Duke of York's Theatre

Duke of York's Theatre, London, in St Martin's Lane. As the Trafalgar Square Theatre, seating 900 in three tiers, it opened in 1892, and in 1893 saw the first performances in England of Ibsen's The Master Builder, with Elizabeth Robins. In 1895 the theatre took its present name, and in 1896 it had its first success with the musical comedy The Gay Parisienne, in which the quaint droll Louie Freear, who had been on the stage since early childhood, first made a name for herself. In 1897 Charles Frohman began his tenancy, introducing many well-known American actors to London, among them Maxine Elliott in 1899. ‘Dot’ Boucicault was appointed resident manager in 1901, and under him several plays by Barrie had their first production, including The Admirable Crichton (1902), Peter Pan (1904), and What Every Woman Knows (1908). In 1910 Frohman tried unsuccessfully to introduce a repertory system to London with an outstanding programme of modern plays which included Galsworthy's Justice, Shaw's Misalliance, and Granville-Barker's The Madras House. Somerset Maugham's The Land of Promise (1914) was the last new play put on by Frohman. In 1923 came Charlot's successful revue London Calling, written mostly by Noël Coward, whose Easy Virtue was produced there three years later. Matheson Lang appeared in Such Men are Dangerous (1928) and Jew Süss (1929), both adapted by Ashley Dukes. From 1933 to 1936 Nancy Price's People's National Theatre used the theatre occasionally. The theatre closed in 1940 because of enemy action, reopening in 1943 with Paul Vincent Carroll's Shadow and Substance. Later productions included The Happy Marriage (1952) with John Clements (who adapted it from a French play), Frank Marcus's The Killing of Sister George (1965), Alan Ayckbourn's Relatively Speaking (1967), and Arthur Miller's The Price (1969). In 1978 the theatre was bought by Capital Radio and major structural changes were made, including the replacement of the gallery by a recording and broadcasting studio. The theatre reopened in 1980 with Andrew Davies's Rose, with Glenda Jackson, who later starred in a revival of O'Neill's Strange Interlude (1984). Richard Harris's Stepping Out (also 1984) ran for three years.