The Harold Pinter Theatre, formerly the Comedy Theatre until 2011, is a West End theatre, and opened on Panton Street in the City of Westminster, on 15 October 1881, as the Royal Comedy Theatre. It was designed by Thomas Verity and built in just six months in painted (stucco) stone and brick. By 1884 it was known as just the Comedy Theatre. In the mid-1950s the theatre underwent major reconstruction and re-opened in December 1955; the auditorium remains essentially that of 1881, with three tiers of horseshoe-shaped balconies.
Video Harold Pinter Theatre
History
In 1883, the successful operetta Falka had its London première at the theatre, and in 1885, Erminie did the same. The theatre's reputation grew through the First World War when Charles Blake Cochran and André Charlot presented their famous revue shows. Famous actors who appeared here include Henry Daniell who played John Carlton in Secrets in September 1929.
The theatre was notable for the role it played in overturning stage censorship by establishing the New Watergate Club in 1956, under producer Anthony Field. The Theatres Act 1843 was still in force and required scripts to be submitted for approval by the Lord Chamberlain's Office. Formation of the club allowed plays that had been banned due to language or subject matter to be performed under "club" conditions.
Plays produced in this way included the UK premières of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge, Robert Anderson's Tea and Sympathy and Tennessee Williams' Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. The law was not revoked until 1968, but in the late 1950s there was a loosening of conditions in theatre censorship, the club was dissolved and Peter Shaffer's Five Finger Exercise premièred to a public audience.
The theatre was Grade II listed by English Heritage in June 1972.
Maps Harold Pinter Theatre
Renaming
On 7 September 2011 it was announced that the theatre's owner, Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) would be renaming the Comedy Theatre to the Harold Pinter Theatre from Thursday 13 October 2011.
Howard Panter, Joint Chief Executive and Creative Director of ATG, told the BBC: "The work of Pinter has become an integral part of the history of the Comedy Theatre. The renaming of one of our most successful West End theatres is a fitting tribute to a man who made such a mark on British theatre and who, over his 50-year career, became recognised as one of the most influential modern British dramatists."
Recent and present productions
- Steptoe and Son in Murder at Oil Drum Lane (22 February 2006 - 15 April 2006) by Ray Galton and John Antrobus
- Donkeys' Years (9 May 2006 - 15 December 2006) by Michael Frayn, starring Samantha Bond, David Haig, Mark Addy and James Dreyfus
- The Rocky Horror Show (4 January 2007 - 29 January 2007) by Richard O'Brien, starring David Bedella and Suzanne Shaw
- Boeing-Boeing (15 February 2007 - 5 January 2008) by Marc Camoletti, starring Roger Allam, Frances de la Tour, Elena Roger, Mark Rylance, Daisy Beaumont, Tamzin Outhwaite, Amy Nuttall, Rhea Perlman, Jean Marsh, Jennifer Ellison, Tracey-Ann Oberman and Kevin McNally
- The Lover/The Collection (29 January 2008 - 3 May 2008) by Harold Pinter, starring Timothy West, Gina McKee, Charlie Cox and Richard Coyle
- Dickens Unplugged (9 June 2008 - 29 June 2008) by Adam Long
- Sunset Boulevard (15 December 2008 - 30 May 2009) by Andrew Lloyd Webber, directed by Craig Revel Horwood
- Too Close to the Sun (24 July 2009 - 8 August 2009), world premiere of a new musical about Ernest Hemingway
- Prick Up Your Ears (30 September 2009 - 6 December 2009) by Simon Bent, starring Matt Lucas and Chris New
- The Misanthrope (17 December 2009 - 13 March 2010) by Moliere, starring Keira Knightley, Damian Lewis, Tara Fitzgerald and Dominic Rowan
- Mrs Warren's Profession (25 March 2010 - 19 June 2010) by George Bernard Shaw, starring Felicity Kendal
- La Bête (7 July 2010 - 4 September 2010) by David Hirson, starring Mark Rylance, David Hyde Pierce and Joanna Lumley
- Birdsong (28 September 2010 - 15 January 2011) based on the book by Sebastian Faulks, starring Ben Barnes
- The Children's Hour (9 February 2011 - 7 May 2011) by Lillian Hellman, starring Keira Knightley
- Betrayal (16 June 2011 - 20 August 2011) by Harold Pinter, starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Douglas Henshall and Ben Miles
- Death and the Maiden (24 October 2011 - 21 January 2012) by Ariel Dorfman starring Thandie Newton, Tom Goodman-Hill and Anthony Calf
- Absent Friends (9 February 2012 - 14 April 2012) by Alan Ayckbourn, starring Reece Shearsmith, Kara Tointon and Elizabeth Berrington
- South Downs and The Browning Version (24 April 2012 - 21 July 2012) by Terence Rattigan, starring Nicholas Farrell, Anna Chancellor and Alex Lawther
- A Chorus of Disapproval (27 September 2012 - 5 January 2013) by Alan Ayckbourn, starring Rob Brydon, Nigel Harman and Ashley Jensen
- Old Times (31 January 2013 - 6 April 2013) by Harold Pinter, starring Rufus Sewell, Kristin Scott Thomas and Lia Williams
- Chimerica (7 August 2013 - 19 October 2013) by Lucy Kirkwood, starring Claudie Blakley and Stephen Campbell Moore
- Mojo (13 November 2013 - 8 February 2014) by Jez Butterworth, starring Brendan Coyle, Rupert Grint and Ben Whishaw
- Relative Values (14 April 2014 - 21 June 2014) by Noël Coward, starring Patricia Hodge, Caroline Quentin and Rory Bremner
- The Importance of Being Earnest (17 July 2014 - 20 September 2014) by Oscar Wilde, starring Siân Phillips, Nigel Havers and Martin Jarvis
- Sunny Afternoon (28 October 2014 - 29 October 2016)
- Nice Fish (25 November 2016 - 11 February 2017) by Mark Rylance and Louis Jenkins, starring Mark Rylance
- Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (9 March 2017 - 27 May 2017) by Edward Albee, starring Imelda Staunton and Conleth Hill
- Hamlet (15 June 2017 - 2 September 2017) by William Shakespeare, starring Andrew Scott
- Oslo (11 October 2017 - 30 December 2017) by J. T. Rogers, starring Toby Stephens and Lydia Leonard
- The Birthday Party (18 January 2018 - 14 April 2018) by Harold Pinter, starring Toby Jones, Stephen Mangan and Zoe Wanamaker
- Consent (29 May 2018 - 11 August 2018) by Nina Raine, starring Adam James, Stephen Campbell Moore and Claudie Blakley
References
Bibliography
- Guide to British Theatres 1750-1950, John Earl and Michael Sell pp. 104-5 (Theatres' Trust, 2000) ISBN 0-7136-5688-3
- Who's Who in the Theatre, edited by John Parker, tenth edition, revised, London, 1947, pps: 477-478.
External links
- Official Website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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