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Gielgud Theatre

35-37 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1D 6AR GB

Now showing at the Gielgud Theatre

Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends

Gielgud Theatre

4.8/5 - based on 15 reviews - (Read reviews) 4.8 15 reviews Tickets from £24.00
Theatregoers (93%) i
The Guardian calls it “a glorious all-star memorial service”. It’s on at the Gielgud Theatre in the West End from 16th September 2023 to 6th January 2024, and it’s a real treat for lovers of the legendary Sondheim, who died in late 2021 while the show was being developed. Tickets are sure to be in high demand for this award-winner of a performance that sold out immediately in May 2022.
  • Booking until: Saturday, 6 January 2024
  • Running time: 2 hours and 30 minutes (incl. interval)
Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends tickets
Frank Skinner - 30 Years Of Dirt tickets Opens 5 Feb 2024 Opens 5 February 2024 Frank Skinner - 30 Years Of Dirt

Frank Skinner - 30 Years Of Dirt

Gielgud Theatre

Tickets from £38.00
Comic legend Frank Skinner brings his critically acclaimed new show ‘30 Years of Dirt’ to London’s West End for seven nights only, following a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe. This is Frank's highly-anticipated return to the West End since his hit 2019 'Showbiz' residency.
  • Opens: Monday, 5 February 2024
    Booking until: Saturday, 17 February 2024
  • Running time: 2 hours including an interval
Frank Skinner - 30 Years Of Dirt tickets
Opening Night - A New Musical tickets Opens 6 Mar 2024 Opens 6 March 2024 Opening Night - A New Musical

Opening Night - A New Musical

Gielgud Theatre

Tickets from £24.00
Based on John Cassavetes' legendary film, OPENING NIGHT follows a theatre company's preparations to stage a major new play on Broadway. But drama ignites behind the scenes when their leading lady is rocked by tragedy, and her personal turmoil forces everybody to deliver the performance of their lives.
  • Opens: Wednesday, 6 March 2024
    Booking until: Saturday, 27 July 2024
  • Starring: Sheridan Smith
Opening Night - A New Musical tickets

Gielgud Theatre Facilities

  • Air cooled
  • Bar
  • Disabled toilets
  • Infrared hearing loop
  • Member of Q-Park scheme
  • Toilets
  • Wheelchair/scooter access

Gielgud Theatre Access Tickets

Disabled theatregoers and their carers can get discount tickets. Please phone the Gielgud Theatre access line on 0344 482 5137.

Gielgud Theatre Location

Travel Information

Nearest Tube station
  • Piccadilly Circus
  • Leicester Square
Nearest Rail Station
  • Charing Cross
Tube lines
  • Bakerloo
  • Piccadilly
  • Northern
Day buses
  • (Shaftesbury Avenue) 12, 14, 19, 38; (Regent Street) 6, 13, 15, 23, 88, 94, 139, 159, 453
Night buses
  • (Shaftesbury Avenue) 14, N19, N38; (Regent Street) 6, 12, 23, 88, 94, 139, 159, 453, N3, N13, N15, N109, N18, N136
Gielgud Theatre history

From the outside

A magnificent corner building, highly decorated and beautifully ornate, the Gielgud Theatre is absolutely palatial in typically Edwardian style. Inside the seats encircle the stage in a practical, intimate and attractive horseshoe, with an interior a visual feast of cream, coral and gold lit by an immense chandelier.

Garrick Theatre architecture and history

The Garrick theatre first opened in late December 1906, originally built for and called the Hicks Theatre after the famous actor, manager and playwright Seymour Hicks. It was designed by W.G.R. Sprague in classic Louis XVI style, and was built as a sister theatre to the 1907 Queen's Theatre on the adjacent corner of Shaftesbury Avenue.

In 1909, the theatre was renamed The Globe, after the original theatre of that name was knocked down in 1902 to create the Aldwych. The first production was a play written by Winston Churchill’s mother. The theatre’s tabby cat, called Beerbohm, appeared on stage regularly and was incorporated into plays often until he died at the ripe old age of twenty. Look out for his portrait, hung along the corridor near the stalls.

Totally refurbished in 1987, bringing back its splendid circular Regency staircase, oval gallery and tower back to sparkling life, the theatre was finally re-named The Gielgud in 1994, in honour of the British actor Sir John Gielgud and to avoid confusion with the 1997 opening of Shakespeare's re-imagined Globe Theatre on the South Bank of the Thames.

In 2003, Sir Cameron Mackintosh announced plans to refurbish the Gielgud again to create a common entrance with its sister, the Queen's Theatre, which faces magnificent Shaftesbury Avenue.

In 2006 Delfont Mackintosh Theatres took over from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Theatre company and the work on the facade began in early 2007.

Past shows at the Gielgud Theatre

Call It A Day, a popular play by Dodie Smith, ran from 1935 and put on an impressive 509 performances. Terence Frisby's classic, There's a Girl in My Soup, ran for 1,064 performances from 1966, a record that wasn’t broken until Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's production of the Olivier Award-winning comedy Daisy Pulls It Off in 1983. In 1987 the play Lettice and Lovage was a huge hit starring British actress Maggie Smith. The Garrick has shown a handful of Alan Ayckbourn premieres and Oscar Wilde's comedy, An Ideal Husband, was a show stopper in 1992. The Garrick has also presented One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, The Mikado, The Robin Williams classic Weapons of Self Destruction, the famous musical Hair, Yes Prime Minister and many more stellar performances.

Gielgud Theatre access

The Gielgud Theatre is right next to The Queen’s Theatre, so make sure you get the right door! There’s access for wheelchairs and scooters.

Gielgud Theatre tickets

We’re a trusted destination for a wide variety of seat types and prices, with excellent availability on the full range of Gielgud Theatre tickets.

35-37 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1D 6AR GB