London theatres

London Theatres

Information and history about theatres in London

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  5. Shaftesbury Theatre

About Shaftesbury Theatre

A theatre with many names, the presently-named Shaftesbury Theatre has also been called New Princes Theatre, Princes, and Shaftesbury Theatre of Comedy. It was built in 1911 on Shaftesbury Avenue. The theatre has had to close three times in its history, once when the musical Hair was about to perform its 2000th performance. A piece of the roof of the auditorium fell off, closing the theatre briefly. A few vigorous patrons of Shaftesbury have kept the theatre from being sold to become an office complex.

The wide variety of productions at Shaftesbury has included comedy, musicals, operetta and even Shakespeare. Among well-known names are productions of Hair, How to Succeed in Business Without Even Trying, They're Playing Our Song, West Side Story, and Carousel by Rogers and Hammerstein.

1389 patrons can be seated inside this large auditorium.

Shaftesbury Theatre Information
Shaftesbury Theatre Performances