The West End is traditionally the heartland of London’s private sector theatres. This is where the big crowds flock to see the big musicals and plays: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s, Phantom of the Opera, Disney’s The Lion King, Schonberg and Boubil’s Les Miserables, ABBA’s Mamma Mia and Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap.
Most of the theatres are to be found between the Aldwych and Oxford Circus: an area that would take about 40 minutes to walk from one end to the other and takes in such famous landmarks as The Strand, Covent Garden, Leicester Square, Shaftesbury Avenue, Piccadilly Circus and Soho. In addition to this area theatres and concert halls are to be found in nearby Victoria and on the Southbank. Victoria is a few stops on the underground, the Southbank just a stroll across the Thames from Theatreland.
Of course, theatres are to be found in every nook and cranny of London: fringe theatres, pub theatres, Off West End Theatres and theatres that would otherwise be known as Regional theatres but are now to be found within what has become Greater London (Wimbledon and Richmond for example). However for the purposes of this book, I will concentrate on the West End as described above.
Whilst many theatre-goers will have their favourite theatre, by far the most well known theatres are the London Palladium by Oxford Circus, the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and the Savoy just off the Strand. The two opera houses – the London Coliseum and the Royal Opera House – and the National Theatre on the Southbank are also worth a mention whilst the Palace on Cambridge Circus and the Theatre Royal Haymarket are arguably two of the most iconic.
Behind the pillars, billboards and neon signs the theatres range from small 500 seater playhouses up to arenas with a capacity of over 2000. Facilities also vary enormously from venue to venue, but at each you can expect the same basic list of amenities. Each will have a foyer, with a box office for walk up business and for ticket collections on the night.
Beyond the foyer the public seating areas are split into several sections – Orchestra Stalls on the lower level, the Royal or Dress Circle the next step up and then beyond that many theatres boast Grand Circles, Upper Circles and Balconies. Seating in these areas (“up in the gods”) is traditionally the cheapest seating.
Each seating area will be manned by stewards selling programmes and sweets beforehand and ice creams in the interval. Some theatres go about this business in a very proactive way with stewards walking up and down the aisle selling their wares. Other theatres will have a discrete box or station from which a steward can be seen servicing the hungry and the curious.
A bar and toilets are generally available for each level of seating – although they may not actually be on that level!
Famously London theatre toilets are too few and far between – especially the ladies – so don’t get caught short. The bars too can be quite small and often expensive. However they will take interval orders before the show and most will allow you back into the auditorium with your drink as long as you decant it into a plastic cup. For some this represents the biggest leap forward for humanity since Tull’s invention of the seed drill, for others it is equal in bad manners to walking up to the actor in mid speech and slapping him or her in the face! But I digress
Depending on the layout of the theatre one of these areas will have access for wheelchair users. Some theatres have seats that can be removed by prior arrangement, in others the wheelchair user will have to transfer to a fixed seat. Most theatres have facilities for those who are hard of hearing – an infrared system or hearing aid loop. Guide dogs are also catered for by prior arrangement. It does have to be said that access is not great in most London theatres, but remember these are old protected buildings and in many cases the owners have already done all that they can. What they lack in structure they do try to make up for in service, so if you have a potential problem, do ask beforehand.