Fortune Theatre

The Fortune Theatre is a West End playhouse in Russell Street, near Covent Garden in the City of Westminster. It stands next to Crown Court Church and beside the larger Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Built between 1922 and 1924, it was the first London theatre constructed after the First World War. The façade is made of bush-hammered concrete with brick piers, and the entrance is marked by bronze double doors. Above the doors is a figurine of Terpsichore, the muse of dance, carved by M. H. Crichton of the Bromsgrove Guild. The theatre has 432 seats and is one of the smallest in the West End. It opened in 1924 as the Fortune Thriller Theatre with a play by its owner, Laurence Cowen. During the Second World War it hosted ENSA performances by armed-forces entertainers. Later it became a receiving house for visiting companies, with stars such as Dame Judi Dench, Dirk Bogarde and Maureen Lipman appearing on its stage. From 1989 to 2023 it housed the long-running play The Woman in Black, adapted by Stephen Mallatratt from Susan Hill’s novel. Inside, the foyer is lined with grey and red marble, and the ticket booth is made of beaten copper. The auditorium itself is compact and intimate, with a bar placed within the seating area of the Stalls. The theatre has also served as a recording venue for television specials, including John Bardon’s one-man show about Max Miller and Lily Savage’s Paying the Rent. A plaque now honours Hester Leggatt, a character from the recent production Operation Mincemeat.