Piccadilly Theatre

Piccadilly Theatre

Shows At This Venue

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Access

Sound Amplification:

Sennheiser Infrared

Toilets:

Accessible toilets available on street level (Royal Circle). Ladies and Gents toilets for the Stalls are 8 steps down from the entrance to the auditorium. In the Royal Circle, the Ladies toilets are 8 steps up from the bar, and the Gents toilets are 15 steps down and then 7 up from the bar level. There are 70 steps up to the Grand Circle Bar, with the Ladies on the way up and the Gents at the top.

Guide Dogs Policy:

Guide, hearing and other working dogs are welcome in all parts of the theatre.

Wheelchairs:

3 x wheelchair spaces in Royal Circle per performance

Access from Street to Foyer:

Level access

Access From Theatre Foyer To Seat:

22 steps to Stalls, 30 to Royal Circle, 70 to Grand Circle

Level Access:

Royal Circle

Contact

Contact the venue:

0844 871 7630 (Calls cost 7p per min plus your telephone company's network access charge)

Your Visit

Security Information:

Security note: For your comfort and security, you may be subject to additional checks on your visit to London theatres. Please contact the venue for more information.

Bar:

4 licensed bars. Drinks may be brought to disabled customers in the auditorium. Stalls bar is down 22 steps from the foyer, Royal Circle bar up 26 steps up from the foyer. There are 70 steps up to the Grand Circle bar. Bars have limited seating.

Air Conditioned:

Yes

Accepts Theatre Tokens:

Yes

History

The Piccadilly Theatre was built in 1928 by Bertie Crewe and Edward A. Stone for Edward Laurillard. It has a 1,232 seat auditorium with a memorable and unique Art Deco design. The theatre was as spectacular on its opening day as it is now, as the original brochure claimed that “if all the bricks used in the building were laid in a straight line, they would stretch from London to Paris.”

In its early years, the Piccadilly Theatre was briefly taken over by Warner Brothers and operated as a cinema using the Vitaphone system. There, it premièred the first talking picture to be shown in Great Britain, The Singing Fool with Al Jolson. He also opened the Jazz Singer in 1928 and appeared afterward on-stage to sing Mammie. Since then, the Piccadilly has presented most forms of stage entertainment – from hard-hitting drama Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (with its original Broadway cast), to A Night With Dame Edna.

Having been opened under the name The Piccadilly Theatre, it was relaunched in 1936 as a cabaret restaurant called London Casino. It was badly damaged in World War II and underwent many renovations before reopening under its original name of The Piccadilly Theatre in the early 1950s.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the theatre hosted many Broadway productions as they migrated to the West End including A Street Car Named Desire and Man Of La Mancha. Also during the 1960s, The Beatles recorded some songs there for a BBC Radio production.

There have been a variety of Royal Shakespeare Company productions there including Edward II starring Ian McKellen, and Henry Fonda also made his West End debut in the solo play, Clarence Darrow.