 Location Map: | View Location Map |
 Seating Plan: | View Seating Plan  |
 Tube Station: | Covent Garden (500m) |
 Rail Station: | Charing Cross (900m) |
 Bus Routes: | 1, 4, 11, 13, 15, 68, 98 (Bus Stop outside theatre) |
 Parking: | NCP at Drury Lane/Parker Street. Parking meters outside theatre. |
| Journey Planner: |
Powered by Transport for London |
| Total Seats: | 1200 |
| No of Bars: | 4 |
 Guide Dogs: | 1 guide dog per performance allowed in Box D. |
 Infra-Red: | infra red system with 5 haedsets available at box office (left hand window) |
 Disabled Access: | Some seats available in the dress circle and box D. Wheelchairs stored in the lobby. Each wheelchair user must bring a non-disabled companion. |
 Disabled Toilet: | Adapted toilets off main foyer at Dress Circle level. |
 Toilets: | Women’s and men’s at Stalls and Upper Circle level. Further women’s in main foyer and men’s at Dress Circle level. |
 Steps: | 6 steps to the main entrance. No steps from the foyer to the front of the dress circle, or 15 steps to the back. 26 steps from the foyer down to the stalls. And 50+ up to the dress circle. |
 Bars Access: | 4 licensed bars. |
 Air Conditioning: | Yes |
 Owner: | James Nederlander |
When the area between Wellington Street, Strand and Fleet Street was reconstructed in the last years of the nineteenth century much of London's old theatreland was wiped out. The new streets of Aldwych and Kingsway were constructed and plans were made for the building of two theatres with identical facades along the Aldwych, one on the corner of Catherine Street, the other on the corner of Drury Lane. Between the two theatres there was to be a magnificent hotel, The Waldorf.
The Waldorf Theatre, now The Strand, opened in May 1905 and the Aldwych Theatre was completed shortly afterwards in December the same year. It was built by Seymour Hicks in association with American impresario Charles Frohman, to a design by W.G.R. Sprague with a seating capacity of 1,092. This has been increased today to 1200.
Not far off its centenary, the theatre is today once again owned by an American, James Nederlander, and operated by Michael Codron Plays.
