The Noël Coward Theatre, formerly known as the Albery Theatre, is a West End theatre in St. Martin's Lane in the City of Westminster, London. It opened on 12 March 1903 as the New Theatre and was built by Sir Charles Wyndham behind Wyndham's Theatre which was completed in 1899. The building was designed by the architect W. G. R. Sprague with an exterior in the classical style and an interior in the Rococo style.
In 1973, it was renamed the Albery Theatre in tribute to Sir Bronson Albery who had presided as its manager for many years. Since September 2005, the theatre has been owned by Delfont-Mackintosh Ltd. It underwent major refurbishment in 2006 and was renamed the Noël Coward Theatre when it re-opened on 1 June 2006. The building is a Grade II Listed structure.
History
Early years, 1903–1919
The New was the second of the three theatres in St Martin's Lane. The Trafalgar Square (now the Duke of York's) opened in 1892 and the London Coliseum in 1904. The actor-manager Charles Wyndham, who had been based at the Criterion Theatre for more than twenty years, moved in 1899 to the larger Wyndham's Theatre which he commissioned in Charing Cross Road. To build Wyndham's, he had been obliged to buy a larger parcel of land than he required, and in 1901 he was in negotiations to sell the area he did not need. When negotiations fell through, he decided to build another theatre on the vacant site. This plot fronting on St Martin's Lane is bounded on one side by St Martin's Court, which also runs behind the theatre. While the theatre was in planning and then under construction it was referred to simply as "the new theatre", and the name stuck. The street adjacent to it is called New Row.[2]
New Theatre, postcard, circa 1905
The theatre, like Wyndham's, was designed by the architect W.G.R. Sprague, and was the thirtieth theatre he designed. A contemporary report described the front elevation as "of the free classic order … at once dignified and effective".[3] As at Wyndhams, the auditorium is constructed on the cantilever principle, rendering columns unnecessary and ensuring unimpeded views. The internal decoration was based on French designs from the 18th century. Over the Proscenium there is a gilt trophy emblematic of peace and music.[3]
I'll Leave It to You, in 1920, was Noël Coward's first staged play, and ran at the New for 37 performances.[8]Matheson Lang was associated with the New for several years, presenting and playing in Shakespeare and modern dramas. The London premiere of Bernard Shaw's St. Joan starring Sybil Thorndike followed in 1924.[9]
In July 1925, Robert Atkins took over management of the New, presenting Israel Zangwill's We Moderns. The following year and for most of 1927 the New was home to a dramatisation of Margaret Kennedy's The Constant Nymph, which ran for 587 performances, starring first Coward and then the young John Gielgud as Lewis Dodd. Towards the end of the decade, two comedies by P. G. Wodehouse and Ian Hay – A Damsel in Distress (1928), and Baa Baa Black Sheep (1929) ran for 234 and 115 performances respectively.[9]
1930s
In February 1933, Gielgud began a period of management at the theatre. He produced and starred in Gordon Daviot's, Richard of Bordeaux, which ran for 472 performances. He followed this in June 1934 with the same author's Queen of Scots starring Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, which ran for 106 performances. In November 1934, he presented Hamlet, which ran for 155 performances. After works by Hugh Walpole and Andre Obey, Gielgud presented a revival of Romeo and Juliet which had the longest run on record for that play: 186 performances. Peggy Ashcroft played Juliet and Edith Evans was the Nurse; Laurence Olivier played Romeo, and Gielgud Mercutio for the first part of the run and then exchanged roles. Gielgud concluded with Chekhov's The Seagull, directed by Theodore Komisarjevsky, a production that, according to The Times showed the play as "among the supreme masterpieces of the theatre".[9][10] After Gielgud's tenure, there was more Shakespeare at the New: As You Like with Edith Evans and Michael Redgrave; The Taming of the Shrew with Evans and Leslie Banks; and Macbeth with Olivier and Judith Anderson (all 1937).[9]
1940s
During the Second World War, The Old Vic was badly damaged by German bombs, and Sadler's Wells Theatre was requisitioned as a refuge for those made homeless by air-raids. The drama company of the former and the opera and ballet companies of the latter toured nationally throughout the war, and Bronson Albery, stepson of Charles Wyndham through Mary Moore,[11] managing director of the New Theatre, made it available to all three companies as a London base, although in practice the Old Vic company occupied the theatre more than the Sadler's Wells companies. The theatre historians Mander and Mitchenson single out productions of The Beggar's Opera, King John. The Cherry Orchard and Hamlet (with Robert Helpmann in the title role). In 1944, with the end of the war in sight, a reconstituted Old Vic company took possession of the New, starring Ralph Richardson, Olivier and Thorndike. The repertory that year comprised Ibsen's Peer Gynt, Shaw's Arms and the Man, Shakespeare's Richard III and Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. Between Old Vic seasons, Robert Morley and Wendy Hiller starred in a Regency drama, The First Gentleman, which ran for 654 performances.[12] The 1945 Old Vic company season added Henry IV, Parts I and II and a celebrated double bill of Oedipus and The Critic. In September 1946, King Lear and Cyrano de Bergerac were staged. Under a different management, Aldous Huxley's The Gioconda Smile was a success in 1948–49, running for 655 performances.[13][14]
Among some of the 1990s productions was the 1994 revival of Turgenev's A Month in the Country starring Helen Mirren and John Hurt.
In the 2000s the theatre played host to several Shakespeare productions including a production of Twelfth Night set in India with an entirely Asian cast. The production played to packed houses and only closed as the Royal Shakespeare Company themselves had exclusive rights to perform their annual London season of Tragedies there. Between December 2004 and April 2005, they presented Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, King Lear and a brand new production of Euripides' Hecuba starring Vanessa Redgrave.
On 8 June 2005, Dion Boucicault's Victorian melodrama The Shaughraun opened; however, its success at the DublinGate Theatre was not repeated in London and it closed on 30 July. A dark period of around three months followed before the theatre was transferred to the ownership of Delfont Mackintosh Limited and reopened in October 2005 with The Right Size's new production Ducktastic!. Once again this failed to live up to expectations and closed just three weeks after opening on 19 November 2005. A short Christmas season of Patrick Stewart's one-man version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol played from 6 to 31 December 2005, before the theatre hosted the Edinburgh International Festival hit drama Blackbird starring Roger Allam. The award-winning play Enron (directed by Rupert Goold, starring Samuel West and Tim Pigott-Smith) transferred here after a sellout run at the Royal Court. The European premiere of the Broadway hit, Avenue Q, started previewing on 2 June 2006 and had its opening night on 28 June 2006, finally closing on 28 March 2009 prior to transferring to the Gielgud Theatre.
Following a production of Deathtrap, directed by Matthew Warchus and starring Simon Russell Beale and Jonathan Groff, the theatre became the home of jukebox musical Million Dollar Quartet in February 2011.
Mander, Raymond; Joe Mitchenson (2000) [1957]. Theatrical Companion to Coward. Barry Day and Sheridan Morley (2000 edition, ed.) (second ed.). London: Oberon Books. ISBN978-1-84002-054-0.
