Arts Theatre Reviews Summary

Staff and Service

Pros:

• "The staff is always friendly."
• "The staff that run the place are friendly & helpful as well."
• "Staff friendly and helpful."
• "The staff are always lovely and due to the size of the theatre no matter where you sit you feel connected and close to the stage."
• "The staff are always so friendly, and the bar is the buzziest of all the theatre bars in London."
• "Staff on the booking line were very helpful."
• "Staff were friendly, bar quick to get served."

Cons:

• "There were no staff outside to manage numbers or circulation."
• "Staff member in the auditorium repeatedly shouted at people taking photos... Was a bit embarrassing for them as it was very innocent and came across quite rude."

Theatre Atmosphere and Location

Pros:

• "Fabulous, small, intimate theatre which provided the perfect setting for The Choir of Man."
• "Love this theatre, intimate and engaging plus a magic atmosphere."
• "Great location in the heart of theatreland."
• "The lovely atmosphere really makes you feel at ease!"
• "The Arts Theatre in Great Newport Street is a compact theatre where you feel part of the action."
• "Great theatre for partially deaf people. Small and you can hear everything."
• "This is a great theatre - very rough and ready but staff are always friendly."

Cons:

• "The theatre is badly in need of renovation. The seating is tatty, broken and uncomfortable."
• "The lobby is quite small and can feel hot and stuffy."
• "It is, however, rather faded & could do with some TLC."
• "The bar area you first walk into isn't particularly appealing. It's quite cramped, and was pretty cold when I went thanks to the door being held open by people trying to get in all the time."
• "The place needs some serious love and updating."
• "Awful venue with a total lack of management."

Seating and Comfort

Pros:

• "Tiny theatre but great seats."
• "No matter where you sit, you're practically right next to the stage."
• "Intimate space. Not a bad seat in the entire place."
• "Lovely theatre, not a bad seat in the house, even the restricted viewing isn't really restricted."
• "The auditorium was air conditioned and the seats comfortable."
• "Seats where comfy."
• "Perfect little theatre, feels very intimate when watching a performance."

Cons:

• "Like most theatres the seating needs updating it is too cosy, you have to squeeze past people to get to your seat."
• "The circle balcony did impair some view - but it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the show."
• "Some of the seating could be better positioned or even removed as some of it is situated directly behind supports for the circle above making it almost pointless."
• "The seats are quite close so if you are very tall, I would suggest getting an aisle seat."
• "Very cramped seating at this theatre, I sat in the circle and found it really uncomfortable."
• "The upholstery on many of the seats could certainly do with replacing."
• "The sideways seats are not the most comfortable but all seats give a good view."

Facilities

Pros:

• "Great selection of non alcoholic beverages for reasonable prices."
• "The bathrooms were clean."
• "They have a coffee shop above the theatre also."
• "Excellent theatre with a great bar serving a range of drinks and snacks."
• "Lovely old fashioned theatre, cafe bar as you go in."
• "The café bar opens shortly before the show and has a range of drinks and snacks."
• "Lovely bar which doesn't rip you off with the prices."

Cons:

• "Foyer before performance gets extremely busy, so much so I felt I was going to have a panic attack."
• "Nice theatre a bit annoying that the toilets are right by the door of the stalls so u wait there thinking people are going in but they are queuing for the toilet."
• "The ladies toilet was disgusting. No soap, broken dryer and puddles on the floor."
• "Toilets, not enough for patrons, not disabled friendly, too many stairs."
• "Only down side is too few toilets which left a big queue for the girls and smaller one for the boys."
• "The toilets in the theatre are an absolute joke so few of them you can queue the whole interval and so tiny that that you cant get in/out past the people in the queue."
• "Limited toilet facilities."

Performance and Shows

Pros:

• "SIX WAS AMAZING. i don’t know what to say other than this. i’m still so excited and shocked and happy at the same time that i can’t think of any vocabulary."
• "Choir of Man was quite enjoyable even if they encourage singing from tone deaf, but enthusiastic, audience members, which can spoil it a bit."
• "All in all a truly great show."
• "Totally blown away by 'The Choir of Man', one of the best shows I have ever seen."
• "75 minutes of sheer magic from the 6 performers belting out amazing songs."
• "Fantastic theatre! Went to see Six and it was excellent."
• "The Choir of Man. Absolutely brilliant show."

Cons:

• "I've seen some stinkers here, 'American Idiot' being one of the worst musicals I've ever seen."
• "Improvised Jane Austen Novel' Didn't feel like much improvisation at all."
• "Play 'Oleanna' was well acted if the feminist was a caricature and the controversial events not truly 'incendiary' or 'explosive' as promised."
• "Nothing wrong with the show and would of got 5 stars if i had not seen 'All or Nothing' the first time round."
• "The musical 'SIX' is running at the Arts Theatre, saw the show this evening with my grandchildren, it was vibrant, colourful, very entertaining."
• "Choir of Man is an absolute blast of a party!"
• "Choir of Man is awesome. Poetic, touching, warm, kind, funny, poignant and absolutely brilliant."