London Theatres (New Edition)

This book is an absolute must-have for theatre fans!!!
Not only is the info inside incredibly informative, but the photography is beautiful!!!

I like to think I am quite knowledgeable about the London theatre scene, and I still learnt a lot from reading. The photography shows images of the auditorium, as well as an insight to back stage areas too which I found fascinating.

I love how it included so many different London theatres, including some fringe venues too.
I am missing theatre so much at the moment due to Covid, and this book is a great celebration of everything London has to offer in terms of theatre. I just hope and pray that if this book comes out in a couple of years time, the theatres will still be going strong despite the pandemic.

Having loved the original London Theatres I was interested to see that a new edition had been released. The inclusion of previously missed 'newer' theatres like The Bridge Theatre and the Menier Chocolate Factory is a welcome addition and adds to the book's overall appeal, since it now covers a wider range of London's performance spaces. Perhaps in a future release we'll even get the Jermyn Street theatre! London has so many theatrical venues, though, that to mention them all would create quite a tome, so I can understand the need to draw the line somewhere, and the recent inclusions do fill the slight gap that existed in the original edition. Overall, this remains a superb work, with a beautiful balance of interesting text and beautiful photographs. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves London's theatre scene, and, indeed, theatres and theatrical history in general.

An incredible book filled to the brim with so much interesting history. I loved all the photo’s too.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

Yes I'll mention it. "Covid"
The world is suffering a pandemic. It has closed our theatres. Taking with it the livelihoods of the theatre community. This book makes you long for the day when we can rush out and purchase our tickets. Not just for the performance. We need to take time when we go back to sit and really look at the buildings.
Michael Coveney has done than. We forget just how majestic some of these building really are. They are in themselves, works of art.
The books contain lots of information along with stunning pictures. Many of the auditorium and a lot of back stage.
Read this and you will long to go back. Lets hope they survive.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

This is a great book on London Theatres. Beautiful pictures of the theatres even backstage. You get the history of the theatres. It a really informative cool book.

This is a gorgeous book full of pictures and information about so many theatres in and around London. I’ve only been to one (St. Martin’s) but this book makes me want to go to so many more. The information is detailed, but never too long. I would definitely buy this for myself.

I love London theaters!! As someone who has traveled to London from the US for the sole purpose of going to the theater I knew that I needed to read this book. I can now honestly say that I know waaayyy more about the theaters than I knew before. This book gave a lot more information than I was expecting. Covering everything from the history of the building, renovations, owners, stand out productions, ghosts, etc. Clearly the book was well researched and I could tell that it was written by a biographer who knows the theater well. Some of the descriptions were a bit long for my taste which lead to some skimming but it was probably all needed to be a complete bio of each theater.

The photographs were gorgeous. I did have issues with some of them being blurry on my iPad but I am going to assume this is not an issue in the print book. I've seen a couple dozen shows at couple dozen theaters in London so it was fun to see the inside of the house and try to remember if I have been to a show there or not. My favorite pictures were of the things that the average theater-goer does not get to see. The dressing rooms, the rigging system, the fire safety lantern ax, etc. This book added a few more theaters to my bucket list and if I have to sit through a high-quality theater production to see the building so be it.

Thank you to Net Galley and Frances Lincoln for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

A fantastic coffee table book with a ton of interesting information. I thought it would be just pictures but there's so many details about each theater. The photos are beyond gorgeous!! I felt like I'd had a backstage pass to every London theater, with a private tour guide, and I never got off my couch in Australia! I will be buying a physical copy of this book as well.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

Cue redundant review time. If you like London Theatre (or just theatres, or just London) you will get no end of mileage from these pages. Every major working venue in the West End and elsewhere throughout the capital (well, minus a couple, like the Duchess) gets a similar treatment, of about six pages, and the text gives you just enough about the history, architecture and oddities of the playhouses, while the photos give insight to the view from the stage, or the Royal Box, in the star dressing room, or elsewhere as needed. I guess we see so little of the exteriors partly because of the signage to specific shows which would date the book, but a few of the permanent residencies are highlighted both visually and text-wise. A couple of quirks might prevent it from getting my rarefied five star status – some of the photos in the flytowers won't be for all, the two-word write-ups of some of the bars and lounges we get seem superfluous, and some technical terms were even new to me, making this not a hundred per cent accessible to all us plebs in the gods – but boy this production comes recommended. Just the Normansfield entry alone taught the reader enough to justify admission. Four and a half stars.

I really enjoyed reading about all of these theaters. I have never known about most of these, and I enjoyed reading about the history of the theaters. Now I am very motivated to go to London, and then see some plays.

I found this book to be a delight! The photographs were beautiful and artfully done. The accompanying history and snippets of theater lore about each of these amazing theaters were so fascinating! It made me want to visit each one of these theaters so that I could appreciate even more in person. I could feel the reverence and love the writer had for each of these monumental structures was evident on every page. I think anyone who has any interest in theaters, architecture, London, or history, in general, would adore this book.

London Theatres is a beautifully written and photographed homage to the iconic venues of London's theatre districts. Released 6th Oct 2020 by Quarto on their Frances Lincoln imprint, it's 288 pages and available in hardcover and ebook formats.

This is a timely and beautiful book. Especially now, when most theatre venues are closed or severely curtailed during the pandemic, it's refreshing (and nostalgic) to get an intimate look at these stately gorgeous interiors and read some background history. The venues range from formal to informal, incredibly lush and opulant to minimalist, historical to modern. The background info is well written and accessible with notes on their history and origins as well as little known trivia and tidbits.vMost of the entries cover 3-5 pages and give a good glimpse behind the scenes. It's the gorgeous color photos which awed me most, I think. The production quality is very high and the authors had access to areas backstage which the public never sees.

This would make a wonderful gift for theatre fans, as well as a superlative choice for library acquisition. Five stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

An absolutely stunning display of London's theaters. You get to see the decadence and personality of each theater along with a brief history and background. I loved seeing how they differed and each one is so uniquely beautiful. This is a fantastic reference book to leaf through and display for any theater lover.

A great book for any theatre lover. Really useful information that covers a vast amount of theatre venues within London from smaller studio spaces to world renowned venues such as the Royal Albert Hall.

The photos that are used in this book are beautiful and help the reader transport themselves to the venue. The information is well presented and interesting; even an avid theatre goer will find out stories and facts that they have not heard before.

This book is a must for anyone who has a love for the theatre or wants to learn more about the industry and the wide ranging history that has seeped into the walls of the venues.

Thank you to Netgally and Quarto Publishing Group – White Lion for the ARC.

Truly sumptuous! What a beautiful ‘coffee table’ book to own. This book makes you want to visit every location mentioned in this book. Stunning photos behind the scenes, highlighting details you might never know about as well as views of the theatres both from
the audience point of view, and not usually seen, from the stage looking outwards. The history of each site is given and contains fascinating facts about each one. Thoroughly recommended for anyone with even a passing interest in the theatre. Just a beautiful book to own and to dip into.

I'm planning to visit London and this book was great to inspire me (and increase my desire to go there).
It has many gorgeous photographs (there's even backstage ones!) and it cover many theatres, much more than I knew existed in the city. The physical copy must be even prettier and a great coffee table book.. It covers some history and architecture in a concise way that makes it a pleasure to read.
If you love theatres this is definitely a must read for you.

I thank Net Galley and Frances Lincoln for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review.