Almeida Theatre

Great theatre :
once, in a Tribute to the poet Patrick Kavanagh, I sang here.
Great food in the restaurant opposite,or well priced drinks in
the bar here, & just the best drama in town

I've been coming to the Almeida for more than 10 years, since I saw Aiden Gillen as a hypnotic Ariel diving into seemingly endless depths of water on stage in the shell of the theatre before it was refurbished.

Since then the theatre has produced some real gems such as 'Festen', 'Blood Wedding', 'Period of Adjustment', 'Marianne Dreams' and much more. It is a great place to visit and moreover to visit regularly. What is produced may not always be entirely my cup of tea, but I am willing to believe that this is just subjective and can see perfectly well that they are enjoyed by a majority of the audience.

This is a great place to get a regular fix of varied, interesting and well performed theatre pieces. Enjoy a drink in the bar and try if possible to attend one of the special events - they're great.

A lovely little theatre tucked away behind the main high street in Islington, Upper Street. They always have really interesting plays on here and always have a reserve of tickets on the door on the night so if you get down there early enough you might end up getting to see a sold out show!

The 325-seated Almeida is a really nice, intimate space. I wasn't sure what to expect, given I was sitting in the Circle and had to enter via a separate street entrance, and, before the play started, I was a bit apprehensive because it appeared as if our view was partly blocked by the railing, but, as it turned out, we had a wonderful, unobstructed view throughout. The seats look small and uncomfortable, but aren't at all. I really liked the intimacy of the theatre and am looking forward to catching more plays here.

Just seen "Becky Sharpe" here (great!) Cosy bar that takes orders for interval drinks and let's you bring drinks in. Intimate theatre space, quality productions, great local eateries (Mercury a fave).

Have just seen Rope at the Almeida. Theatre in the round at its finest! I've seen almost half of the productions since this theatre re-opened in 2002 after a renovation. Tickets are good value considering the quality of the productions; we paid £8 for one ticket that was supposed to have a partially-obstructed view next to another seat that cost £20 - the views were fine since no seat in the theatre is very far from the stage. Good value coffee drinks, bar and snacks before and after play and during interval (no interval for Rope, though)

This has to be one of the city’s finest. In all my years in Islington, I have only ever seen one (what I would call) duff show. And even then, that opinion is obviously subjective.

The theatre itself is modern and devoid of the cramped-seat, olde English stuffiness that can oft be found in the West End. The quality of the plays staged, usually with thesptastic casts (trying saying that with a lisp), is ridiculously consistent and suitably matched by the the spectacular skills of the production team.

The bar/dining area serves everything from tipples, snacks, coffees to full-on dinner and it exudes the same lively, contemporary buzz that reverberates throughout the rest of the building, thus delivering a very welcome 21st Century theatre experience. Darling.

The bright lights, the smell of grease paint, the lure of the interval ice cream; What’s not to love about theatre? I wouldn’t exactly call myself a theatre buff per se, but I certanly enjoy attending a play or two for a bit of culture, and the Almeida usually delivers in producing quality theatre.

The theatre has a great bar area with big windows looking onto the quiet street, and serves lots of different drinks- both alcoholic and non-alcoholic- and food, from nibbles to bigger meals. The theatre proper is fairly well arranged although some seats do have quite restricted views which can be beyond annoying if you get lumbered in them. Apart from a few seats though, in general you get a good view of the stage and the seats are quite comfortable.

Obviously not all shows are to everyone’s taste but as I said the majority of those I’ve seen here have been really well produced, directed and acted, and the few that were dreadful [ahem Brighton Rock]- well, you can just leave at the interval and pop to one of the many restaurants and bars in the area to wash the taste of disappointment out of your mouth.

I went to see ‘the last days of judas iscariot’ yesterday and it has to be one of the best pieces of theatre you will ever see.

Imagining judas as being wrongly sentenced to eternal damnation, the play is a court room drama unlike any you will see again. Set in purgatory, and drawing witnesses from the biblical and historical canon from pontius pilate to sigmund freud, this is a fierce satire on the human condition.

With an award-deserving turn from Douglas Henshall as Satan and electrifying performances from the entire cast, especially Joe Mawle as a frozen, tortured new-yoik Judas, this should keep going long enough for everyone interested in life too see it.

This is a charming, intimate, well-run (or so it seems) theatre. There's nearly always something enticing on or upcoming, the space itself is a great size (particularly if you feel a wee bit alienated by those 800-person behemoths in and around Theatreland) and there's a genuinely good restaurant just over the road. There's a great Pinter on at the moment (March 08) that's well worth a go, if only to be amazed at Ken Cranham and to laugh at Danny Dyer.

I had a lovely experience seeing a production of Cloud 9 here recently. The theatre is airy but small enough to make the performance intimate (I was in the back row), and the design of the place is practical but also interesting.

The foyer is designed so people can talk and meet there before and after shows, and I was highly impressed by the ramping throughout that made it easy for wheelchair users to attend without difficulty.

The bar staff were pleasant, and I didn't have to wait to be served; and refreshingly there were enough toilets to prevent ridiculous queues during the interval.

This is a beautiful building, well tailored to its purpose.