productions of the reduced Shakespeare Company from 1996 to 2005.
Criterion Theatre | Performances | Information | Directions | History
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