{"id":668158,"date":"2026-07-01T15:27:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T15:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/668158\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T15:27:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T15:27:14","slug":"duke-of-yorks-theatre-to-be-renamed-after-tom-stoppard-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/668158\/","title":{"rendered":"Duke of York\u2019s theatre to be renamed after Tom Stoppard | Theatre"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Duke of York\u2019s theatre in the West End is to become the Tom Stoppard<\/a> theatre in honour of the playwright who died in November.<\/p>\n

The theatre is currently presenting Carrie Cracknell\u2019s revival of Stoppard\u2019s 1993 masterpiece Arcadia and the same play was produced there in 2009<\/a>. The playwright\u2019s wife, Sabrina Stoppard, said: \u201cTom was in his element whenever he had a play on in the West End, so I am thrilled to bits that this theatre will be named after him. It means that his memory will live on, not just through his plays, but also through this building.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stoppard, who died aged 88<\/a>, also had a hit at the Duke of York\u2019s with Rock\u2019n\u2019Roll<\/a> in 2006. Melanie Smith, global CEO of ATG Entertainment which operates the venue, said: \u201cWe are proud to be the custodians of such a historic theatre, and believe today\u2019s announcement recognises the significant impact Sir Tom Stoppard has made to British theatre \u2026 We look forward to welcoming audiences to the current run of Arcadia, and to future productions that continue to celebrate his lasting influence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Masterpiece \u2026 Seamus Dillane and Isis Hainsworth in Carrie Cracknell\u2019s revival of Arcadia. Photograph: Manuel Harlan<\/p>\n

Sonia Friedman, the producer of Arcadia (which has transferred from the Old Vic), said: \u201cI had the privilege of producing many of Tom\u2019s plays, including at this theatre, and more importantly, of calling him a dear friend. We shared countless coffees opposite the theatre, and I can just imagine him looking up at his name on the building, utterly tickled pink.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stoppard died just before rehearsals began for Arcadia at the Old Vic. \u201cHis work ethic remained resolutely undimmed \u2013 engaging in each casting decision and wanting to discuss his beautiful, complex and multilayered play,\u201d wrote Cracknell at the time<\/a>. \u201cHis loss will be felt keenly by the whole company.\u201d The production was nominated for best revival at the Olivier awards as well as best actress in a supporting role for Isis Hainsworth. She is reprising her role as teenage prodigy Thomasina Coverly in the West End transfer of the play, which is being staged in-the-round and hops between two different centuries to explore matters of the universe and the heart.<\/p>\n

The Duke of York\u2019s, on St Martin\u2019s Lane, was originally called the Trafalgar Square theatre and was renamed in 1894 for King George V. Its near neighbours include the No\u00ebl Coward theatre and the Coliseum. The official announcement of the theatre\u2019s new name on Wednesday did not suggest any connection to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor who was stripped of his Duke of York title<\/a> amid the fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.<\/p>\n

Last month it was announced that London\u2019s Shaftesbury theatre will be renamed the Judi Dench theatre from February, an honour that Dench described as \u201ctruly overwhelming<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Duke of York\u2019s theatre in the West End is to become the Tom Stoppard theatre in honour…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-668158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}