Duchess Theatre

In terms of sight lines and size, the Duchess Theatre can be counted on for one of the West End's more pleasant theatre experiences. The smallish playhouse seats some 500 and is never better than when staging weighty dramas - a possible hangover from its early years when dramatist JB Priestley formed part of the Duchess management. Most recently, theatre critic Nicholas de Jongh braved his colleagues with his own handiwork, 'Plague Over England' - a well-received drama loosely based on a George Michael-style cottaging incident involving John Gielgud in the 1950s.