West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's "Theatreland", the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity in London.
Total attendances first surpassed 12 million in 2002 and 13 million in 2007, setting a new record for the West End. Since the late 1990s there has been an increase in the number of famous screen actors on the London stage.
Read more about West End Theatre: History, Theatreland, Long-running Shows, List of West End Theatres, London's Non-commercial Theatres, Producing Houses, Other London Theatre, Awards
Famous quotes containing the words west and/or theatre:
“The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day.
Now spurs the lated traveller apace
To gain the timely inn.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“To save the theatre, the theatre must be destroyed, the actors and actresses must all die of the plague. They poison the air, they make art impossible. It is not drama that they play, but pieces for the theatre. We should return to the Greeks, play in the open air: the drama dies of stalls and boxes and evening dress, and people who come to digest their dinner.”
—Eleonora Duse (1858–1924)