Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith

Lyric Theatre

Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, 2009
Location	Hammersmith London, W6 United Kingdom
Coordinates	51°29′35″N 0°13′35″W / 51.49306°N 0.22639°W / 51.49306; -0.22639
Public transit	Hammersmith (District/Piccadilly) Hammersmith (Circle/Hammersmith & City)
Owner	Lyric Theatre Hammersmith Ltd
Capacity	550 (main house) 110 (studio)
Construction
Opened	1895; 122 years ago (1895)
Rebuilt	1979
Architect	Frank Matcham (original)
Website
lyric.co.uk

The Lyric Theatre, also known as the Lyric Hammersmith, is a theatre in King Street, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, which takes pride in its original, "groundbreaking" productions.

The Lyric Theatre was built in 1895 by the English theatrical architect Frank Matcham, on a site located further up King Street from its current position. In 1966 the theatre was due to be closed and demolished, but after a successful campaign it was dismantled and re-built piece by piece on its current site close to the original location. The new theatre reopened in 1979.

It has two main performance areas: the Main House, a 550-seat 19th-century auditorium maintaining the original design which hosts its main productions; and the 120-seat Studio, which houses smaller productions by up-and-coming companies. The Lyric also presents frequent Lyric Children and Lyric Music performances as well as Sunday Night Comedy.

Its current artistic director is Sean Holmes, and its executive director is Sian Alexander.

The Lyric has recently gone through a major re-development project, with new facilities for young people and the local community completed in 2015, designed by Rick Mather Architects and was nominated in the 'community benefit' and 'tourism and leisure' categories at the RICS Awards 2016, London.

In 2011, the Lyric won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre for Sean Holmes' production of Sarah Kane's Blasted.

The Lyric’s programme is divided into five strands:

(Source: the Lyric official website)