Duchess Theatre

Duchess Theatre, West End theatre built in 1929, situated near Aldwych, London. The Duchess is a small theatre, seating only 491. In the 1930s J. B. Priestley ran the theatre for a time, producing a number of his own plays there, including Eden End (1934) and Time and the Conways (1937). The theatre also housed an extended run of Night Must Fall (1935) by Emlyn Williams, and later, successful productions of Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward (1942) and The Caretaker (1960) by Harold Pinter. From 1974 to 1980 the Duchess became notorious for hosting the nude revue Oh! Calcutta! and from 1992 to 1997 it was home to the long-running comedy Don’t Dress for Dinner. This was followed by transfers of the RSC productions The Herbal Bed (1997) by Peter Whelan and The Unexpected Man (1998) by Yasmina Reza; and Copenhagen (1999) by Michael Frayn and Blue/Orange (2001) by Joe Penhall, both originally written for the Royal National Theatre. The Duchess is managed by Really Useful Theatres.