Hot summer nights needn't mean sticking to your seats at the theatre. We provide a list of London's theatres with air conditioning to keep you cool when the mercury rises.
Keep cool in the Criterion Theatre right in the heart of the West End on Piccadilly Circus. One of London's most enchanting theatres, the Grade II listed building has been entertaining theatre goers since it opened in 1974. Use of mirrors and stunning murals of clouds and cherubs turns this underground labyrinth into an airy paradise. The theatre's greatest successes have always come from bawdy comedy. A Little Bit of Fluff (1915) was blamed for the destruction of the public's morals with its brief flash of a woman's unclothed leg: it ran for 1241 performances. Run for Your Wife outdid this with a seven year run in the 1980s and it recently played host to the Reduced Shakespeare Company, who performed their Complete Works of Shakespeare more than 2000 times. The current show is The 39 Steps.
The 250-seat auditorium of The Donmar Warehouse is air conditioned and drinks can also be taken to your seats ensuring audiences keep cool. Housed in an impressive red-brick industrial building - at various times a brewery, a banana warehouse and a film studio - this tiny repertory theatre is one of the great success stories of the 1990s. Created as a studio space for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1977, it became a shabby but popular fringe theatre in the 1980s, a testing ground for producers with big ideas but little money. When Victorian warehouses became chic in the early 1990s, the Donmar was given a designer makeover, to create a spare, comfortable venue, with the audience almost on top of the stage. Intimate yet cool.
The Haymarket Theatre was built by John Potter on the site of the King's Head Inn and the Gun Smith shop in 1702. It has had a colourful history, complete with riots, death by stampedes, falling chandeliers and censorship - as well as plenty of smash hits. It was also one of the most forward thinking theatres and in 1873 became the first venue to introduce a matinee performance. Oscar Wilde premiered both A Woman of No Importance and An Ideal Husband here in the 1890s and it still plays host to major stars in important productions, including, in recent years, The Royal Family starring Judi Dench, and Ibsen's Brand featuring Ralph Fiennes.
The National Theatre, home to a significant proportion of the world's best theatre, puts on these polished productions in air conditioned comfort. The 1976 building, designed by Sir Denys Lasdun, is made up of three theatres. Two, the Olivier and the Lyttelton - have air conditioning while The Shed, a new temporary 225-seat venue opened during the Cottesloe's closure, has a cooling system. But you don't have to come to see a play, there's free music in the foyer, experimental outdoor performances, the Prop Store Cafe and remarkable (if controversial) architecture.
Built by the Wyndham family as a companion to the Wyndham's Theatre, the Noel Coward Theatre is a stately building on St Martin's Lane with air conditioning. Originally named the 'New Theatre', it shook off its unimaginative and inaccurate name in on its 70th birthday and became the 'Albery'. Its current name didn't come about until its major refurbishment in 2006. Noel Coward, the playwright whom which the theatre is named after, appeared in his own play 'I'll Leave It To You' at the then 'New Theatre' in 1920, which was the first West End production of one of his plays.
Built in 1905 to form a pair with the near-identical Aldwych Theatre, the Novello Theatre (formerly known as the Strand Theatre) is one of London's more spectacular theatres and has effective air conditioning for those hot summer months. An attractive columned exterior gives way to a gorgeous foyer and auditorium, with marble, polished brass and gold the dominant materials and gods and cupids sprawled across every available surface. Frankie Howerd appeared here in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1960). Michael Crawford made his name at the Strand with a ten-year run of No Sex Please, We're British. And Maureen Lipmann, Felicity Kendall, Joseph Fiennes and Imogen Stubbs have all appeared here in recent years.
It may have been going since 1818 but The Old Vic has moved with the times and boasts modern facilities including effective air conditioning. A theatre with a history, all the greats from John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier, to Kevin Spacey and Judi Dench have performed at the famous south London venue. Charles Dickens and Bernard Shaw reviewed plays here, Laurence Olivier said it had "The most powerful actor/audience relationship in the world", and it was the first theatre to perform the complete works of William Shakespeare as a series.
A short step away from the main strip of West End theatres, the Playhouse's stylish curved facade hides a cool yet sumptuous auditorium. Air conditioning and a cool cream colour scheme are the backdrop for giant murals, statues and a mountain of gold inlay. The boxes are supported by caryatids, the house lights are on three-meter golden pillars, while the carved balustrades twist and turn like snakes. Home to the BBC in the 1960s, Hancock's Half Hour and and The Goon Show were both recorded here, along with a host of other BBC Radio shows. Since the BBC left in 1975, the Playhouse has been host to hits like the Almeida's Naked starring Juliet Binoche and the National Theatre's An Inspector Calls, the Menier's 2008 hit musical La Cage aux Folles and Monty Python's Spamalot.
Named after the future King Edward VII in 1886, the Prince of Wales Theatre the current building has stood since 1937, its seven-storey tower standing out in the heart of London. The air conditioned interior is attractive, with its sleek Art Deco lines still visible beneath later additions and a wonderful collection of framed playbills and programmes. The Prince of Wales has managed to attract an impressive roster of stars, including Mae West, James Stewart, Max Bygraves, Frankie Howerd, Benny Hill, Norman Wisdom and Barbra Streisand. Rent, Fosse and The Full Monty have all graced the stage here in recent years, though its biggest success to date came with Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Aspects of Love which ran for 1,325 performances though The Book of Mormon may well challenge this given current demand.
This elegant Art Deco theatre opened on the Strand in 1881, financed by Richard d'Oyly Carte, who had banked a fortune from Gilbert and Sullivan's operettas. The Savoy Theatre was originally meant to be a showcase for opera, but it was not a success. From the 1950s onwards, the Savoy did much better with Agatha Christie's The Spiders Web and Alibi For A Judge. Recent hits have included Legally Blonde The Musical, Cabaret and the musical based on songs by The Beatles, Let It Be. The Savoy Theatre became famous as the first public building in the world to be lit by incandescent electric lights in 1929 and it has modernised again since then with air conditioning added.
The Trafalgar Studios are two venues housed within what was London's Whitehall Theatre. The main theatre with seating for 380 is air conditioned while the smaller Studio 2, which has seating for 80 people, is not. The building itself is Grade II listed, and is an excellent example of simple, unadorned Art Deco style. The interior, however, is spectacular, with complex, cubist designs and sweeping curves of moulding and ironwork. Set among the great palaces that house the administrative machinery of British government, the Trafalgar Studios act as one of the London bases for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Currently the theatre has been taken over by Jamie Lloyd's Trafalgar Transformed season which began with Macbeth starring James McAvoy and includes The Hothouse followed by The Pride. All are performed in the cool air conditioned main space.
Designed by CJ Phipps, the air conditioned Vaudeville is the third theatre to be built on this site since 1870 and the oblong auditorium we see today dates back to 1925 when the interior was completely redesigned by architect Robert Atkinson, best known for his cinemas which included the 3,000 seat Regent Cinema, Brighton. The current Vaudeville opened on 23rd February 1926 with a revue called RSVP. One of the theatre's major successes was in 1954 with the musical 'Salad Days', starring Julian Slade and Deborah Reynolds. Since its opening, the Vaudeville has presented a wide range of shows, from comedy (Blithe Spirit, Dead Funny, An Evening with Gary Lineker) through melodrama (The Invisible Man) and history (Portrait of A Queen). Since the new millennium productions have included the enormously successful Stomp (2002-07) and Swimming with Sharks (2007) starring Christian Slater.
Originally known as Moy's Music Hall, a theatre has always existed on this site since 1832. The Victoria Palace Theatre as we know it today, kept temperate by air conditioing, was built in 1910, at a cost of £12,000. Many of its original features remain (or have been restored). The foyer has grey marble, gold mosaic and Sicilian marble columns, while the faade still has its grand canopy and cupola. One of the theatre's biggest hits was 'Me and My Girl' (1937) starring Lupini Lane. This was followed by 'Annie' (1978) and 'High Society' (1987). In recent years, the Victoria Palace has been home to 'Grease' and Billy Elliot.