London Black Taxi Tours

The London Theatre taxi tour was devised for people who want to find out more about London’s vibrant theatreland.  As your driver and tour guide, I will whisk you through London in your own exclusive London taxi tour, where together we shall trace the history of London’s illustrious theatre from Medieval London right up to the Twenty-First century.  We’ll look what makes London’s stage the most vibrant in the world.

​

We will follow the journey of James Burbage who had the foresight and skill to construct London’s first purpose-built theatre in Shoreditch, and amazingly dismantle it and cart it across London to reassemble it again in Southwark’s bankside.

​

Under the reign of Elizabeth I, Southwark was the centre of the entertainment industry in London with punters attending gaming dens, bear baiting, or watching a troupe of actors performing in one of the galleried courtyards with a pint of ale in hand. (Possibly even visiting one of the many stews (brothels) in the area.)

​

We shall see evidence of the puritanical rule of Oliver Cromwell that prevented all forms of public entertainment. That is until the monarchy was restored in the seventeenth century; Charles II issued letters of patent to a few theatres to allow them to produce legitimate drama.

​

We shall stroll through Covent Garden and see at first hand London’s first public piazza and admire Inigo Jones’ church, St Paul’s, the actor’s church.  We shall weave in and out of the gas lit courtyards and alleyways which are so evocative of an era gone by. We shall discover why Nell Gwynne had only eyes for King Charles and would cheekily refer to him as Charles III (he was last in a line of three!) We’ll discover the real face behind Dracula and some of the ghosts and apparitions that grace the London stage.­

​

We shall see the splendour of the Georgian theatres with the ingenuity of the the great Victorian Theatrical architect Frank Matcham and the art deco theatre designs of the twentieth century.

​

What London theatre tour would be complete without mentioning the Bard, Shakespeare; the wit of Noel Coward or the charm and flamboyance of Oscar Wilde; the eccentricities of Lilian Baylis and the magic of Gilbert and Sullivan?

​

If you love theatre, you’ll love this tour.