Theatre in Covent Garden, London, England
The
Donmar Warehouse
is a 251-seat,
not-for-profit
theatre
in
Covent Garden
,
London
, England. It first opened on 18 July 1977.
Sam Mendes
,
Michael Grandage
,
Josie Rourke
and
Michael Longhurst
have all served as artistic director, a post held since March 2024 by
Tim Sheader
.
[1]
The theatre produces new writing, contemporary reappraisals of European classics, British and American drama and small-scale musical theatre.
As well as presenting at least six productions a year at its home in
Covent Garden
, as well transferring shows to the West End, Broadway and elsewhere.
History
[
edit
]
Theatrical producer
Donald Albery
formed Donmar Productions around 1953,
[2]
with the name derived from the first three letters of his name and the first three letters of his friend, ballerina Margot Fonteyn.
[3]
In 1961, he bought the warehouse, a building that in the 1870s had been a vat room and
hops
warehouse for the local brewery in Covent Garden, and in the 1920s had been used as a film studio and then the Covent Garden Market banana-ripening depot.
[3]
His son
Ian Albery
, a producer and theatre design consultant, converted the warehouse into a private rehearsal studio.
[3]
In 1977, the
Royal Shakespeare Company
acquired it as a theatre and renamed it the Warehouse, converting and equipping at "immense speed".
[4]
The first show, which opened on 18 July 1977, was
Schweik in the Second World War
, directed by
Howard Davies
, which transferred from the
Other Place
in Stratford. The electricity for the theatre was turned on just 30 minutes before curtain up, and the concrete steps up to the theatre were still wet.
[4]
The Warehouse was an RSC workshop as much as a showcase and the seasons were remarkably innovative, including
Trevor Nunn
's acclaimed Stratford 1976
Macbeth
, starring
Judi Dench
and
Ian McKellen
, which opened at the Covent Garden venue in September 1977 before transferring to the
Young Vic
. The RSC went on to stage numerous acclaimed productions, both original and transfers from
The Other Place, Stratford
. In 1980 nearly all the RSC company were involved in
Nicholas Nickleby
so a new two hander was found from the pile of submitted scripts.
Educating Rita
, with
Julie Walters
and Mark Kingston directed by
Mike Ockrent
, went on to be one of the RSC's biggest successes.
From 1983 to 1989 it came under the artistic directorship of
Nica Burns
.
In 1990, Roger Wingate was responsible for the acquisition of the Donmar Warehouse. He completely rebuilt and re-equipped it in the form it is known today. Prior to its reopening in 1992,
Roger Wingate
appointed
Sam Mendes
as the theatre's first Artistic Director. As a board member and theatrical producer, Roger Wingate remains closely involved with the Donmar to the present day.
Under Sam Mendes (1992?2002)
[
edit
]
The Donmar became an independent producing house in 1992 with
Sam Mendes
as artistic director. His opening production was
Stephen Sondheim
's
Assassins
. He followed this with a series of classic revivals.
Among Mendes' productions were
John Kander
and
Fred Ebb
's
Cabaret
,
Tennessee Williams
's
The Glass Menagerie
,
Stephen Sondheim
's
Company
,
Alan Bennett
's
Habeas Corpus
and his farewell duo of
Chekhov
's
Uncle Vanya
and
Twelfth Night
, which transferred to the
Brooklyn Academy of Music
.
Under Mendes,
Matthew Warchus
's production of
Sam Shepard
's
True West
,
Katie Mitchell
's of
Beckett
's
Endgame
,
David Leveaux
's of
Sophocles
's
Elektra
and
Tom Stoppard
's
The Real Thing
were all productions at Donmar. Mendes' successor
Michael Grandage
directed some of the key productions of the later part of Mendes' tenure, including
Peter Nichols
's
Passion Play
and
Privates on Parade
and Sondheim's
Merrily We Roll Along
.
Under Michael Grandage (2002?2011)
[
edit
]
In 2002
Michael Grandage
succeeded
Sam Mendes
as Artistic Director. Grandage appointed
Douglas Hodge
and
Jamie Lloyd
as Associate Directors; in 2007
Rob Ashford
succeeded Hodge.
For its revivals of foreign plays, the company regularly commissioned new translations or versions, including
Ibsen
's
The Wild Duck
(
David Eldridge
),
Racine
's
Phaedra
(Frank McGuinness),
Dario Fo
's
Accidental Death of an Anarchist
(
Simon Nye
) and
Strindberg
's
Creditors
(
David Greig
).
Its musical productions included
Grand Hotel
and the
Stephen Sondheim
works,
Pacific Overtures
,
Merrily We Roll Along
,
Company
,
Into the Woods
and the 1992 production of
Assassins
that opened
Sam Mendes
' tenure as Artistic Director.
Under the umbrella of Warehouse Productions, the theatre sometimes opened shows in the West End. Including 1999's
Suddenly Last Summer
and 2005's
Guys and Dolls
.
Many well-known actors have appeared at the theatre, including
Nicole Kidman
(
The Blue Room
),
Gwyneth Paltrow
(
Proof
),
Ian McKellen
(
The Cut
) and
Ewan McGregor
(
Othello
).
[5]
With only 250 seats, the tickets for
Othello
starring McGregor were in such demand that Grandage feared it could become "a bad news story".
[6]
His response was to plan a one-year season at the 750-seat
Wyndham's Theatre
, four major new productions presented by
Donmar West End
. It commenced on 12 September 2008, with
Kenneth Branagh
in the title role of
Chekhov
's
Ivanov
, given in a new version by
Tom Stoppard
and directed by Grandage.
[7]
The West End season continued with
Derek Jacobi
in
Twelfth Night
,
Judi Dench
in
Yukio Mishima
's
Madame de Sade
and
Jude Law
in
Hamlet
, all directed by Grandage.
Following the Donmar West End season, the Donmar held three productions internationally: transfers of
Red
,
Piaf
and
Creditors
, to Broadway, Madrid and the
Brooklyn Academy of Music
respectively.
[8]
[9]
Furthermore, from 30 September through December, the Donmar had the first of three year resident spots at
Trafalgar Studios 2
, in order to showcase its past Resident Assistant Directors.
[10]
In late 2010, the Donmar led the UK celebrations to mark
Stephen Sondheim
's 80th birthday to recognise his long association with the theatre. It included a new production of
Passion
directed by
Jamie Lloyd
.
In February 2011, the Donmar collaborated with the
National Theatre Live
programme to broadcast its production of
King Lear
, starring
Derek Jacobi
, to cinemas around the world. With over 350 screens in 20 countries, this single performance of
King Lear
was seen by more than 30,000 people.
[11]
Under Josie Rourke (2012?2019)
[
edit
]
In January 2012,
Josie Rourke
became the third Artistic Director in the Donmar's history. The first production under her leadership was
George Farquhar
's
The Recruiting Officer
, which Rourke also directed. Her first season also included
Robert Holman
's 1987 play,
Making Noise Quietly
, directed by
Peter Gill
;
Jack Thorne
's new version of
The Physicists
by Swiss playwright
Friedrich Duerrenmatt
;
Brian Friel
's
Philadelphia, Here I Come!
, directed by Lyndsey Turner; and Rourke's own production of
Jean Racine
's
Berenice
, in a new translation by
Alan Hollinghurst
and
Phyllida Lloyd
's all female
Julius Caesar
, which later went on to play at the
St. Ann's Warehouse
, New York.
The Donmar built a temporary,
in-the-round
, 420-seat theatre next to
King's Cross station
. This theatre housed the all-female Shakespeare trilogy: The Tempest, Julius Caesar and Henry IV, directed by
Phyllida Lloyd
, from September to December 2016.
[12]
[13]
Under Michael Longhurst (2019?2024)
[
edit
]
In June 2018,
Michael Longhurst
was named the fourth Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse. Longhurst's previous credits include
Constellations
at the
Royal Court Theatre
and
Amadeus
at the
National Theatre
.
Longhurst's first season at the Donmar started on 20 June 2019 with
David Greig
’s
Europe
, followed by the UK premiere of
Appropriate
by
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
. Further planned productions include
[Blank]
by
Alice Birch
, the UK premiere of
Mike Lew
's
Teenage Dick
and the season closes with
Caryl Churchill
's
Far Away.
[14]
He directed a revival of
Constellations
in the West End with four different casts. The theatre reopened in September 2021 and further productions included
Henry V' with
Kit Harington
,
Macbeth
with
David Tennant
and
Cush Jumbo
and the musicals
The Band's Visit
and
Next to Normal
.
In June 2023, it was announced
[15]
that
Tim Sheader
, Artistic Director of the
Regent's Park Open Air Theatre
, would take over as Artistic Director in March 2024.
Productions
[
edit
]
1990s
[
edit
]
- Assassins
(22 October 1992 ? 9 January 1993)
- Richard III
(14 January?20 February 1993)
- Playland
(25 February?17 April 1993)
- Don't Fool With Love
(22 April?15 May 1993)
- Translations
(3 June?24 July 1993)
- Here
(9 July?11 September 1993)
- The Life of Stuff
(16 September?6 November 1993)
- Hamlet
(10?27 November 1993)
- Cabaret
(2 December 1993 ? 26 March 1994)
- Half Time
(4, 5, 11 and 12 February 1994)
- Maria Friedman by Special Arrangement
(20, 27 February and 6 March 1994)
- Beautiful Thing
(29 March?23 April 1994)
- Maria Friedman by Special Arrangement by Further Arrangement
(23 May?11 June 1994)
- Glengarry Glen Ross
(16 June?27 August 1994)
- Design for Living
(1 September?5 November 1994)
- True West
(9 November?3 December 1994)
- The Threepenny Opera
(8 December 1994 ? 18 March 1995)
- Highland Fling
(21 March?8 April 1995)
- Our Boys
(11 April?13 May 1995)
- Insignificance
(1 June?6 August 1995)
- The Glass Menagerie
(7 September?5 November 1995)
- Rupert Street Lonely Hearts Club
(7?25 November 1995)
- Company
(1 December 1995 ? 2 March 1996)
- The King of Prussia
(4?9 March 1996)
- Buddleia
(12?16 March 1996)
- Song from a Forgotten City
(18?23 March 1996)
- Bondagers
(27 March?6 April 1996)
- Endgame
(11 April?25 May 1996)
- Habeas Corpus
(30 May?27 July 1996)
- Hedda Gabler
(30 July?31 August 1996)
- Pentecost
(3?28 September 1996)
- Fool for Love
(3 October?30 November 1996)
- Nine
(6 December 1996 ? 8 March 1997)
- Badfinger
(11?22 March 1997)
- Summer Begins
(25 March?5 April 1997)
- Halloween Night
(8?19 April 1997)
- The Fix
(26 April?14 June 1997)
- The Maids
(19 June?9 August 1997)
- The Seagull
(12 August?6 September 1997)
- Enter the Guardsman
(11 September?18 October 1997)
- Electra
(21 October?6 December 1997)
- The Front Page
(10 December 1997 ? 28 February 1998)
- In a Little World of our Own
(3?7 March 1998)
- Tell Me
(9?14 March 1998)
- Timeless
(17?21 March 1998)
- Sleeping Around
(23?28 March 1998)
- The Real Inspector Hound
/
Black Comedy
(Tour: 25 March?11 April 1998, West End: 16 April?31 October 1998, Tour: 18 August?23 October 1999)
- The Bullet
(2 April?2 May 1998)
- A Kind of Alaska
,
The Lover
&
The Collection
(7 May?13 June 1998)
- How I Learned to Drive
(18 June?8 August 1998)
- Divas at the Donmar
with
Ann Hampton Callaway
&
Liz Callaway
,
Barbara Cook
and
Imelda Staunton
(10 August?5 September 1998)
- The Blue Room
(10 September?31 October 1998)
- Into the Woods
(6 November 1998 ? 13 February 1999)
- Splash Hatch on the E Going Down
(16?27 February 1999)
- Morphic Resonance
(17?27 February 1999)
- Three Days of Rain
(1?13 March 1999)
- Suddenly, Last Summer
(Tour: 3 March?3 April 1999, West End: 8 April?17 July 1999)
- Good
(18 March?22 May 1999)
- The Real Thing
(27 May?7 August 1999)
- Divas at the Donmar
with
Patti LuPone
,
Audra McDonald
and
Sam Brown
(9 August?4 September 1999)
- Antigone
(Tour: 6?25 September 1999, West End: 27 September?18 December 1999)
- Juno and the Paycock
(9 September?6 November 1999)
2000s
[
edit
]
2010s
[
edit
]
2020s
[
edit
]
- Far Away
(6 February - 14 March 2020)
- Blindness
(1 August - 5 September 2020)
- Constellations
(
Vaudeville Theatre
; 18 June - 12 September 2021)
- Love and Other Acts of Violence
(7 October - 27 November 2021)
- Force Majeure
(10 December 2021 - 5 February 2022)
- Henry V
(11 February - 9 April 2022)
- Marys Seacole
(15 April - 5 June 2022)
- A Dolls House, Part 2
(10 June - 6 August 2022)
- The Trials
(12 - 27 August 2022)
- Silence
(1 - 17 September 2022)
- The Band's Visit
(26 September - 3 December 2022)
- Watch on the Rhine
(9 December 2022 - 4 February 2023)
- Trouble in Butetown
(10 February - 25 March 2023)
- Private Lives
(7 April - 27 May 2023)
- When Winston Went to War with the Wireless
(2 June - 29 July 2023)
- Next to Normal
(12 August - 7 October 2023)
- Clyde's
(13 October - 2 December 2023)
- Macbeth
(8 December 2023 - 10 February 2024)
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Wiegand, Chris; editor, Chris Wiegand Stage (7 June 2023).
"London's Donmar Warehouse appoints Tim Sheader as artistic director"
.
The Guardian
.
ISSN
0261-3077
. Retrieved
29 May
2024
.
- ^
"Donmar Productions Ltd"
,
AusStage
. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
- ^
a
b
c
"Donmar Warehouse"
,
The Theatres Trust
. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
- ^
a
b
Beauman, Sally,
The Royal Shakespeare Company
, OUP (1982)
- ^
"Cast of Othello"
.
Donmar Warehouse Theatre
. Archived from
the original
(Site)
on 13 December 2007
. Retrieved
16 December
2007
.
- ^
Sarah Hemming, "West End Story"
,
Financial Times
, 6 September 2008
- ^
Thaxter, John,
Ivanov
, thestage.co.uk, published 18 September 2008
- ^
"BAM's 2010 Season to Feature Donmar's CREDITORS, Broadway's Alan Rickman Directs"
,
BroadwayWorld.com
, 19 October 2009. Retrieved 2012-12-15.
- ^
"Donmar Warehouse | Donmar International"
. Archived from
the original
on 12 April 2010
. Retrieved
5 June
2010
.
- ^
"Donmar Warehouse | Donmar Trafalgar"
. Archived from
the original
on 18 June 2010
. Retrieved
5 June
2010
.
- ^
"National Theatre Live"
. Nationaltheatre.org.uk. Archived from
the original
on 19 June 2012
. Retrieved
2 December
2013
.
- ^
Robert Dex (25 May 2016).
"The Donmar to set up King's Cross theatre and round off all-female Bard trilogy | London Evening Standard"
.
Standard.co.uk
. Retrieved
9 July
2017
.
- ^
"Donmar's Shakespeare Trilogy at King's Cross"
.
LondonTheatre.co.uk
. 25 May 2016. Archived from
the original
on 28 May 2016
. Retrieved
9 July
2017
.
- ^
"Michael Longhurst first season announced"
.
Donmar Warehouse
. Archived from
the original
on 6 May 2019
. Retrieved
6 May
2019
.
- ^
Wiegand, Chris; editor, Chris Wiegand Stage (7 June 2023).
"London's Donmar Warehouse appoints Tim Sheader as artistic director"
.
The Guardian
.
ISSN
0261-3077
. Retrieved
7 June
2023
.
- ^
"Red by John Logan"
. Donmar Warehouse. Archived from
the original
on 5 December 2014
. Retrieved
28 January
2014
.
- ^
Michael Billington (8 December 2009).
"Red ? review"
.
The Guardian
.
- ^
"Serenading Louie by Lanford Wilson"
. Donmar Warehouse. Archived from
the original
on 12 January 2014
. Retrieved
28 January
2014
.
- ^
"Polar Bears by Mark Haddon"
. Donmar Warehouse. Archived from
the original
on 12 January 2014
. Retrieved
28 January
2014
.
- ^
Michael Billington (6 April 2010).
"Polar Bears ? review"
.
The Guardian
.
- ^
"The Late Middle Classes by Simon Gray"
. Donmar Warehouse. Archived from
the original
on 12 January 2014
. Retrieved
28 January
2014
.
- ^
Michael Billington (1 June 2010).
"The Late Middle Classes ? review"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
28 January
2014
.
- ^
"The Prince of Homburg By Heinrich von Kleist, in a new version by Dennis Kelly"
. Donmar Warehouse. Archived from
the original
on 12 January 2014
. Retrieved
28 January
2014
.
- ^
"The Silence of the Sea Vercors, a version by Anthony Weigh"
. Donmar Warehouse. Archived from
the original
on 2 February 2014
. Retrieved
28 January
2014
.
- ^
"Trelawny of the Wells An Original Comedietta by Arthur Wing Pinero (1898) with some most respectful additions and ornamentation by Patrick Marber (2013)"
. Donmar Warehouse. Archived from
the original
on 15 December 2013
. Retrieved
28 January
2014
.
- ^
Shenton, Mark (21 November 2012).
"Full Cast Announced for Trelawny of the Wells at London's Donmar Warehouse"
. Playbill.com. Archived from
the original
on 1 February 2014.
- ^
"The Weir by Conor McPherson"
. Donmar Warehouse. Archived from
the original
on 2 February 2014
. Retrieved
28 January
2014
.
- ^
Michael Billington (26 April 2013).
"The Weir ? review"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
28 January
2014
.
- ^
"The Night Alive A new play by Conor McPherson"
. Donmar Warehouse. Archived from
the original
on 2 February 2014
. Retrieved
28 January
2014
.
- ^
"The Same Deep Water As Me A new play by Nick Payne"
. Donmar Warehouse. Archived from
the original
on 2 February 2014
. Retrieved
28 January
2014
.
- ^
Michael Billington
(7 August 2013).
"The Same Deep Water As Me ? review"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
28 January
2014
.
- ^
Masters, Tim (20 May 2013).
"Tom Hiddleston cast as Coriolanus at Donmar Warehouse"
.
BBC News
.
- ^
"Versailles A new play by Peter Gill"
. Donmar Warehouse. Archived from
the original
on 27 December 2013
. Retrieved
28 January
2014
.
- ^
"Privacy A new play by James Graham"
. Donmar Warehouse. Archived from
the original
on 24 November 2013
. Retrieved
28 January
2014
.
- ^
"Fathers and Sons by Brian Friel, after the novel by Ivan Turgenev"
. Donmar Warehouse. Archived from
the original
on 2 February 2014
. Retrieved
28 January
2014
.
External links
[
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]
51°30′50.2″N
0°7′33.1″W
/
51.513944°N 0.125861°W
/
51.513944; -0.125861