Criterion Theatre
Address:
Criterion Theatre
Piccadilly Circus
London
W1J 9HS
Directions:
Take the Bakerloo or Piccadilly line to Piccadilly Circus station. The theatre is directly outside the station.
Access:
Infra Red
Wheelchair access
Disabled Toilets
Air-Conditioned
Train
Charing Cross (5 mins)
Buses : 3, 6, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15,19, 22, 23, 38, 88, 94, 139, 159, 453
Nearest Car Park : NCP on Whitcomb Street
Map
In the latter half of the 17th century, on the site of the Criterion Theatre, there stood a coaching inn called the White Bear surrounded by covered entrances, and adjacent to it was an open area named Fleece Yard. During the latter half of the 18th century the White Bear’s reputation was one of the finest in the West End. Coaches to Dover, Margate, Ramsgate, Canterbury and Rochester left regularly at dawn every morning. The White Bear was also a popular pick up point for other coaches heading for the West Country. The White Bear Inn was demolished in 1870. The Criterion Restaurant was opened to the public on 17th November 1873 and the Criterion Theatre on 21st March 1874 under the management of Henry J. Byron & EP Hingston.
The programme of the first performance on 21st March 1874, consisted of An American Lady written and performed by Henry Byron and a piece by W. S. Gilbert, with music by Alfred Cellier, entitled Topsyturveydom. Charles Wyndham became the manager and lessee in 1875 and under his management The Criterion became one of the leading light comedy houses in London. The first production under the manager was The Great Divorce Case, opening on 15th April 1876.
In November 1882, the Metropolitan Board of Works condemned The Criterion on the grounds that it would be unsafe in the event of fire and also, as it was below ground and lit by gas, there was risk of toxic fumes. As a result the proprietors carried out extensive alterations between March 1883 and April 1884. A new area open to the sky was formed on a site formerly occupied by part of the ground floor dining-room. Corridors were built along the Piccadilly front, leading at one end to the box office entrance (west) and at the other to a new crush room and exit (east). In the auditorium most of the boxes were removed in order to increase the size of the circles. The improvements also included an elaborate system of air conditioning and the installation of electric lights throughout the theatre. Still unsure that the improvements were safe The Metropolitan Board of Works had to vote twice before the necessary licence was issued and the theatre was re-opened on 16 April 1884.
Much more extensive alterations were made between 1921 and 1924, when the property immediately to the west was being rebuilt from the designs of Sir Reginald Blomfield. Parts of the upper floors of this block were added to the Criterion Restaurant, the whole of which was now to be reached by way of a new entrance and staircase in Regent Street. The former entrance vestibule in Piccadilly Circus and the ground floor of The Criterion front were converted into shops. The ‘Marble Restaurant’ and Theatre were left as before. Productions included A Little Bit of Fluff which ran for 1241 performances during most of the First World War. The 20’s and 30’s saw Dame Sybil Thorndike, Sir John Gielgud, Rex Harrison, Trevor Howard making appearances and also new works by Ivor Novello and Terence Rattigan.
During World War II, The Criterion was requisitioned by the BBC – as an underground theatre it made an ideal studio safe from the London blitz – and light entertainment programmes were both recorded and broadcast live. After the war, The Criterion repertoire included avant-garde works such as Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, Jean Anouilh’s Waltz of the Toreadors (both directed by Sir Peter Hall).
In the 1970s the whole of The Criterion site was proposed for redevelopment, which caused protest as people feared the theatre would be lost. In February 1975 the GLC Planning Committee approved the development on the condition that the theatre continued in “full, continuous and uninterrupted use” while the redevelopments took place. However, this proved to be a false dawn and throughout the 1970s and early 1980s the row increased and the Equity Save London’s Theatre Committee organised high profile demonstrations (campaigners included Sir John Gielgud, Edward Woodward, Dame Diana Rigg, Robert Morley and Prunella Scales) as they feared that the theatre would still be lost. Eventually the theatre’s future was secured, but it had to close temporarily from April 1989 to October 1992.
During the refurbishment the entire block was demolished save the original part of the restaurant, the theatre auditorium & entrance staircase along with the concert hall above. The Regent’s Street entrance was lost, so too the entire backstage area including the dressing rooms, offices and bars. The concert hall was converted into shops and, in most part, houses The Lillywhites Sports Store today.
The building work created a new backstage area with dressing rooms, offices and workshops plus two new bars (Greene & Stalls). The auditorium was refurbished and re-modeled slightly and the theatre was extensively re-equipped with modern sound and lighting systems. The Criterion Theatre re-opened under the management of Sally Greene on October 10th 1992 with Ennio Marchetto.
The Reduced Shakespeare Company made the Criterion Theatre their home for 9 years ending in April 2005. Since then recent productions have included: The Gruffalo; What the Butler Saw; Otherwise Engaged and Mack & Mabel. The current production of The 39 Steps opened on September 20th 2006.
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