In two weeks’ time the curtain will rise on refurbished Whitehall Theatre, closed since 1982. The new lessees, the Maybox Group, have spent £1/2m restoring the former home of 1960s farces to its original 1930s art deco style.
Maybox acquired the London theatre last August, paying Paul Raymond about £1/2m for the 43-year lease. Mr Raymond’s last show, the Theatre of War, ran into objections from the Theatres Trust and the City of Westminster, who successfully claimed that his exhibition constituted museum rather than theatre use of the building.
The revamped Whitehall now has 620 seats and includes a London-wide ticket centre and bar in the entrance foyer.
Ian Albery, managing director of Maybox, says the group will follow the tradition of the Whitehall in concentrating on comedy. The first production will be J B Priestley’s When We Are Married, opening on March 5, with a benefit preview for the Theatres Trust on February 27.
