• Plays - Home
• All My Sons
• An Inspector Calls
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
• Daisy Pulls it Off
• Debbie Reyolds
• Defending the Caveman
• Enron
• Every Good Boy Deserves
• Ghosts
• Nation
• Private Lives
• Six Degrees of Separation
• The 39 Steps
• The Caretaker
• The Habit of Art
• The Little Dog Laughed
• War Horse

Plays

When people cast their minds to prestigious plays and famous shows, they will naturally picture the West End of London, a location that regularly sees some of the biggest stars on the planet walking on its stages, with top directors, writers, choreographers and lyricists showcasing their work for all to see.

It shows that there is nowhere else on this Earth that can compare to West End theatre, with countless theatres and productions regularly attracting big crowds as people travel from all over the world to see what all the fuss is about. Some of these shows are constantly changing, evolving and being replaced by brand new productions; others have been running in the capital for decades, amassing huge numbers from their box office and attracting record numbers of punters.

The UK has a rich tradition of theatre, being the home of William Shakespeare, who penned some of the most famous plays in the world, from The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream to Othello and Hamlet, all of which are regularly performed in the capital to this day. Some of them appear in theatres such as The Trafalgar Studios (where Lenny Henry presents Othello after wowing audiences in Yorkshire) to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, which regularly sends shows in the direction of the West End once their course has run on its stage. It means that as well as those mentioned audiences can also regularly witness the likes of Romeo & Juliet, Cymbeline, Julius Caesar, Richard III and King Lear, plus many more.

The UK is also the country that gave the world the likes of Charles Dickens (with Oliver! still enjoying great success at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane) and Harold Pinter (with The Caretaker and No Man’s Land amongst those that have appeared on the stage). When audiences arrive in London, they will find hints at this rich history of theatre all around them, whether it is in the names of the main awards, the Laurence Olivier Awards, named after the great thespian or the elegant Victorian designs of the theatres themselves.

The West End is also home to the longest running play in the world; Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, chronicling the plight of hotel guests when it is discovered that a murderer is within their midst. It first opened at the Ambassador’s Theatre in 1952 and despite a transfer in 1974 it has been running uninterrupted since, making it a cherished cultural icon around the globe. However, regardless of the numbers of people who have witnessed the show, the mysteries of its plot remain well hidden. This is because the audience is encouraged to keep the ending a secret, urging them not to spoil the show for others in the future. As a result the production has remained fresh for many years, whilst regular cast changes make it a new experience even for those who return a second time.

So make sure you choose London as the destination to witness some of the world’s greatest plays. 2008 and 2009 has seen the likes of David Schwimmer, Kevin Spacey, James McAvoy, Kelly Brook, Josh Hartnett and David Tennant appear here, as well as many others. Who knows what the future will bring to the stages of London’s Theatreland?