Ambassadors Theatre (London)

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Ambassadors Theatre
New Ambassadors Theatre (1999–2007)
NewAmbass.JPG
The Ambassadors Theatre in April 2007
Ambassadors Theatre (London)
AddressWest Street
London, WC2
United Kingdom
Coordinates 51°30′47″N0°07′40″W / 51.51292°N 0.12785°W / 51.51292; -0.12785
Public transit Underground no-text.svg Covent Garden; Leicester Square
Owner ATG Entertainment
Designation Grade II
TypeWest End theatre
Capacity 444
Production The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Construction
Opened5 June 1913;111 years ago (1913-06-05)
Architect W. G. R. Sprague
Website
Ambassadors Theatre website

The Ambassadors Theatre (known as the New Ambassadors Theatre from 1996 to 2007) is a West End theatre located on West Street, next to St Martin's Theatre and opposite The Ivy, in the City of Westminster. Opened in 1913, it is one of the smallest of West End theatres, seating just over four hundred people. [a]

Contents

Building

Previous applications to build a new theatre on the site of the Ambassadors had been rejected due to the narrowness of the surrounding streets. In 1912 architect W G R Sprague was granted permission for his "comparatively small theatre" (506 seated, 40 standing) on the condition that the adjacent Tower Court was widened to twenty feet. [4] The theatre was designed by Sprague with a Classical style exterior and Louis XVI style interiors, and built by Kingerlee and Sons of Oxford; [4] its intended height had to be lowered due to a neighbouring building's "ancient lights," resulting in the stalls being situated below ground level. [5]

The Ambassadors was conceived as one of a pair of theatres with its eventual neighbour St. Martin’s, but although the former was completed by June 1913, construction of the latter was delayed by the outbreak of war. [6]

The theatre was awarded the status of a Grade II Listed Building by English Heritage in March 1973. [4]

Management

At its opening in June 1913, the Ambassadors was leased by Durrant Swan and managed by John Herbert Jay. [7] A year later, Charles B. Cochran took on the lease and, seeking to offer the public a distraction from the war, introduced to London a series of successful "intimate" revues inspired by those in Paris. [8]

In 1996 the theatre was bought by the Ambassador Theatre Group. [9] The auditorium was divided into two smaller spaces by the creation of a temporary floor at circle level, to accommodate a residency by the Royal Court Theatre during the reconstruction of their venue. [10] In 1999 the residency ended and the theatre was returned to its original design, renamed the New Ambassadors Theatre. [9]

In 2007 the theatre was acquired by Stephen Waley-Cohen, who reinstated its original name and began an extensive programme of refurbishments. [11] In 2014, it was reported that Delfont Mackintosh Theatres had bought the theatre and planned to rename it after Stephen Sondheim. [12]  The purchase did not complete, and in 2018 the theatre was reacquired by ATG for £12 million. [13]

Productions

Vivien Leigh made her West End debut in the Ambassadors, starring in The Mask of Virtue (1935); this was the play in which Laurence Olivier first saw her perform. [14]

The theatre's most famous production is Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap , which showed from 1952 to 1974 before moving next door to St. Martin's Theatre, where it is still running.

After its purchase by the Ambassador Theatre Group under producer Sonia Friedman, productions included Some Explicit Polaroids by Mark Ravenhill, Spoonface Steinberg by Lee Hall, Krapp's Last Tape by Samuel Beckett and starring John Hurt, and was the West End's first home of Marie Jones' Stones in His Pockets and The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler. [15]

Recent productions have included the multi-award-winning production of John Doyle's Sweeney Todd which subsequently transferred to Broadway, Ying Tong – A Walk with the Goons, Someone Who'll Watch Over Me, Journey's End and the world première of Kate Betts' On the Third Day which won the Channel 4 television series The Play's the Thing. In 2006, the theatre played host to the landmark revival of Peter Hall's production of Waiting for Godot which ran for a strictly limited autumn season.

Recent productions include the Menier Chocolate Factory production of Little Shop of Horrors , the Bush Theatre's production of Whipping it Up, starring Richard Wilson and Robert Bathurst, and Love Song, starring Cillian Murphy and Neve Campbell (November 2006 to February 2007).

In September 2007, renowned dance show Stomp transferred to the theatre for a ten year run, which had its last performance in January 2018. [16]

Productions


Nearby Tube stations

Notes

  1. ↑ Several sources state that the capacity is 444, [1] [2] but the theatre's current leaseholder gives the amount as 406. [3]

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References

  1. ↑ "Ambassadors Theatre". Official Theatre. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
  2. ↑ "Ambassadors Theatre". London Theatre. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
  3. ↑ "Ambassadors Theatre". ATG Entertainment. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 "Ambassadors Theatre, West Street, London, WC2H 9ND". Historic England. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
  5. ↑ "Ambassadors Theatre". VIPA UK. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
  6. ↑ "St Martin's". Theatres Trust. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
  7. ↑ "The Ambassadors Theatre, West Street, London". ArthurLloyd.co.uk. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
  8. ↑ "Sir Charles Blake Cochran". Britannica. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
  9. 1 2 "Ambassadors Theatre". London Theater Tickets. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
  10. ↑ "Ambassadors". Theatres Trust. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
  11. ↑ "Ambassadors Theatre". British Theatre. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
  12. ↑ "Mackintosh buys Victoria Palace and Ambassador theatres". BBC. 23 May 2014. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
  13. ↑ "ATG acquires Ambassadors Theatre in the West End". WhatsOnStage. 20 December 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
  14. ↑ "A Timeline of Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier's Tragic Love Story". Harpers Bazaar. 9 October 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2025.
  15. ↑ "The Ambassadors Theatre". Theatre Tokens. Retrieved 28 January 2025.
  16. ↑ "STOMP Tickets | London Theatre Tickets | Ambassadors Theatre | West End Theatre". www.westendtheatre.com. 13 July 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
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