The Cambridge Theatre is located in the heart of London’s Theatreland, Covent Garden, and is in close proximity to both the Covent Garden and Leicester Square tube stations. It is a relatively new theatre compared with others in the West End, having been built between 1929 and 1930, which is reflected in both its style and practicality.  Grade II listed in 1999, the theatre enjoys an expressionist style featuring simple shapes and modern outlines, closely related to a similar style that was seen in Germany in the 1920s.

Although it was initially used as a theatre, the Cambridge was also used for trade film shows in the late 1930s. In 1942, Deborah Kerr made her stage debut in George Bernard Shaw’s Heartbreak House, appearing alongside Edith Evans and Robert Donat. There have been many important and exciting stage productions since the Cambridge stopped showing film productions, such as Neil Simon’s Little Me in 1964 which starred Bruce Forsyth; Ingrid Bergman in Captain Brassbound’s Conversion in 1971; the original London production of Chicago in 1977; Joan Collins in The Last of Mrs. Cheyney in 1980, and Peter O’Toole in Shaw’s Man and Superman in 1983. In 1989, Sherlock Holmes the Musical had a short-lived run, followed by Return to the Forbidden Planet, a jukebox musical based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, which became a surprise smash-hit and ran for almost 4 years, winning the coveted Olivier Award for Best New Musical. The National Theatre hosted a season at the venue in the 1970s with productions starring Maggie Smith and Laurence Olivier.

More recently, the theatre has been home to the controversial Jerry Springer the Opera, the classic Grease and the popular illusionist Derren Brown’s Something Wicked This Way Comes tour. Other notable productions include Fame, based on the 1980s movie of the same name and which ran for eleven months at the theatre from 2001-2002; the London premiere of Flying Music’s Dancing in the Streets in 2005, and Our House, a musical using the popular songs from band Madness. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s theatre company, The Really Useful Group, purchased the Cambridge Theatre in 2000, and is one of many venues the company manages. After the revival production of Chicago closed at the venue, the theatre reopened with Matilda the Musical, after an official opening night of 22^nd November 2011.

Cambridge Theatre London.org provides a guide to the current show, Matilda the Musical. It also gives details of how to buy Matilda the Musical tickets, seating plans, map and location, and hotels and restaurants near the Cambridge Theatre.

Access and Facilities 

The theatre has a bar in each of its seating areas, the stalls, the dress circle, and the upper circle, with toilets on each level as well. The theatre seats over 1200 guests, and disabled access is available in the stalls. The main foyer is step free with ground level access to the Box Office. The Stalls section is 5 steps down from the front foyer. The Royal Circle is accessible up 31 steps, and over 60 to the Upper Circle, which has its own separate entrance. The auditorium boasts air conditioning and infra-red sound loops.