It looks as though the Playhouse Theatre will be sold in November. The buyer is believed to be an American theatre owner.

The Playhouse has had something of a checkered history in recent years, and hasn't really established its niche. Although it is slightly off the beaten track in that it isn't situated on a major thoroughfare like the Strand, it is very close to a major tube station (Embankment), to a mainline train station (Charing Cross) and easily accessible from Victoria and Waterloo stations as well, so with some astute marketing it could be possible to attract audiences.

Dame Gladys Cooper, one of the West End's most glamorous stars from the 1910's to the 1930's, was one of the first (and few) women to manage a West End theatre when she ran the Playhouse in the 1920's, but no one has been able to place it firmly centerstage in the following 70-plus years.

The Playhouse's next show is a stage version of Ronald Dahl's The Big Friendly Giant.

—By Paul Webb Theatrenow