The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) is an umbrella organisation for

West End theatre West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.Christopher Innes, "West End" in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194� ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Founded in 1908, as Society of West End Theatre Managers, then Society of West End Theatre in 1975, changing to its current name in 1994, the (SOLT) is a not-for-profit organisation which provides a collective voice for the theatre owners, producers and managers of all the major commercial and grant-aided theatres across London. As well as protecting the interests of all its member theatres, SOLT promotes theatregoing through activities including the

Laurence Olivier Awards The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known a ...

, the

TKTS The TKTS ticket booths in New York City and London sell Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, music, and dance events and West End theatre tickets, respectively, at discounts of 20–50% off the face value. New York City New York City's TKTS (which ...

ticket booth, Theatre Tokens, the Official London Theatre fortnightly printed listings guide and the associated OfficialLondonTheatre website. The organisation administers the audience development initiatives Kids Week and Official London Theatre's New Year Sale, and runs events including the 'behind-the-scenes' career fair, TheatreCraft, and West End LIVE, alongside

Westminster City Council Westminster City Council is the local authority for the City of Westminster in Greater London, England. The city is divided into 20 wards, each electing three councillors. The council is currently composed of 31 Labour Party members and 23 Cons ...

. SOLT also supports a number of theatrical charities including Stage One and Mousetrap Theatre Projects.

Official London Theatre website and Official London Theatre Guide

Official London Theatre is a website for tickets, news and exclusive interviews for top London shows. Alongside the website, a printed Official London Theatre Guide is produced fortnightly with show listings and theatre news. The free guide has a distribution of 125,000 and is available to pick up in London theatres and at major tourist outlets across the UK. An Access London Theatre brochure, listing London's range of assisted performances, is also produced four times a year, and is available in print, braille, and on CD.

Olivier Awards

The Olivier Awards (or simply the Olivier's) are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre. Originally known as the Society of West End Theatre Awards, they were renamed in honour of the British actor

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage ...

in 1984. Awards are presented annually across a range of categories covering plays, musicals, dance, opera and affiliate theatre. The Olivier Awards are recognised internationally as the highest honour in British theatre, equivalent to Broadway's

Tony Awards The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

and France's

Molière Award The Molière Award recognises achievement in live French theatre and is the national theatre award of France. The awards are presented and decided by the ''Association professionnelle et artistique du théâtre'' (APAT) and supported by the Mi ...

. Award winners receive a bronze statuette of Sir Laurence Olivier playing Henry V in 1937. The awards have taken place at various hotels and theatres across London, and since 2012 have been held at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. The first awards ceremony took place in December 1976 at the Café Royal. The winners – who included Alan Howard, Peggy Ashcroft, Penelope Keith and Jonathan Miller – did not receive the iconic bronze statuette; the prize was a specially commissioned blue Wedgwood urn, causing the event to be nicknamed "The Urnies". Award winners have included the leading names in British theatrical talent, including

John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Brit ...

Ralph Richardson Sir Ralph David Richardson (19 December 1902 – 10 October 1983) was an English actor who, with John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier, was one of the trinity of male actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. He w ...

Peggy Ashcroft Dame Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft (22 December 1907 – 14 June 1991), known professionally as Peggy Ashcroft, was an English actress whose career spanned more than 60 years. Born to a comfortable middle-class family, Ashcroft was deter ...

Joan Plowright Joan Ann Olivier, Baroness Olivier, (née Plowright; born 28 October 1929), professionally known as Dame Joan Plowright, is an English retired actress whose career has spanned over seven decades. She has won two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony ...

Alec Guinness Sir Alec Guinness (born Alec Guinness de Cuffe; 2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. After an early career on the stage, Guinness was featured in several of the Ealing comedies, including '' Kind Hearts and Coronets'' (1 ...

Ian McKellen Sir Ian Murray McKellen (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor. His career spans seven decades, having performed in genres ranging from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. Regarded as a British cultural i ...

Judi Dench Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Regarded as one of Britain's best actresses, she is noted for her versatile work in various films and television programmes encompassing several genres, as well as for her ...

Maggie Smith Dame Margaret Natalie Smith (born 28 December 1934) is an English actress. With an extensive career on screen and stage beginning in the mid-1950s, Smith has appeared in more than sixty films and seventy plays. She is one of the few performer ...

Derek Jacobi Sir Derek George Jacobi (; born 22 October 1938) is an English actor. He has appeared in various stage productions of William Shakespeare such as '' Hamlet'', '' Much Ado About Nothing'', '' Macbeth'', '' Twelfth Night'', '' The Tempest'', ' ...

Eileen Atkins Dame Eileen June Atkins, (born 16 June 1934), is an English actress and occasional screenwriter. She has worked in the theatre, film, and television consistently since 1953. In 2008, she won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress and the Emmy Aw ...

Ian Holm Sir Ian Holm Cuthbert (12 September 1931 – 19 June 2020) was an English actor who was knighted in 1998 for his contributions to theatre and film. Beginning his career on the British stage as a standout member of the Royal Shakespeare Compan ...

Michael Gambon Sir Michael John Gambon (; born 19 October 1940) is an Irish-English actor. Regarded as one of Ireland and Britain's most distinguished actors, he is known for his work on stage and screen. Gambon started his acting career with Laurence Olivi ...

Helen Mirren Dame Helen Mirren (born Helen Lydia Mironoff; born 26 July 1945) is an English actor. The recipient of numerous accolades, she is the only performer to have achieved the Triple Crown of Acting in both the United States and the United Kingdom ...

, Peter Hall,

Joan Littlewood Joan Maud Littlewood (6 October 1914 – 20 September 2002) was an English theatre director who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and is best known for her work in developing the Theatre Workshop. She has been called "The Mother of M ...

Alan Ayckbourn Sir Alan Ayckbourn (born 12 April 1939) is a prolific British playwright and director. He has written and produced as of 2021, more than eighty full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director o ...

Nicholas Hytner Sir Nicholas Robert Hytner (; born 7 May 1956) is an English theatre director, film director, and film producer. He was previously the Artistic Director of London's National Theatre. His major successes as director include '' Miss Saigon'', ''T ...

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that span ...

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two ...

Michael Frayn Michael Frayn, FRSL (; born 8 September 1933) is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce '' Noises Off'' and the dramas ''Copenhagen'' and ''Democracy''. His novels, such as '' Towards the End of the M ...

Ninette de Valois Dame Ninette de Valois (born Edris Stannus; 6 June 1898 – 8 March 2001) was an Irish-born British dancer, teacher, choreographer, and director of classical ballet. Most notably, she danced professionally with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Ru ...

Gillian Lynne Dame Gillian Barbara Lynne (née Pyrke; 20 February 1926 – 1 July 2018) was an English ballerina, dancer, choreographer, actress, and theatre-television director, noted for her theatre choreography associated with two of the longest-runnin ...

and

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musical ...

Kids Week

Kids Week is an audience development initiative run annually by SOLT to encourage young people to experience London theatre. Taking place each August, the promotion offers children under 16 the opportunity to see a West End show for free when accompanied by an adult paying full price. Up to two extra children's tickets may also be purchased at half price, and there are no booking or postage fees. A variety of free theatre workshops and activities are also available for participants. The scheme has been highly successful since its conception in 1998, growing from a single week to the entirety of August. In 2012, Kids Week won 'Best Cultural Attraction' at the London Lifestyle Awards.

Official London Theatre's New Year Sale

Official London Theatre's New Year Sale is a discount ticket promotion run by SOLT that takes place annually from January to mid-February. The scheme (initially launched in 2001 as 'Get into London Theatre') offers the public the opportunity to see London shows (including plays, musicals, opera and dance) at £10, £20, £30 or £40.

West End LIVE

West End LIVE is a free event in

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson comm ...

with performances from

West End musicals West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

. The annual event is presented by SOLT and

, with support from the

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current m ...

, to celebrate and promote London theatre.

Stage One

Stage One is a charity supported by SOLT that seeks to aid the commercial theatre producers of the future. Stage One runs a structured training programme to develop and support new producers which includes workshops, bursaries, start-up funds, internships and investment. Recipients of Stage One funding have gone on to produce successful productions such as Birdsong (2010), A Doll's House (2013), The Pajama Game (2014) and Avenue Q Tour (2014).

Laurence Olivier Bursary

The Laurence Olivier Bursary was established by the Society in 1987, in honour of the actor's 80th birthday, to support talented students starting their final year of drama school. Such students often face financial difficulties because intense contact hours mean there is little time for students to do paid work. The Society invites about 20 drama schools to each nominate two exceptionally talented students for financial support. About 40 students are entered each June and appear before a panel of theatre industry professionals – usually producers and casting directors – where they give a ten-minute audition (which can include a song) and an interview. SOLT gives several bursaries worth £7,500 each as well as smaller sums (of £1000 plus) at the discretion of the judges. Other organisations contribute their own bursaries in conjunction with the Society's scheme.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Society of London Theatre West End theatre Theatre in London Cultural organisations based in London