Wyndham had always dreamed of building a theatre of his own, and through the admiration of a patron and the financial confidence of friends, he was able to realise his dream. Wyndham's Theatre opened on 16 November 1899, in the presence of the Prince of Wales. The first play performed there was a revival of T. W. Robertson's David Garrick. A number of successes followed, including Lena Ashwell playing the lead role in Mrs Dane's Defence in 1900,[2] upon which Wyndham said that “the applause when the curtain fell was the most tremendous he had ever known”.[3]
In 1910, Gerald du Maurier began an association with the theatre which lasted 15 years and to include the stage debut of the screen actress Tallulah Bankhead. Du Maurier's small daughter, Daphne, often watched her father's performance from the wings. Thirty years later she presented her own play, The Years Between, on the same stage. In 1917, J. M. Barrie's Dear Brutus ran for more than 360 performances at Wyndham's. The same play was revived in 1922 for another lengthy run.
The blockbuster of the 1970s decade – Godspell – opened at Wyndham's in January 1972 and ran to October 1974. The original cast included David Essex, Marti Webb and Jeremy Irons.
Madonna made her West End debut there in 2002, performing in a sell-out production of Up For Grabs. This was followed by many other dramatic productions, including Dinner and the National Theatre's Democracy during 2004, Holly Hunter in By The Bog Of Cats, American TV star Ruby Wax in a children's stage version of The Witches, which ran during March 2005; followed by a controversial limited season of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues, which ran without the stars – Sharon Osbourne and her daughter Aimee, who dropped out the night before the production opened. In 2005, theatre patrons saw Helen McCrory star alongside Sienna Miller, Reece Shearsmith and Clive Rowe in a production of Shakespeare's As You Like It.[5]
A large-scale replica of the facade of the theatre was constructed at the Universal Studios theme park in Orlando, Florida as part of the park's London-themed area.[6]
Delfont Mackintosh era
In May 2005, the theatre was taken over by Cameron Mackintosh's Delfont-Mackintosh Ltd., which began operations of the venue in September 2005. In October 2005, the theatre presented Tom Stoppard's Heroes, a translation of the French play Le vent des peupliers by Gérald Sibleyras, which starred Richard Griffiths and John Hurt.[7]
The theatre closed temporarily for refurbishment works, before reopening in September 2008 with Kenneth Branagh starring in Michael Grandage's production of Chekhov's Ivanov. This new version by Tom Stoppard was the opening play in the Donmar West End twelve-month season at Wyndham's, with tickets at Donmar Warehouse prices.[8]
Leopoldstadt (12 June 2021 – 4 September 2021) by Tom Stoppard (production previously played here from January to March 2020, when theatres closed due to COVID-19 pandemic)
^Hartnoll, Phyllis (1967). Oxford Companion to the Theatre (Third ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 1018.
^Walker, Dave (18 September 2014). "An actor's life for me: Lena Ashwell". The Library Time Machine. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
^Samantha Ellis. "The Living Room, London, April 1953 | Stage". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
^Billington, Michael (22 June 2005). "As You Like It". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
^"On the Road to Diagon Alley: The London Embankment". Themeparkinsider.com. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
^Aleks Sierz, "Sir Tom in the doghouse", The Telegraph, 10 October 2005. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
^"The Stage / Shenton's View / Patron saint of ladies loos". blogs.thestage.co.uk. Archived from the original on 19 September 2008. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
^"AVENUE Q Finds A New Home In The West End". Westend.broadwayworld.com. 21 January 2010. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
^"Wyndhams Theatre London - The Kite Runner, Don Juan in Soho, Lady Day at Emersons Bar & Grill, Tickets, Info, Reviews". Wyndhams-theatre.com. 17 December 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
^"Bill Bailey - Larks in Transit". London Theatre Guide. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
^"The Catherine Tate Show Live is coming to the West End". Evening Standard. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
Bibliography
Guide to British Theatres 1750–1950, John Earl and Michael Sell pp. 150 (Theatres Trust, 2000) ISBN 0-7136-5688-3
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wyndham's Theatre.