Donmar Warehouse London

Public transport is recommended to travel to the Donmar Warehouse. The nearest underground or train stations are Leicester Square, Covent Garden. If arriving by bus, then the nearest bus lines are 14, 19, 24, 29, 38, 176, N5, N19, N20, N29, N38, N41, N279. If driving to the theatre, the nearest car parks are Q-ParkChinatown (more parking information). For directions to the Donmar Warehouse see our Google Maps directions or Apple Maps directions

Is there a dress code at the Donmar Warehouse?

There is no specific dress code at the Donmar Warehouse, with most people just wearing their everyday clothes.

Does the Donmar Warehouse have air conditioning or air cooling?

Yes, the Donmar Warehouse has an Air Conditioning system.

What is the Accessibility at the Donmar Warehouse?

Donmar Warehouse accessibility information

Access phone number: 020 3282 3808

Access email address: [email protected]

Accessible toilets situated: Circle

Number of Wheelchair spaces: Stalls x2

Sound amplification: Induction Loop & Sennheiser Infrared

Access from street to foyer: Stairs & ramp

Access from theatre foyer to seats (number = stairs): 26 to Stalls, 49 to Circle

Level access: N/A

Stair lift, lift or ramp available: Lift to all levels

How many seats are in the Donmar Warehouse?

The Donmar Warehouse has 251 seats.

Is the Donmar Warehouse a member of the Society of London Theatre?

The Donmar Warehouse is an Affiliate member of SOLT, and has opted to pay the Performance Levy to allow their productions to be eligible for the main categories of the Olivier Awards.

Donmar Warehouse Facts

What date did the Donmar Warehouse open?

18 July 1977

What was the first production at the Donmar Warehouse?

Schweik in the Second World War

The Donmar Warehouse is a not-for-profit theatre based in Covent Garden in London.

Before becoming a theatre, this historic building was a vat room and hops warehouse for a local brewery in Covent Garden in the 1870s. It’s life in entertainment started in the 1920s when the building was used as a film studio, before reverting back into a warehouse to be a banana ripening depot for nearby Covent Garden market.

Then around 1953, famous theatrical producer Donald Albery (who gave his name to the Albery Theatre before it became the Noel Coward Theatre), bought the warehouse. Its name comes from the first three letters of his name and the first three letters of his wife’s middle name – Margaret.

Donald’s son Ian, who also became a theatre producer, initially converted the warehouse into a rehearsal studio.

The Donmar became a proper theatre in 1977 when the Royal Shakespeare Company bought the building and renamed it the Warehouse – ready to transfer their production of Schweik in the Second World War, directed by Howard Davies, from the Other Place in Stratford, which opened the theatre on 18 July. Apparently the speed at which they converted the building into a theatre meant that the concrete entrance steps were still wet then the audience started arriving!

Other RSC productions at the Warehouse included Trevor Nunn’s 1976 Macbeth starring Judi Dench and Ian McKellen, which opened at the Warehouse in September 1977 before transferring to the Young Vic; and Educating Rita, starring Julie Walters and Mark Kingston, directed by Mike Ockrent.

Nica Burns, of Nimax theatres, was artistic director from 1983 to 1989, before theatre producer Roger Wingate acquired the Donmar Warehouse in 1990 as a not-for-profit trust, installing Sam Mendes as Artistic Director. Wingate remains a board member of the Donmar to this day, and had the venue completely rebuilt before the re-opening.

The venue is now managed by ATG.

Subsequent artistic directors have includedMichael Grandage, Josie Rourke, and currentlyMichael Longhurst.

Previous Shows

Past shows that have played at the Donmar Warehouse include:

Mass
When We Are Married
The Maids
Evening All Afternoon
Juniper Blood
Dealer's Choice
Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812
The Fear of 13
Intimate Apparel
Backstroke
Skeleton Crew
Primary Trust
The Cherry Orchard
The Human Body
Clyde's
When Winston Went To War With The Wireless
Trouble in Butetown
Watch on the Rhine
The Band's Visit
A Dolls House, Part 2
Marys Seacole

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Main photo: Donmar Warehouse London

Venue Information

Donmar Warehouse Directions

What's on at the Donmar Warehouse?

Coming soon to the Donmar Warehouse

What's on at the Donmar Warehouse?

Frequently Asked Questions

Donmar Warehouse Facts

Donmar Warehouse News

Russell Tovey’s sell-out thriller The Guilty will transfer to the West End’s Harold Pinter Theatre in 2027

Donmar Warehouse announces major revival of No Man’s Land starring Rupert Everett and Simon Russell Beale

Sophie Okonedo to lead A Month in the Country at the Donmar Warehouse

INTERVIEW: “It’s one of the last social interactions where our phones aren’t available to us.” Russell Tovey on theatre as his religion

New play Mass to premiere in London starring Adeel Akhtar, Monica Dolan, Lyndsey Marshal & Paul Hilton

Russell Tovey to star in new thriller The Guilty at Donmar Warehouse

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