St Martin’s Theatre

Three places to remember Agatha Christie…

by exploringlondon

Before we get back to our current Wednesday series on bishop’s palaces, we pause to remember the death of celebrated crime writer Agatha Christie, 50 years ago this week (she died on 12th January, 1976).

PICTURE: Wikipedia/Public Domain

• First up, we head to 58 Sheffield Terrace in Holland Park where Christie lived with her second husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan, between 1934 and 1941 (one of several homes she lived in in the area), and where she wrote books including Murder on the Orient Express (1934) and Death on the Nile (1937). The house is marked with an English Heritage Blue Plaque.

• Then it’s over to University College Hospital in Bloomsbury where Christie worked during World War II as a volunteer dispenser (and where she added to her expertise on poisons). Christie had in 1917 sat three exams to become a qualified pharmaceutical assistant at the Apothecaries Hall in London.

• Finally, we head to the West End and St Martin’s Theatre where Christie’s play, The Mousetrap, continues to be performed nightly, notching up more than 30,000 performances. Outside is the Agatha Christie Memorial (pictured) depicting a book with a bust of Christie set into the centre.

We’ll be taking a more detailed look at Agatha Christie’s London in a series soon…

London Explained – London Theatreland…

by exploringlondon

Said to be the largest theatre district in the world, London’s Theatreland is located in the West End (and some say synonymous with it) and features some 40 playhouses.

The lights of Theatreland – pictured is the production of Les Miserables at the Sondheim Theatre. PICTURE: Samuel Regan-Asante/Unsplash

The theatres are primarily located in Covent Garden, around Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus and in Soho. The street most associated with today’s Theatreland is perhaps Shaftsbury Avenue.

Many of the privately owned theatres date from the Victorian or Edwardian period and are protected against inappropriate development (although this means they also sometimes lack more modern amenities)

Among the theatres in the district is the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (the oldest theatre in London, it opened in 1663) as well as the Savoy Theatre (which in 1881 became the first to be lit by electricity), the London Palladium in Soho (which has hosted the Royal Variety Performance 43 times), and the Lyceum Theatre (where Bram Stoker was once manager).

The longest-running production in the world – Agatha Christie’s play The Mousetrap – has been running at St Martin’s Theatre since 1952 (though it was interrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic). The longest-running musical in the West End – Les Miserables – has been running since 1985 (first at the Palace Theatre and now at the Sondheim Theatre (formerly Queens Theatre)).