Playhouse Theatre background

The Playhouse Theatre was originally opened in 1882 by Sefton Parry, a speculative theatre builder. He originally bought the site hoping that it would have been purchased by the South Eastern & Chatham Railway Company.

The theatre’s first name was in fact The Royal Avenue Theatre which opened on 11th March 1882 with a revival of Offenbach’s Madam Favart, however Royal was soon dropped from the name.

Fast forward to 1905 when the theatre was rebuild to the designs of Blow & Billerey. As the work was going on, part of the roof which was adjacent to Charing Cross railway station collapsed. The roof fell onto the train lines but part of the western wall also fell and crashed through the roof and wall of the theatre, resulting in the deaths of 3 workers at the station and 3 workmen at the theatre.

On 28th January 1907 the theatre was finished with repairs and reopened as The Playhouse Theatre, and the first play to be shown was called The Drims of Qudh which was in fact a one act play. This was followed by a play called Toddles, by Tristan Bernard and Andre Godfernaux.

Since then, the theatre has hosted the likes of the BBC, The Almeida Theatre Company and Janet Mcteer and in January 2003 the theatre gained new owners from Maidstone Productions.

What’s on?

Thursday 17th November 2016 until Saturday 4th February 2017 – An Inspector Calls

For more information or to book for a show, visit their website here.