Criterion Theatre

Theatre in Piccadilly Circus, London, built underground. It was designed by Thomas Verity to hold an audience of 675 people. It opened in 1874, but was not successful until 1879 when Charles Wyndham took it over and reopened it after reconstruction. It was extensively altered in 1902.

It was closed for refurbishment 1989–92. It housed the Reduced Shakespeare Company 1996–2005. Joe Orton's Loot opened here in 1966, and Alan Ayckbourn's Absurb Person Singular in 1973.

In 1886 Wyndham appeared at the Criterion with his wife Mary Moore in one of his greatest successes, David Garrick. Many of Henry Arthur Jones's plays were first produced here, and Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot (1955) and Iris Murdoch's A Severed Head (1963) enjoyed long runs at the theatre.