Wyndham's Theatre History

Production Highlights

1899: Wyndham's opened on 16 November with a revival of David Garrick by T W Robertson in which the theatre's owner Charles Wyndham and his future wife, Mary Moore, both appeared. The theatre was designed by the architect W G R Sprague in the Louis XVI style.
1910: Gerald du Maurier became actor-manager of Wyndham's for more than a decade. Some of his most famous roles were in Raffles and Bull-Dog Drummond.
1916: The original theatre plans included a winter garden on the roof. The Council refused permission for this, but it was used once for a rehearsal of a charity performance of J M Barrie's The Admirable Crichton at which G B Shaw was also present.
1923: Tallulah Bankhead was the talk of London when she made her debut in The Dancers written by Gerald du Maurier and Viola Tree. Her most famous scene was one in which she performed an Indian dance costumed in feathers and jewels.
1930: The bestselling author Edgar Wallace took the lease on the theatre and presented a series of crime plays including The Ringer, The Calendar and On the Spot.
1945: Daphne du Maurier, Gerald's daughter, continued the family association with Wyndham's when her play The Years Between opened on 10 January.
1953: Graham Greene's first stage play, The Living Room, a moral story that generated much debate and starred Dorothy Tutin and Eric Portman, opened on 16 April.
1954: Sandy Wilson's 1920s musical The Boy Friend transferred on 14 January. Having started as a short piece at the Players' Theatre, the extended version went on to run at Wyndham's for 2,078 performances.
1959: For a number of years Joan Littlewood's famous Theatre Workshop productions played at Wyndham's, including the 19-year-old Shelagh Delaney's A Taste of Honey, The Hostage by Brendan Behan and Oh What a Lovely War.
1964: John Osborne's Inadmissable Evidence won the Critics' Award for Best Play of 1964.
1968: Alec Guinness both directed and appeared in The Cocktail Party as the Unidentified Guest.
1972: Godspell transferred from the Roundhouse and ran for almost three years. The cast included Julie Covington, David Essex, Marti Webb and Jeremy Irons.
1975: A seminal production of Harold Pinter's No Man's Land was directed by Peter Hall and starred John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson.
1976: Cameron Mackintosh transferred Side by Side by Sondheim to Wyndham's. This compilation of the best of Sondheim's clever, perceptive songs introduced his work to many British audiences and became Cameron's first international hit.
1986: The Young Vic production of Ghosts with Vanessa Redgrave and Tom Wilkinson enjoyed great success both at Wyndham's and subsequently in Ibsen's native country Norway.
1991: World premiere of Arthur Miller's comedy The Ride Down Mt. Morgan with Tom Conti as the insurance magnate visited in hospital by his two wives – Gemma Jones and Clare Higgins.
1994: Edward Albee's autobiographical play Three Tall Women received its British premiere at Wyndham's, winning Maggie Smith an Evening Standard Award for Best Actress.
1996: Art, Yasmina Reza's satirical triple-hander, ran for over 2,000 performances before transferring to the Whitehall Theatre where its 27th cast gave their final performance on 4 January 2003.
2005: On 19 September the long lease on the theatre reverted from the Ambassador Theatre Group to Delfont Mackintosh Theatres.
2006: Stephen Sondheim's highly acclaimed production of Sunday in the Park with George transferred from the Menier Chocolate Factory and swept the board at the 2007 Olivier Awards where it won in five different categories.
2008: Wyndham's re-opened on 17 September following a major four-month refurbishment programme with a highly acclaimed year-long season presented by the Donmar Warehouse. The season included Ivanov, Twelfth Night, Madame de Sade and Hamlet starring Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jacobi, Judi Dench and Jude Law.
2012: The award-winning stage version of Driving Miss Daisy transferred from Broadway and brought with it combative, touching and memorable performances by two great stars – Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones.
2014-16: Wyndham’s hosted a series of notable plays including Skylight, King Charles III, A View from the Bridge and People Places and Things.
2016: 41 years on another seminal production of No Man’s Land was directed by Sean Mathias and starred Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart.
2017-19: The theatre’s reputation as a favourite playhouse continued with productions of Long Day’s Journey into Night, Red and The Price.
2020: Tom Stoppard’s autobiographical last play Leopoldstadt played to packed houses, reopening in 2021 following the lifting of government covid restrictions.
2022: Life of Pi transferred from Sheffield Theatres and went on to win 5 Olivier Awards including Best New Play, Best Actor, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Lighting Design and Best Set Design.
2024: Brian Cox stars in Long Day’s Journey Into Night directed by Jeremy Herrin, followed by the Donmar’s transfer of Next to Normal. Robert Icke’s production of Oedipus wins Oliver Awards for Best Revival and Best Actress for Lesley Manville.
2025: Inside No.9 stars Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton with Ewan McGregor making a return to the stage after a 17-year hiatus in My Master Builder by Lila Raicek.
2026: The National Theatre’s transfer of Inter Alia wins Rosamund Pike the Olivier Award for Best Actress.