About the Bridge Theatre
Located on the bank of the River Thames and overlooking Tower Bridge, the Bridge Theatre opened in 2017 as a home for the London Theatre Company. Founded by former National Theatre Executive Director Nick Starr and Artistic Director Nicholas Hynter, the venue was conceived as a flexible space for modern audiences, focused on commissioning new works and some re-imaginings of classics.
The Bridge was the first completely new large-scale commercial theatre to open in London in 80 years. It was designed by Steve Tompkins and Roger Watts at Haworth Tompkins Architects, who envisioned a theatre with more flexibility than typical West End venues. The Bridge was designed, built and opened all within two years, and the auditorium (with around 900 seats on three sides) was tested for sightlines and acoustics offsite before being erected in full.
The Bridge Theatre has an adaptable stage and Stalls area, and can support shows in a variety of formats including end-stage, thrust stage and promenade. This style of seating has also been employed at the West End’s newest venue, Soho Place Theatre. The Bridge’s inaugural production was Richard Bean’s Young Marx, and it has since earned acclaim with a variety of shows including an immersive promenade staging of Julius Caesar (2018) and Maggie Smith’s affecting monologue A German Life (2019).
