About the Garrick Theatre
The Garrick seats 733 across three levels, close enough that nobody is far from the stage, and it has been putting on shows at the top of Charing Cross Road since 1889.
What is the Garrick Theatre's history?
The Garrick Theatre opened in 1889, financed by the playwright W. S. Gilbert and designed by Walter Emden with C. J. Phipps. It was named after the celebrated 18th-century actor and manager David Garrick, the first West End theatre to be named after an actor. During construction the builders famously hit an underground river on the site.
In its early years it specialised in melodrama before becoming known for comedy, including four years of No Sex Please, We're British. It once had a fourth level, a gallery above the Grand Circle, which is no longer used. The Really Useful Group owned the theatre from 2000, and it has been run by Nimax Theatres since 2005.
For its size it has had a busy modern life, hosting comedies, revivals, plays and musicals in turn.
Notable past productions
- The Producers (2025 to 2026), Patrick Marber's revival of the Mel Brooks musical
- Mrs Warren's Profession (2025)
- Unicorn (2025)
- Why Am I So Single? (2024 to 2025), the musical
- For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy (2024)
- Hamnet (2023 to 2024)
- Bonnie & Clyde (2023), the musical
- Orlando (2022), starring Emma Corrin
- The Drifters Girl (2021 to 2022), the jukebox musical
- City of Angels (2020), the Olivier Award-winning musical, starring Vanessa Williams and Rosalie Craig
- Young Frankenstein (2017), another Mel Brooks musical comedy
- The Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company season (2015 to 2016), a year-long residency that opened with The Winter's Tale, starring Kenneth Branagh and Judi Dench
- No Sex Please, We're British (from 1982), a four-year run of the long-running farce
Other venues of similar size
- Wyndham's Theatre, around 750 seats, a couple of minutes up Charing Cross Road
- Harold Pinter Theatre, 801 seats on Panton Street, just off Leicester Square
- Vaudeville Theatre, a similar three levels on the Strand, with 662 seats in its current layout
About FAQs
Is The Producers still at the Garrick Theatre?
No. Patrick Marber's revival of the Mel Brooks musical played its last performance here on 19 September 2026. The next long run is One Day The Musical, from 17 November 2026.
When was the Garrick Theatre built?
It opened in 1889, paid for by W. S. Gilbert and designed by Walter Emden with C. J. Phipps.