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Dame Judi Dench and having West End theater adaptations later, becoming only the second non-royal woman to be honored in such a way.
The Shaftesbury theater will be known as the Judi Dench theater from February 2027 in celebration of the actress’s “incomparable contribution to British theater and the arts”.
The theater said Dench is “one of the greatest actresses of our time” and that the name change “ensures that Dame Judi’s legacy continues to inspire future generations of performers and audiences alike”.
Dench has a long-standing relationship with Shaftesbury, which is one of London’s largest and only independent theatres. West End a place with a dome that opens.
He was part of Ray Cooney Theater of the Comedy Company, which had parts in Shaftesbury. Don Taffner, of DLT Entertainment, which produced the sitcom As Time Goes By in which Dench starred, also bought shares in the theater.
Dench said: “Shaftesbury’s play has always held a special place in my heart.” My relationship with the Theater of Comedy and the Taffner family goes back many years, and for this beautiful theater to be named after me is very difficult.
“Live theater continues to be important as a way to tell stories and entertain audiences, which is what I’ve wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
The Shaftesbury theater was originally called the New Princes theatre, but its name was changed in 1962 to honor the original Shaftesbury theatre, which was destroyed in the Blitz. Remodeling will follow renovations, including renovations to the building’s dome and backyard.
It is not uncommon for a theater to be named after a living person. Many have been named after the death to honor men, including John Gielgud, Harold Pinter and Noël Coward.
The first West End show to honor a woman was Andrew Lloyd Webber’s New London theater, which was also named Gillian Lynne (the Cats choreographer) in 2018.
Lynne was 92 when the theater was remodeled, having previously been known as the Winter Garden Theater and Mogul’s music hall.
This isn’t the only place that will be named after Dench in the near future. A street in Swindon is called “Dench Close” as part of a naming scheme for the new location that uses characters associated with James Bond films.
The Robin Gardens development named its streets after the characters who starred in The World Is Not Enough for the ironic reason that the city’s former Motorola building briefly appeared in the film.
The revival of Shaftesbury is closely linked to Dench’s work, while the theatre’s director, Eleanor Lang, says: “We don’t celebrate brilliant women enough in our theater names in the West End, so we’re delighted that her name will shine forever above our door.”
Dench, 91, has been talking about aging.
In December last year he said he could recite Shakespeare but “I can’t remember what I’m doing tomorrow”; and has spoken about how macular degeneration, which he was diagnosed with in 2012, developed hard to see on film sets.
