Guys and Dolls (Bridge Theatre) (London, Great Britain)
Guys and Dolls (Bridge Theatre)
The Bridge Theatre is a commercial theatre near Tower Bridge in London that opened in October 2017. It was developed by Nick Starr and Nicholas Hytner as the home of the London Theatre Company, which they founded following their tenancy as executive director and artistic director, respectively, at the National Theatre. In 2023 (3 March - 2 September 2023), the Bridge Theatre is staging the musical Guys and Dolls to music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and the book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows based on the story and characters by Damon Runyon, directed by Nicholas Hytner.
The theatre seats 900 and is a flexible space to accommodate each production. For example, the opening production, Young Marx, featured a traditional proscenium arrangement, Julius Caesar had the stalls seating removed to be in promenade and allow the audience to be part of the mob within the play, and Nightfall was performed on a thrust stage.
The Bridge focuses on the commissioning and production of new shows, as well as staging and re-imagining the occasional classic. So far the stage has been filled with the likes of Maggie Smith, Ben Whishaw, Laura Linney, Jim Broadbent, and Gwendoline Christie drawing audiences from overseas as well as local areas.