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The Gielgud Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W.1

Formerly Hicks Theatre / Globe Theatre

Above - The Gielgud Theatre during the run of 'The Canterbury Tales' in October 2006.

The Gielgud Theatre opened as the Hicks Theatre on the 27th of December 1906 with a musical play called 'The Beauty of Bath' by Seymour Hicks and Cosmo Hamilton. The Theatre was designed by W. G. R. Sprague and was one of two Theatres built by him next to each other on Shaftesbury Avenue. The first was the Hicks, opening in 1906 and then later The Queen's which opened in 1907. Both Theatres were built by Walter Wallis of Balham with frontages of Portland Stone on a site which was formerly an estate agent's premises, comprising of 35 to 49 Shaftesbury Avenue, and seventeen houses in Wardour Street, Rupert Street, and Upper Rupert Street, which is now called Winnet street.

Right - The Hicks Theatre from a Programme for 'Brewster's Millions' in 1907.

The Queen's Theatre was originally a twin with the Hicks, although slightly larger, but it was bombed during the Second World War and suffered considerable damage to its front of house areas, and especially to its Facade which was completely destroyed. The Theatre remained closed for nearly 20 years before being rebuilt on more modern lines and reopening in 1959.

Left - Programme for 'Brewster's Millions' at the Hicks Theatre in 1907, shortly after the Theatre opened. The play ran for 321 performances. - Click for details. - Courtesy Crispin Cockman.

Right - Programme for 'The Village' at the renamed Globe Theatre 20 years later in 1927.

The auditorium of the Hicks Theatre, with a capacity of 970, was built on three levels, Stalls, Upper Circle and Gallery and although the Upper is now called the Dress, and the Gallery is now known as the Upper, and the boxes were removed from the rear of the Upper in 1950, the Theatre remains in much the same form as it did in 1906.

Left - Programme for 'Call It A Day' at the Globe Theatre in 1935. The play opened in October 1935 and ran for 509 performances.

Right - Programme for 'Biography' at the Globe Theatre in 1934.

The Hicks Theatre was renamed the Globe Theatre in July of 1909. There was also another Globe

Theatre in London in the 19th century, on Newcastle Street, which was demolished when London's Aldwych, named after the Old Wych Street, was constructed. This vast operation began in the last years of the nineteenth century and was not finally completed until after the First World War. Four Theatres were demolished during the early stages of the work. The Olympic Theatre in Wych Street and the Opera Comique in the Strand were closed in 1899, the Globe Theatre in Newcastle Street shut its doors in 1902. This was followed by the closure of the Gaiety Theatre in the Strand in June of the same year.

Left - Programme for 'Call It A Day' at the Globe Theatre in 1936. The play opened in October 1935 and ran for 509 performances.

Above Right - Programme for 'They Came by Night' at the Globe Theatre in 1937.

The Hicks Theatre, or the Globe Theatre as it was now known, was renamed yet again in 1994 to the Gielgud Theatre. This was partly in celebration of John Gielgud but mainly because the newly opened Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on London's South Bank would have caused major confusion to the Theatre going public if there were two Globe Theatres in one City.

Left - Programme for 'Robert's Wife' at the Globe Theatre in 1938.

Right - Programme for 'While The Sun Shines' at the Globe Theatre in 1943.

Above - Shaftesbury Avenue in June 1977 showing the Lyric, Apollo, Globe, and Queen's Theatres
Photo M.L. 1977.

Above - The Gielgud Theatre in March 2007 during the run of Peter Shaffer's 'Equus' with Daniel Radcliffe and Richard Griffiths, and whilst refurbishment work to the frontage was being carried out.

Above - Photograph showing the Gielgud Theatre and the Queen's Theatre in October 2006 - Photo M.L.
The Gielgud and the Queen's were both designed by W. G. R. Sprague as a pair.

London's West End Theatres

Adelphi Aldwych Apollo Apollo Victoria Arts Cambridge Comedy Criterion Dominion Drury Lane Duchess Duke Of Yorks Fortune Garrick Gielgud Haymarket Her Majesty's London Coliseum London Palladium Lyceum Lyric New Ambassadors New London Noel Coward / Albery Novello Old Vic Palace Peacock Phoenix Piccadilly Playhouse Prince Edward Prince of Wales Queen's Royal Opera House Savoy Shaftesbury St. Martin's Trafalgar Studios / Whitehall Vaudeville Victoria Palace Wyndham's