ABSTRACT
Theatres in ‘safe’ areas, not city centres, were allowed to reopen, and soon even that restriction was lifted, though all theatres had to close by ten in the evening and, for a while in the West End at six in the evening. When the Blitz began in September 1940, theatres closed again briefly, and several were destroyed, including the Shaftesbury, Little, Queen’s and Royalty, while Drury Lane, Saville, Kingsway and others were badly damaged. Later, when V-2s targeted London in 1944, many theatres closed again. The Westminster Theatre programme in 1940 included the warning: In the event of an air raid warning during performance, the audience will be informed from the stage, and those who so desire will be conducted by attendants to the vaults under the theatre, or to other shelters of which there are four within a few yards of the theatre. The theatre boasted that ‘we never closed’, and it also gave early opportunities to many comedians.
