Novello Theatre - History
The Novello Theatre is located on Aldwych Road in London. Its nearest underground station is at Covent Garden whilst the nearest train station to this venue is found at Charing Cross.
The Whaldorf Theatre opened its doors on the 22nd May 1905 under the design of WGR Sprague during a great time for London theatre, considered something of a boom particularly in terms of architecture. As a result it found its audience at a time when many theatres were appearing all over the capital. To illustrate this point, Sprague himself was behind another famous London theatre in the form of the Aldwych Theatre, which sits on the same street as the Novello and is regarded as its twin. As well as these two, Sprague also designed 31 other London venues.
The Novello has a rich history and goes down in history books as the final London theatre to be built with three tiers. To this day the venue is celebrated for its glorious interior, carefully designed by Sprague.
The theatre became The Strand in 1913 and it was at this point that the venue began to feel real success. Up to now, the theatre had not found as much popularity as one would have liked, despite famous opera stars and actresses gracing its stage. The success was met with the long run of Mr Wu with star and future owner Matheson Lang.
The venue then survived the horrors of The Great War as the theatre found itself in new hands. It even stood up to the might of bombs falling in the streets as the 13th October 1915 edition of The Scarlett Pimpernel continued through these circumstances. The venue continued to change hands as most theatres do over time, then eventually more dreadful circumstances presented themselves – this time, in the Second World War.
The theatre did not survive unscathed from bombs like it had during that fateful evening during the First World War. However, in true tradition the shows continued, despite the rubble that was found on the way to the stage and the theatre continued to prosper. It even gained attention from the Royal Family when Princess Elizabeth (now the Queen) and Princess Margaret attended a performance of Arsenic and Old Lace on 3rd June 1943.
During the 1950s many more successful plays appeared including And So To Bed by Vivian Ellis (1951), Sailor Beware! by Philip King and Falkland Cary (1955) and The Brass Butterfly by William Golding (1958). The venue had become a staple of comedy theatre until exceptions to this rule manifested themselves in the 1960s, including Ionesco’s Rhinoceros by Orson Welles in 1960 which starred none other than Laurence Olivier. Talents such as Stephen Sondheim and Tom Stoppard continued to write plays that made the theatre a success as the decades went by. The venue saw productions such as Lie Down I Think I Love You (1970), No Sex Please – We’re British (1970) Back With A Vengeance! (1987) and Buddy, which finished in 2002.
Today the venue has been renamed to the Novello Theatre, named for Ivor Novello a well known actor who had lived above the theatre in the early half of the twentieth century.
