The Duchess Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, London, located in Catherine Street near Aldwych. The theatre opened on 25 November 1929 and is one of the smallest West End theatres with a proscenium arch. It has 494 seats on two levels. It is a Grade II Listed Building. The Duchess Theatre was purchased in 2005 by Nica Burns and Max Weitzenhoffer forming part of the Nimax Theatres group. History The Duchess Theatre was designed by Ewen Barr and constructed by F. G. Minter Ltd for Arthur Gibbons. The theatre is built with stalls below street level, both to overcome the scale of the site and to maintain the rights of neighbours to ancient lights. The theatre opened on 25 November 1929 with a play called Tunnel Trench by Hubert Griffith. The interior decoration scheme was introduced in 1934 under the supervision of Mary Wyndham Lewis, wife of J. B. Priestley. The original interiors were Art Deco in style, designed by Marc Henri and Gaston Laverder. These were later redesigned by Mary Wyndham-Lewis. The only remaining features of the original decorations in the auditorium are two bas-reliefs by Maurice Lambert, flanking the proscenium arch. Notable productions Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit, which transferred from the Piccadilly Theatre to the St. James's Theatre before moving to the Duchess Theatre where it completed a record run of 1,997 performances in 1942. Bill Naughton's play Alfie played at the Duchess in 1962. Famously, Lewis Gilbert saw the play and immediately contacted the writer with a view to a screen transfer. Tom Eyen's The Dirtiest Show in Town ran for just under 800 performances in the 1970s. In December 1974, Oh! Calcutta! transferred to the Duchess Theatre from the Royalty Theatre. Oh! Calcutta! remained at the Duchess until 1980. The Players' Theatre Company presented their Late Joys Victorian Music hall programme between 1987 and 1990. Marc Camoletti's Don't Dress For Dinner which transferred to the Duchess from the Apollo Theatre in October 1992 and stayed until 1 March 1997. The Royal Shakespeare Company's The Herbal Bed by Peter Whelan which ran for six months from April to October 1997. Mischief's The Play That Goes Wrong which opened in 2014 and is still running, making it the longest-running play at The Duchess Theatre since it opened in 1929. Production history 1929 – Opened on 25 November with Tunnel Trench, a play