Garrick Theatre

Garrick Theatre, London.

1. In Leman Street, Whitechapel. This theatre, which took its name from its proximity to the old Goodman's Fields Theatre where Garrick made his début, opened in 1831. Burnt down in 1846, it was rebuilt and reopened in 1854. It held a very low position even among East End theatres, and was practically a gaff. After the theatre had again been reconstructed, to hold 462 people on two tiers, it staged Bazin's opéra bouffe Le Voyage en Chine (1879) as A Cruise to China in which Beerbohm Tree made his first professional appearance. The building fell into disuse after 1881.

2. In Charing Cross Road, near Trafalgar Square. This theatre, with a three-tier auditorium seating 800, opened in 1889 under John Hare with Pinero's The Profligate. Grundy's comedy A Pair of Spectacles had a long run in 1890, and five years later The Notorious Mrs Ebbsmith, also by Pinero, with Mrs Patrick Campbell in the title-role, caused a sensation. Hare left after this production, and standards declined until in 1900 Arthur Bourchier took over, and with his wife Violet Vanbrugh inaugurated a long and brilliant period of productions ranging from Shakespeare to farce, among them Knoblock's Kismet, starring Oscar Asche, and The Merry Wives of Windsor. After Bourchier left in 1915 the theatre had no regular policy or management, and was used mainly for revue. Closed in 1939, it opened again in 1941 and scored successes with Thomas Job's Uncle Harry (1944), Garson Kanin's Born Yesterday (1947), and the revues La Plume de ma tante (1955) and Living for Pleasure (1958). A transfer from Theatre Workshop of the musical Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be in 1960 was followed by a long run of Charles Dyer's Rattle of a Simple Man (1962). From 1967 Brian Rix presented and appeared in a series of farces. Ira Levin's thriller Death Trap ran from 1978 until 1981. Anthony Marriott and Alistair Foot's No Sex Please—We're British transferred there in 1982 for a long run, being followed by Coward's Easy Virtue (1988) and The Vortex (1989).