London's West End | find vacation rentals and apartments from London Escape |
London's West EndThe United Kingdom has had a long and noble tradition of theatre and British actors, directors and writers continue to have a disproportionately large impact on the wider stage of world drama. The focus of Britain’s theatrical energy, today, is London’s West End, the home to theatres large and small ever since the Theatre Royal first opened on Drury Lane way back in 1663. During the following 350 years, it has been demolished once, burned down twice, accumulated a dozen or so ghosts and, all the while, it has seen British theatre become evermore more entrenched within the area now commonly known as “the West End” or, sometimes, “Theatreland”.
You may be more familiar with New York’s Broadway, so, let’s look at some of the similarities and, then, some of the differences (apart from the fact that you crazy Americans spell the word theatre as “theatre”).
A career in theatre is always a gamble and the fact that reputations can be made or squandered overnight adds to the excitement of the industry and, just like Broadway, you can feel that electricity in the air of the West End.
Some theatres do attract an older audience and, of course, they tend to dress more formally for these occasions but, again, no-one will bat an eyelid if you turn up in hot pants and a Jackson 5 wig.
The generally lower price is down to a number of factors: the vast majority of UK theatres and the majority receive some form of government subsidy, productions tend to be lower key and less expensive, the theatres tend to be somewhat older and threadbare than Broadway’s, and leading British actors to command far lower fees than their American equivalents.
The best way to buy tickets is, of course, directly from the theatre’s box office or their website - but, again, do a small amount of research to confirm that it is the real website for that theatre, any scammer can set up a website or even a telephone sales line.
The second difference you will notice is that British plays tend to have a slower pace. Renowned English actor Alan Rickman discusses that, along with other differences between Broadway and the West End in this video: If you visit the West End theatres in the summer, do not expect American standards of air conditioning - London can get surprisingly hot and some of those old theatres can get stuffy.
This doesn’t mean that they are any less entertained than their American cousins, they simply take a more intellectualised approach. British performers know how to read their audiences and will derive much satisfaction from the a polite minute or two of applause that denotes a job well done, whereas an American performer might feel somewhat depressed not to receive at least a few enthusiastic shouts or cheers.
The West End’s more tolerant, somewhat less acidic environment has allowed some riskier endeavours to take root, sometimes resulting in massive hits and, ironically, went on to be long-running successes on Broadway too.
Incidentally, it is worth noting that Lloyd Webber, who has a personal fortune of over ten billion dollars, is one of the most spectacularly ugly men you will ever see who hasn’t been personally involved in an IED explosion. I wouldn’t usually mention this in a travel guide but, seriously, this guy is so aesthetically challenged that I am willing to make an exception. He has now been married 3 times, which only goes to show that love is not blind enough.
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