Designed by WGR Sprague in Georgian style, the Aldwych opened in 1905. And since then, its 1,200 seater auditorium has staged work of pretty much every possible variety. It made contemporary dance history when Diaghilev and Nijinsky rehearsed their riot-inducing ‘Rites of Spring’ here in 1913. Then, from 1925 to 1933 the theatre housed Ben Travers’ hugely popular drawing room comedies of errors, which came to be known as the Aldwych Farces. Other notable productions included Laurence Olivier’s staging of ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, starring his wife Vivien Leigh, in 1949.
In 1960, the Aldwych became the London home of the RSC, and was used as a base for the company for 22 years, until they decamped to the Barbican. Landmark productions included ‘Nicholas Nickleby’ and ‘The Wars of the Roses’ based on Shakespeare's histories. Between RSC productions, theatre impresario Peter Daubeny mounted annual World Theatre Seasons that brought overseas work to London in its original stagings.
But these days, Aldwych theatre means musicals, musicals, musicals. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Whistle Down the Wind’ and ‘Fame’ played here, and it also hosted hen party favourite ‘Dirty Dancing’ and Carole King love-in 'Beautiful'. The latest show to be making a song and dance at the Aldwych is 'Tina: The Tina Turner Musical', which opened in 2018.
