Arts Theatre

Arts Theatre

The Arts Theatre was a small club theatre in Great Newport Street, Central London, which seats 347 in a two-tier basement auditorium. The theatre was opened on 20 April 1927 as a club for the production of unlicensed plays, for members only, thus avoiding theatre censorship by the Lord Chamberlain’s office. It was one of a small number of committed, independent theatre companies, including the Hampstead Everyman, the Gate Theatre Studio and the Q Theatre, which took risks by producing a diverse range of new and experimental plays, or plays that were thought to be commercially unviable on the West-End stage. The theatrical producer Norman Marshall referred to these as ‘The Other Theatre’ in his 1947 book of the same name.

The theatre’s lease was taken over by a consortium of UK and US producers in 2000, for a five-year period. Notable productions during this time included The Vagina Monologues. After five years the theatre closed due to difficulties renegotiating the lease. It re-opened in April 2006 under new ownership, but closed in August 2008 to be redeveloped.