Shows & Events at the Noël Coward Theatre
How to find the Noël Coward Theatre
Noël Coward Theatre
St Martin's Lane, London, WC2N 4AU
Call Customer Service on 0344 482 5151†
Phone lines are open
Monday - Saturday 10am - 7.30pm.
†Calls
to Delfont Mackintosh Theatres 03
numbers cost no more than a national rate call to an 01 or 02 number.
Box office opening times:
From 2 hours and 30 minutes before the start of the show, until 15 minutes after curtain up. On matinee days the box office remains open in between performances.
Central Box Office at the Sondheim Theatre
Buy tickets for productions across all 8 of our theatres!
Shaftesbury Avenue, London, W1D 6BA.
Open Monday - Friday: Midday - 6:00pm.
Our theatres sell products which may contain allergens. Allergen information is available upon request from all bars or other staff selling refreshments around the venue.
Book your accommodation when visiting the Noël Coward Theatre via the map below:
Getting to the Noël Coward Theatre
By Train or Tube
The nearest train station is Charing Cross.
The nearest tube station is Leicester Square.
By Bus
The nearest bus stops are serviced by numbers 24, 29, 176.
By Car
If you are driving, you can take advantage of the Q-Park Theatreland parking scheme with 50% off car parking after midday for up to 4 hours.
There is also parking available at MasterPark Trafalgar Square and NCP at Upper St Martin's Lane.
Accessibility at the Noël Coward Theatre
For information on Hearing Enhancement Aids, Assistance Dogs, Autism and Social Stories and details of our currently available Access Performances, please refer to our main Accessibility page using the button below:
Parking
The theatre itself has no parking facilities but there are disabled bays nearby on St Martin's Lane or Charing Cross Road. For more information visit the City of Westminster website.
Toilets
There is an adapted toilet near the foyer close to the Royal Circle boxes. There are three steps up to a
ladies toilet from the foyer. There are ladies toilets situated on all levels of the auditorium excluding the Balcony
level. There are gents toilets situated on all levels of the auditorium excluding the Royal Circle.
Our
access host will happily advise and guide should you require help.
Wheelchairs
Wheelchair access to the auditorium is via a front door on St Martin’s Lane. Please make yourself
known to a member of staff on arrival at the main entrance of the venue, where an Access Host will be able to offer
assistance. A ramp (approximately 76cm in width) gives level access to Box M, which is 85cm wide at the narrowest point,
and has space for 1 wheelchair/scooter user and 1 companion. Companions can also be seated nearby in the
Royal Circle.
Wheelchair transfer seating is available in Box L (door opening is 68cm wide at the
narrowest point) for two people. There are also several wheelchair transfer seats on the aisles of the Royal Circle,
which has 3 steps leading up to the auditorium. Once inside the auditorium, Row G (seats G7 or G23) offers the best
level access. Wheelchairs can be stored in the cloakroom, scooters in the foyer.
Hospitality at the Noël Coward Theatre
There are two VIP rooms available for hire at the Noël Coward Theatre.
If you would like to discuss venue hire then please
enquire using the button below:
Facilities at the Noël Coward Theatre
Lost Property
If you have any enquiries regarding lost property at Noël Coward Theatre please email customer services.
Lost property will be kept at the theatre for one month.
Facilities
The theatre has three licensed bars; Noël’s Bar in the Stalls area, Lionel’s Bar in the Royal Circle/Stalls level and the Albery bar in the Grand Circle level
Cloakrooms
The cloakroom is able to accept coats and small bags for a small charge. We are
unable to accept larger bags or suitcases.
However, we also work with Stasher who offer bag storage in many hotels and shops across London (all
within close walking distance to our theatres).
HOW TO BOOK LUGGAGE STORAGE WITH STASHER
Bookings must be made online. Use the code "SHOWTIME" for a discount.
Additional Security Checks
Working with Global Support Services, we use highly trained detection dogs to provide additional security spot checks at our theatres.
Noël Coward Theatre History
Production Highlights
Constant Nymph (1925))
1903 The New Theatre opened with a revival of Rosemary by Louis N Parker and Murray Carson in which the co-directors Sir Charles Wyndham and Mary Moore starred.
1905 Fred Terry and Julia Neilson first staged The Scarlet Pimpernel here. It proved so popular that it was revived annually for seven years.
1909 Father, mother and daughter, Fred Terry, Julia Neilson and Phyllis Terson (Terry), all appeared in the same play, Henry of Navarre.
1920 Noël Coward made his West End debut as Bobbie Dermott in his own play I'll Leave It to You.
1924 Sybil Thorndike created the role of Joan in G B Shaw's play Saint Joan. It was described by the Daily Mail as 'one of the great performances of our time'.
1926 Margaret Kennedy and Basil Dean's play The Constant Nymph had a great success with both Noël Coward and subsequently John Gielgud taking the part of the composer Lewis Dodd.
Read more about the theatre and its history...
Calendar Girls (2009)
1933 John Gielgud appeared at the theatre in the play that established him as a star, Richard of Bordeaux which ran for 472 performances. He continued to appear there for more than three years in a number of plays including Queen of Scots, Hamlet, Noah, Romeo and Juliet and The Seagull.
1941 The theatre became home to the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells companies when their own theatres were bomb damaged. The Vic-Wells ballet gave their first West End performance of a triple bill starring Margot Fonteyn and Frederick Ashton on 14 January. The numerous star-studded Old Vic productions included Ralph Richardson as Peer Gynt and Laurence Olivier as Richard III.
Equus (1976)
1949 Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh starred together in The School for Scandal, King Richard III and Antigone. The former had costumes by Cecil Beaton and music by Thomas Beecham.
1950 London premiere of T S Eliot's comedy of manners The Cocktail Party based on Alcestis by Euripedes, starring Rex Harrison as The Unidentified Guest and Margaret Leighton as Celia.
1952 Katharine Hepburn made her West End debut as Epifania in The Millionairess. Shaw had himself described her as 'the born decider, dominator, organiser, tactician, mesmeriser'.
1960 Oliver! opened on 30 June with an advance of just £145. The opening cast included Ron Moody as Fagin, Georgia Brown as Nancy and Barry Humphries as Mr Sowerberry. The show ran until September 1967, by which time it had notched up 2,618 performances.
Hay Fever (1992)
1973 The theatre changed its name from the New to the Albery to commemorate Mary Moore's son, Bronson Albery, who presided over its fortunes for many years and was later succeeded by his son Donald, and grandson Ian. The Albery family made a unique contribution to the history of the theatre as both managers and producers between 1903 and 1987.
1973 Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice had commenced life as a 20-minute 'pop cantata'. By the time it reached the Albery it had doubled in length and was performed with another piece, later phased out, entitled Jacob's Journey.
1977 Cameron Mackintosh presented a revival of the original production of Oliver! using the famous Sean Kenny sets. It starred Roy Hudd as Fagin and ran for three years.
1981 The romantic drama Children of a Lesser God won Oliviers for Trevor Eve and Elizabeth Quinn as well as the Best New Play Award.
Hamlet (1933)
1994 A Month in the Country with John Hurt and Helen Mirren was the Albery's most successful play ever. Mirren's personal success as Natalya Petrovna led to her Broadway debut the following year.
1995 Members of the cast and audience did the conga around the theatre in Five Guys Named Moe which was written by Clarke Peters as a tribute to jazz-blues musician Louis Jordan.
2001 Lindsay Duncan and Alan Rickman took London by storm with their modern, highly charged performances as Amanda and Elyot in Coward's Private Lives.
A Midsummer Night's Dream (2013)
2005 On 19 September the long lease on the theatre reverted from the Ambassador Theatre Group to Delfont Mackintosh Theatres.
2006 The theatre changed its name to the Noël Coward Theatre when Avenue Q opened on 1 June. This Tony Award-winning musical ran for almost three years before transferring to the Gielgud Theatre.
2011 The Moscow-based theatre company Sovremennik gave the first London season by a major Russian company for over 20 years.
2012 For the first time in their 30-year history, LIFT presented a show in a conventional West End venue. The eight-hour-long Elevator Repair Service production of Gatz was described by Ben Brantley as 'The most remarkable achievement in theatre not only of this year but of this decade'.
2015 Nicole Kidman returned to the West End stage to appear in Photograph 51 which cleverly turned the discovery of DNA into compelling theatre.
2016 Cameron Mackintosh’s new production of Half a Sixpence transferred from Chichester Festival Theatre and made a star of Charlie Stemp in the role of Arthur Kipps.
2018 Matthew Lopez’s epic play The Inheritance was the hit of the year. This moving story about the gay scene in New York, inspired by E.M. Forster’s novel Howard’s End, proved equally inspiring to its audiences.
2019 Prior to the European premiere of Broadway hit Dear Evan Hansen the grand circle bar, used as an office for many years, was given a stylish makeover and named Thelma’s Bar in honour of the theatre producer Thelma Holt. The Dress Circle Bar, known as the Albery Bar, was also restored to its elegant, original 1903 layout.
General Theatre information
Please note: You may not bring any food or drink purchased elsewhere to our theatres. All our theatre bars serve drinks and snacks, but not hot food.
Our theatres sell products which may contain allergens. Allergen information is available upon request from all bars or other staff selling refreshments around the venue.
For your comfort and security, you will be subject to additional checks on your visit - we appreciate your patience and understanding while these are taking place. Please note that latecomers will not be admitted until a suitable break in the performance.