The Criterion Theatre sits at Piccadilly Circus, tucked entirely below street level in a Grade II* listed Victorian building that has staged plays since 1874. Londoners and visitors come for its rare architecture and its long tenancy of hit comedies, most famously “The Play That Goes Wrong,” which has run here for years.
Walking in off Piccadilly, you descend a staircase into an auditorium built almost entirely underground, a design dictated by the site’s original 19th-century constraints. The 588-seat house retains ornate tiled walls, gilded detailing, and a neo-Byzantine interior scheme that survived both Luftwaffe bombing raids nearby and a stint as a BBC radio studio during WWII. The compact scale keeps sightlines tight and the comedy immediate, which suits the physical farce currently filling its schedule (source: [Criterion Theatre](https://www.criterion-theatre.co.uk/our-theatre/history), [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criterion_Theatre)).
Visitor Highlights & Practical Info
Book tickets in advance directly through the theatre’s box office site, especially for weekend evening shows, which sell out fastest given the venue’s small capacity. Piccadilly Circus Underground station sits directly above, making this one of the easiest West End theatres to reach by Tube. Arrive 20-30 minutes early to take in the entrance architecture before descending, and note there’s no interval bar space to linger in, so grab a drink pre-show rather than at intermission.
