What is the West End?

The West End is the largest theatre district in the world and is the epicentre of British commercial theatre. The West End originally took its name from the fact that it was situated to the West of the City of London. In more recent times the definition of the theatre district has changed, as is explained below.

What makes a West End theatre?

A vast majority of West End theatres can be identified because of their location in the area popularly known as Theatreland. Theatreland, the heart of the West End, is bordered by The Strand to the south, Oxford Street to the north, Regent Street to the west and Kingsway to the east. While they fall outside of these boundaries, the Victoria Palace and the Apollo Victoria are, due to their size and status, also considered West End venues, as is, in the opinion of some people, the National Theatre. The heart of Theatreland is Shaftesbury Avenue which currently hosts six theatres.

A brief history of London theatre and the West End

London’s first playhouse was built at Shoreditch in 1576 and had the wholly appropriate name of The Theatre. Prior to this, plays had been performed in ad hoc venues such as courtyards, inn-yards or spacious private homes. When the lease on The Theatre ran out in 1597, its industrious owner Richard Burbage transported its timber across the Thames and used it to build the first (of three) Globe theatre on the South Bank. The Globe opened in 1599 with a company led by Burbage, who established himself as the first of London’s great actor/impresarios. Burbage was the first man to play Hamlet, King Lear and Othello.

Dury Lane

The first West End venue opened in 1663 when the first of several theatres was opened on Drury Lane. This venue played host to the earliest West End stars such Nell Gwyn and Charles Hart until it was destroyed by fire in 1672. A new theatre, called the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane was designed by Christoper Wren and opened on the same site in 1674. This second theatre survived for the next 120 years during which time several other theatres, such as the Haymarket and the Theatre Royal Covent Garden (now the Royal Opera House) were built and the notion of West End theatre evolved.

David Garrick

One of the many managers of the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane was the legendary David Garrick, another actor/manager/impresario who dominated West End and London theatre throughout the 18th Century. Garrick came to London in 1737 as a wine seller, but was soon distracted by the lure of the theatre, and in 1741 he played his first great role, Shakespeare’s Richard III. Over the next 30 years, Garrick had a huge influence on London theatre. His impact on West End (and world) theatre is remembered through the Garrick Club and the Garrick theatre.

Today's West End

Today's West End began taking shape in the 19th Century when many of the imposing and beautiful theatre buildings still standing today were erected and theatre-going became highly fashionable among the middle and upper classes. The backbone of the West End was finally put in place towards the end of the century when Shaftesbury Avenue was created, and theatres were soon built along it.

New West End theatres continued to be built throughout the early years of the 20th Century, while the post war years saw the opening of London’s two great, modern, centres of theatre: The National Theatre and the Barbican. Although the rise of alternative entertainments such as the cinema, and the cost of maintaining such extravagant buildings, posed a constant challenge, West End theatre has continued to thrive in the modern era.

The future of many West End theatres has been made more secure through their purchase by major commercial theatre organisations such as the Ambassador Theatre Group, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group and Cameron Mackintosh’s Delfont Mackintosh Group. The 21st Century is set to receive its first entirely new West End theatre in 2008 when Mackintosh opens the Sondheim Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue, the first new venue there since 1931.

The Society Of London Theatre

As theatre in London grew into a major industry, the need for a central, overseeing organisation became apparent. The Society Of West End Theatre Managers, now known as the Society Of London Theatre (SOLT), was founded by Sir Charles Wyndham in 1908 to fulfill just such a role. As a trade organisation, the Society represents the producers, theatre owners and managers of the major commercial and grant-aided theatres in central London.

The Society today 

Today the Society combines its long-standing roles in such areas as industrial relations and legal advice for members with a campaigning role for the industry, together with a wide range of audience-development programmes to promote theatre-going.

SOLT produces the London Theatre Guide, the definitive guide to what’s on in London theatre and hosts officiallondontheatre.co.uk, which is recognised as one of the UK’s leading Arts websites. SOLT also organises the Laurence Olivier Awards, London theatre's most prestigious awards, and organises Kids Week, an annual promotion aimed at introducing young people to the world of theatre.