One of the smallest and youngest of the West End theatres, the Duchess Theatre was designed by Ewen Barr and its construction endorsed by Arthur Gibbons to circumvent objections that had previously prevented any building on the site. The theatre opened in 1929, and is a ‘proscenium arched’ structure. The current interior décor was done in 1934, supervised by Mary Wyndham Lewis, J B Priestley’s wife.
Noteworthy productions presented at the Duchess Theatre include Blithe Spirit, by Noel Coward, The Dirtiest Show in Town, by Tom Evens, which had a run of just less than 800 shows in the 1970s, Oh! Calcutta!, which was performed at the Duchess Theatre until 1980, the Players Theatre Company’s Late Joys Victorian Music Hall series, and Peter Whelan’s The Herbal Bed, which was performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
The Duchess Theatre has a seating capacity of 479 on two tiers, and is situated at Catherine Street, London, WC2B 5LA. The closest public rail stations are Covent Garden, Charing Cross, Temple, Holborn and Embankment. Nearby bus routes are 1, 4, 6, 9, 11, 13, 15, 23, 26, 59, 68, 76, 87, 91, 139, 168, 172, 176, 177, 189, 253, 341, 521, RV1, and X68.
