The Criterion Theatre is located at the heart of the West End’s Piccadilly area and has been home to some of London’s longest-running and most popular comedies and farces. The theatre was designed by the pairing of renowned architect Thomas Verity and interior designers Simpson and Son in 1874.

The theatre is well-known for featuring an auditorium which is built underground and was subsequently used by the BBC during the London Blitz. The subterranean nature of the space meant that the theatre could easily be transformed into a studio which was free from the threat of air strikes from above, and so many programmes were both recorded and broadcast live from the Criterion.

During the 1970s there were some proposals for the theatre’s redevelopment that threatened its future as a theatrical space. However, in the following decade, Robert Bourne purchased the venue and set up the Criterion Theatre Trust to ensure that the future of the theatre was destined to be as a performance space.

In recent years, the theatre has been the host to a number of productions, including the acclaimed production of The Complete Works Of William Shakespeare (Abridged) by the Reduced Shakespeare Company from 1996 to 2005. The theatre also enjoyed another show with a long run between 2006 to 2015, when the theatre hosted The 39 Steps, Patrick Barlow’s farcical adaption of the 1915 novel by John Buchan.

The Criterion Theatre has more recently been associated with the Olivier Award nominated show for Best New Comedy, The Comedy About A Bank Robbery, written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields.