The Woman in Black & Livebait

A small intimate traditional style proscenium arch theatre in the 'Art Deco style', this was the first West End theatre to be built after the First World War. The theatre is noted for having a 'hanging freehold' with the adjacent Scottish National Church - a corridor belonging to the Church runs along one side of the theatre's auditorium at ground level, with the stalls level under it, the Dress Circle level along side it, and the Upper Circle above it. The theatre was renovated in 1960.

Somewhat appropriately (or perhaps, rather unappropriately) considering the closeness this theatre has with the Church next door, the first production to be staged at this theatre was Laurence Cowan's play called "Sinners".

The theatre has had a rather chequered history as far as productions go. The first 'hit' here was "On Approval", a comedy of manners by Frederick Lonsdale, which had a run of just over one year in 1927. Then in 1957 the Flanders and Swan revue "At The Drop Of A Hat" run for 733 performances. In 1961 Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Jonathan Miller staged their revue called "Beyond The Fringe" here - the show run for 1,184 performances before transferring to the Mayfair Theatre. In 1979 the play "Murder In The Vicarage" had a run of 1,758 performances. The record for the Fortune Theatre's longest run though goes to "The Woman In Black", a thriller adapted by Stephen Mallatratt from a novel by Susan Hill, which originally opened at the Strand Theatre on 15 February 1989 before transferring to the Playhouse Theatre on 18 April 1989 and then finally to the Fortune Theatre on 7 June 1989.