The Shaftesbury Theatre Reviews Summary

Seating

Pros:

• "Seats were old yet comfortable and it was a great show."
• "Seating was comfy and has enough leg room."
• "The seats were comfortable in this busy West End theatre, and the toilets have been modernised."
• "Great seats with a fabulous view."
• "The theatre has comfortable chairs with lots of leg room."
• "Booster seats provided for the little ones in the stalls."
• "The theater is beautiful and relatively small but seats are super comfy."

Cons:

• "Seats are dated…you’ll sink in them."
• "Poor seating in the grand circle very little leg room."
• "Unfortunately, the seats are the worst part of it. Really tight, too low and not too comfortable."
• "Being six foot four I certainly struggled with leg room."
• "Hardly any leg room at all and sometimes the music was louder than the singing."
• "The seats in the stalls are extremely low and old."
• "The only downside to this theatre was the seats were ridiculously tiny, the rows seem especially close to each other not leaving much room to move."

Staff and Service

Pros:

• "There's plenty of staff around to direct you."
• "Venue staff were all friendly, helpful, and professional."
• "Very nice small theatre with helpful staff and reasonably priced drinks for a theatre."
• "The staff were fabulous."
• "Thank you to the ushers for all their help."
• "Staff is super friendly and helpful too, queues at the bar move quickly."
• "The staff here were friendly and kind."

Cons:

• "Staff were quite rude when we were queuing up in the wrong line by accident and shouted at us."
• "The staff were like teachers telling us to be quiet when talking in the production... we were not loud we were whispering and some way from the stage so that didn't impress me !!"
• "Staff here are very rude upon entering the theatre."
• "Communal toilets weren't good either having to walk past urinals to the cubicle isn't the best idea for a lady!"
• "Restrooms are strangely place with women’s on the upper floor and men’s on the bottom floor."
• "Only issue was there was only one set of toilets for the stalls, which caused a long queue when the curtain dropped for the interval."
• "Nice little theatre but after being assured that there was a lift to the upper floors we found out that there wasn't one!"

Theatre Atmosphere and Architecture

Pros:

• "The old Victorian charm of a theatre is well preserved here."
• "The theatre is absolutely beautiful."
• "Beautiful theater with large main floor bar."
• "The theatre is OLD."
• "Its a great little theatre with a lot of character."
• "Beautiful traditional theatre - one of my favourites."
• "This theatre was stunning with pink hues throughout and great architecture framing the stage!"

Cons:

• "The theatre itself was ok nothing special...a little old and tired if truth be told."
• "Currently covered by scaffolding."
• "The theatre was very hot it seemed the air conditioning was not in top shape."
• "It was stifling, I thought I would pass out, we wanted to leave except we were wedged in our seat, no fans, no air con no doors open? Why?"
• "The ceiling is visually crumbling."
• "However as someone who is 6’ tall it became very hard to enjoy the show because there literally was not enough room to put my legs."
• "The theatre itself is beautiful, the bars notes so, the new bar is more like a canteen."

Show Quality and Experience

Pros:

• "The musical itself was a real gem and a definite must-see!"
• "Wow!!! Best musical I watched."
• "An absolutely amazing show. We love the film and this show was no let down. The cast was brilliant the music was faultless the comedy was there in abundance."
• "The production itself was out of this world! Highly recommended on all counts!"
• "The show Mrs Doubtfire was amazing I've never heard of the chap who was the lead but he was great multi talented very well cast."
• "The show itself was brilliant, from the actors, songs and down to the extras.... just brilliant."
• "Mrs Doubtfire was fantastic!"

Cons:

• "We were disappointed with the show but the theatre itself was OK."
• "All in all.. great hype but in our opinion; lacked substance... and not worth the West End theatre ticket price tag."
• "The less said about the show (Be More Chill), the better."
• "So disappointed by & Juliet! For the price it felt very amateur and the vocals from some of the leads just weren't great, acting and choreography was forced."
• "There was a lack of atmosphere, don't get us wrong, there were some funny moments, but compared to many other musicals there was something drastically missing here."
• "We have mixed views on the content of the performance.. whether there was a need to add British politics to an American show??"
• "Saw and Juliet. Not my cup of tea."