Recent Years
From 1996 to 2005, the theatre was home to productions of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), The Complete History of America, and The Bible, The Complete Word of God. The theatre was used to hold the first round of recalls for successful auditionees in ITV's Pop Idol. The theatre is also used by leading drama institution Academy of Live and Recorded Arts as a venue for their graduating students' annual showcase.
Since 2006, the Criterion has hosted the long-running melodrama The 39 Steps, adapted for the stage by Patrick Barlow from John Buchan's 1915 novel, which was adapted for film by Alfred Hitchcock in 1935.
Peppa Pig's Party transferred to the Criterion Theatre for the 2010 Christmas period to play alongside The 39 Steps and will return for the 2011 Christmas period.
Criterion Presents, launched in October 2011, is an ancillary programme of shows, events and platforms that run alongside the main production, taking place at lunchtimes, early evenings and late nights.
Read more about this topic: Criterion Theatre
Famous quotes containing the word years:
“To me, old age is always fifteen years older than I am.”
—Bernard Baruch (1870–1965)
“Neither years nor books have yet availed to extirpate a prejudice then rooted in me, that a scholar is the favorite of Heaven and earth, the excellency of his country, the happiest of men. His duties lead him directly into the holy ground where other men’s aspirations only point. His successes are occasions of the purest joy to all men. Eyes is he to the blind; feet is he to the lame. His failures, if he is worthy, are inlets to higher advantages.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)