London Coliseum
St Martin’s Lane, London, WC2N 4ES

Nearest underground:
Charing Cross (Northern Line, Bakerloo Line) Leicester Square (Piccadilly Line, Northern Line)

Nearest rail:
Charing Cross

The huge illuminated globe that crowns the London Coliseum, and its columns and statues representing music, art, science and literature have made the building a London landmark.  Designed by prolific theatre architect Frank Matcham, it opened on Christmas Eve 1904 as a variety show palace.  It was the first theatre in Europe to have lifts and the first in Britain to possess a revolving stage.  Its early productions were a world away from the operas it is host to these days: its stage has been walked by Highland soldiers with a band of pipes, performing animals, circus performers and a seven-foot eleven musician claiming to be the world’s tallest pianist.           

After a happy decade of staging Broadway musicals the Coliseum eventually found it was unable to compete with other theatres.  The building was used briefly and fairly unsuccessfully, as a cinema.  However it regained its artistic stature when Sadler’s Wells Opera (later English National Opera) relocated here from their smaller Islington premises.  It has remained their home for well over three decades now and in this time they have forged a reputation for staging impressive productions.  They perform a wide range of works, especially those less well known in the repertoire and they are all sung in English.   

What's on at London Coliseum

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