A Photo Walk through the historical theatres in London

The aim of this Photo Walk was to highlight the importance of the Theatre in the English culture. Thus we had a photo walk  to discover and enjoy the historical theatres in the well-known London’s West End area.

According to different sources (and mainly the theatres websites), the oldest theatres are as follow:

• Theatre Royal Drury Lane, opened 07 may 1663
• Sadler’s Wells, Roseberry Avenue; opened 03 June 1683
• The Haymarket (Theatre Royal), Haymarket; opened 29 December 1720
• The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; opened 07 December 1732
• The Adelphi (originally Sans Pareil), Strand; opened 27 November 1806
• The Old Vic (originally Royal Coburg), Waterloo Road; opened 11 may 1818
• The Vaudeville, Strand; opened 16 April 1870
• The Criterion, Piccadilly Circus; opened 21 March 1874
• The Savoy, Strand; opened 18 October 1881
• The Harold Pinter Theatre (originally The Comedy), Panton Street; opened 15 October 1881

Among the above mentioned 10 theatres, the following five were chosen for the photo-walk:

• Meeting and starting point: The Old Vic theatre in Waterloo.
• Second stop the London’s oldest Theatre, in the heart of the West End, The Theatre Royal;
• Just in front of the previous theatre, the third stop is inside a fascinating one, home to the main performances for both theatre and ballet in London and Worldwide: The Royal Opera House;
• Passing by the suggesting Covent Garden, the walk ends up to the Strand, to discuss the origins of The Adelphi theatre;
• The last but not least site of this photo-walk,  The Vaudeville

The  Theatre scene holds great importance in English culture. All theatres have made their mark over time, which partly explains why people are still engaging with them by appreciating them for their cultural values and historic treasures. Each theatre began in almost the same way and time, but each one has a different history, different actors and unique performances. All these important characteristics have shaped the form and nature of the theatres, giving interesting perspective to each of them.