Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House offers daytime opening to the visiting public and this has been a liberating experience. It’s hard to recall that before 1999, this great theatre only opened its doors just before performances and then exclusively to ticket holders. Now, thousands of visitors from all over the world are welcomed here each year. Peering over the Piazza, they marvel at the views from the Amphitheatre Terrace, with great landmarks of our capital city such as the London Eye and Nelson’s Column beyond. Our guests are now able to enjoy lunch here, pop into the Shop and wander around looking at exhibitions and appreciate the ’wow’ factor on entering the Paul Hamlyn Hall: still the most beautiful bar in London. Everyone now moves around with a fluency and ease that did not exist before. Lifts and escalators make us one of the most accessible theatres in Britain today.

In addition the Royal Opera House now has two performing spaces in addition to the historic main auditorium. The 400 seat Linbury Studio Theatre is a major mid-scale public theatre, ideal for chamber opera, experimental dance, education activities and provides an energetic source of new creative ideas for the resident companies.  The Clore Studio Upstairs is a Royal Ballet studio that can hold an audience of around 180 for more intimate events and performances and offers the luxury of laboratory-style experimentation.