Search for Garrick Theatre tickets London and you will see that this West End theatre offers a huge variety of shows for visitors to the West End. This year for the first time the Garrick Theatre box office saw burlesque moving out of the underground and into the mainstream as an entire revue headed onto Garrick Theatre's West End stage. Kylie Minogue's stylist William Baker directed a burlesque show by Miss Polly Rae and her Hurly Burly Girlys at the Garrick Theatre in the spring.
It has been fuelled by burlesque acts in cabaret nights such as La Clique and now La Soirée which had an extended run earlier this year and it is epitomised by stars such as Dita Von Teese. Rae, who was working at Selfridges before taking up burlesque five years ago, said prior to the spring run: “The Burlesque movie is acting as a catalyst and bringing the concept from behind the scenes into the mainstream. It's phenomenal to think my show is going to be in a high-profile West End theatre.”
| Garrick Theatre |
Theatre goers are now enjoying a classic at the Garrick with Pygmalion tickets on sale. The much loved George Bernard Shaw play stars Rupert Everett, Kara Tointon and Dame Diana Rigg. The Garrick has long been known for staging ligher comedies. Productions include No Sex Please We're British, which subsquently transferred to the Duchess Theatre in August 1986. On 24th October 1995 the Royal National Theatre''s multi-award winning production of JB Priestley''s An Inspector Calls opened here, having played successful seasons at the Royal National Theatre''s Lyttelton and Olivier theatres as well as the Aldwych Theatre and a season on Broadway.
The theatre is named for David Garrick, considered the most influential Shakespearean actor, who was also a playwright, theatre manager and producer. The Garrick Theatre opened on the 24th of April 1889 with a play called 'The Profligate' by A. W. Pinero. The Theatre backs onto The Duke Of York's Theatre and was designed by Walter Emden and C. J. Phipps and built by Messrs Peto with deep excavations so that the back of the Dress Circle would be level with the street. This caused some problems because an old river known in Roman times was discovered to be running through the land and held up construction considerably. At one point it seemed that the Theatre might have had to be given up on altogether, but it did get finished.
The auditorium was built on four levels, Stalls and Pit, Dress Circle, Upper Circle, and Gallery, and was quoted as being able to seat 1500 on its opening by The ERA, but by 1912 it was said to be able to handle only 1250 and this after two Circle Boxes were removed. The Gallery has not been used for many years so that the current capacity of the Garrick Theatre seating plan is a much smaller 732 seats (556 of them on the stalls / dress circle level.
The Garrick Theatre was very nearly destroyed in 1934 when plans were prepared to convert the building into a so called 'Super Cinema'. An architect was even named and a rebuilding date given but thankfully this plan never came to fruition and the Theatre survives much in its original state to this day. The auditorium is decorated in Italian Renaissance style, the ornamental work being in high bold relief. The proscenium opening is formed by groups of columns on either side of the first proscenium box, the general form of the theatre being after that of Covent Garden, with four openings forming a square, supporting in their centre a circular dome. The box front of the dress circle tier is divided by groups of cupids supporting shields crowned with laurels, each shield bearing the name of a celebrated author.'
After the Second World War began the Theatre was tried out as a 'Forces Theatre' but this failed and the Garrick closed and didn't reopen until September of 1941 with a play called 'Room V'. After this though the Theatre had many successes including in 2002 the hit British premiere production of This is Our Youth which played two seasons either side of a successful run of The Lieutenant of Inishmore. In 2005 the Nimax group took over the Garrick from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group. Other successful recent productions at the Garrick include the JB Priestly comedy When We Are Married starring Maureen Lipman and Roy Hudd.
So search for Garrick Theatre tickets London and you are sure to enjoy a variety of West End productions at The Garrick Theatre.