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Post by Hamilton Addict on Sept 2, 2016 8:30:34 GMT
I remember this being discussed in the Olivier Award thread earlier this year and I'm sorry if there's already a thread about this, but is there a list of West End theatres? I know on Broadway they have official B.Way theatre's, but I don't think there is a definitive answer on which are West End theatre's. For example; is The Globe West End? Is Trafalgar Studios (1 and 2) West End? Is The Coliseum West End? Hep would be much appreciated!  |
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Post by Michael on Sept 2, 2016 8:44:56 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2016 8:48:42 GMT
Broadway has delightfully strict rules based on the number of seats which makes Broadway vs off-Broadway vs off-off-Broadway absolutely irrefutable, but the West End is a little more nebulous. It's generally agreed to be "mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of "Theatreland" in and near the West End of London" (definition stolen from the Wikipedia). Indeed, the Wikipedia quite confidently has a list of theatres it considers to be West End - it includes venues like the Arts Theatre and the Trafalgar Studios (doesn't specify, so both?) but not the National, Barbican, Royal Court, Globe, Old Vic, Young Vic, Hampstead, Almeida, and Open Air on the grounds that they are non-commercial but prestigious. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_End_theatreIt gets a little more muddled when the Oliviers come around because any theatre that is a member of SOLT is eligible for nominations, some SOLT theatres not necessarily being West End, but I'm about as happy with the Wiki's definition as anyone else's. |
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Post by viserys on Sept 2, 2016 9:17:17 GMT
When it comes to the Trafalgar Studios perhaps one should consider that it used to be one normal theatre, the Whitehall Theatre - which would probably be at the very edge of the West End but not as far out as the Victoria Palace and the Apollo Victoria. These days the two smaller studios might look more like Fringe, but I dunno.
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Post by partytentdown on Sept 2, 2016 9:33:13 GMT
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Post by profquatermass on Sept 2, 2016 15:45:42 GMT
The Globe counts as West End for the purposes of the Oliviers
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Post by Jon on Sept 2, 2016 16:24:12 GMT
It seems Trafalgar 1 is considered a SOLT theatre but Trafalgar 2 is affiliate which makes sense since Trafalgar 2 is more for transfers of fringe productions or smaller shows
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Post by Hamilton Addict on Sept 2, 2016 19:38:43 GMT
Thanks for the help everyone. |
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Post by DuchessConstance on Sept 2, 2016 20:52:06 GMT
If you're an actor writing your programme biog "West End" is roughly anywhere east of about Chiswick.  |
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Post by Phantom of London on Sept 2, 2016 21:36:07 GMT
West End is just a very loose marketing word, that's a collective noun for many theatres, however it isn't definitive, London needed something the same way as New York you say,m "you go and see a Broadway show," London needed the same - for our guests, it sounds better to say "go and see a West End Show" than "I am going to London to take in theatre."
It's a bit like if you say you go shopping in London, you say "you are going to Oxford Street"' even though the more decent shops can be found in Regents Street and Mayfair, but they are in the general Oxford Street area. What is West End or Oxford Street? Both are rhetorical questions.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 3, 2016 1:05:14 GMT
In the olden days, we bought Time Out every week as our Bible, and it had just two theatre sections, West End venues and Fringe venues. Then, they later split Fringe by inventing a third (in the middle) category called "Off West End", not in the Kenneth Branagh sense of being in the West End but a bit naff, but meaning of reliable quality and respected status but not a West End theatre. And lo, this really annoyed every theatre placed in the new Fringe category.
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