Situated at the Covent Garden crossroads of Seven Dials, the Cambridge is one of the West End’s newest theatres, relatively speaking, having opened in 1930. The reception this newcomer to Seven Dials received was mixed, but some contemporary writers praised its clean lines, luxurious surfaces and bronze friezes featuring athletic figures, influenced by 1920s German expressionist design.
Cambridge Theatre might have been a hit with architecture nuts, but it didn't always have the easiest time finding a hit to fill its concrete walls. Early in its life, it was relegated to serving as a venue for trade shows and concerts but during the war drama took the stage once again, with a notable production of Shaw’s 'Heartbreak House', starring Edith Evans. Keith Waterhouse’s benchmark drama ‘Billy Liar’ played here for two years in the early 1960s; variety stars Tommy Steele and Bruce Forsyth also appeared during this period. A National Theatre season played at the Cambridge in 1970, a decade which also brought Ingrid Bergman and Peter Cook and Dudley Moore to the venue.
But the best known entry in Cambridge Theatre's teeming back catalogue is probably 'Chicago': it played host to London’s original production of the Kander and Ebb musical in 1977, and in 2006 the show came back for another lengthy stint. Since 2011, it's become synonymous with another long-running musical, the RSC’s massively successful show ‘Matilda’. Hordes of families (and nostalgic adults) throng Seven Dials before each show, and its keen fanbase means that 'Matilda' looks set to mark its decade there pretty comfortably.