Theatres most in need of an overhaul

I think some theatres can do that like the Dominion but I'm not sure if you can cut smaller venues capacity down without either reducing profitability or causing pricing to shoot up. 

Also, I'm not sure if you could use the type of seating cinemas use in theatres, the pitch is very different.

The Old Vic gallery seats- don't mind the view but if you're short you can't reach the floor and just have to have your feet dangling all night! Last time I brought my bag to use as a footstall.

As far as I’m concerned most of the West End isn’t really fit for purpose. Far too many restricted views, even in decent seats there’ll often be someone’s head in the way. Not good especially now they’re charging 3 figures for seats at some shows.

For a new build I thought the seating in Soho Place (I refuse to use the ‘@‘ 😂) was awful. Crammed in like sardines and my knees were against the stage.

Yes, it's weird how some seats don't seem to have been properly tested by actual humans in a range of sizes/heights. The new seats at the Swan in Stratford for example - nice idea to have fold up ones, and they're fairly comfortable, but they're too lightweight, so people sitting down heavily or fidgeting during the show also jiggle everyone else in the row, which is annoying. Hampstead seats have a backrest that isn't in the right place for anyone I've been there with. I agree with marob about SohoPlace - why would anyone design a brand new theatre without decent legroom?

Most comfortable seats: The Royal Court is good for comfort, legroom and also quite wide seats. Lyric Hammersmith, RST Stratford, Gillian Lynne, NT, Bridge, Barbican and Old Vic are also good.

The ladies loos at the Peacock Theatre are awful and there is always a huge queue, which snakes round the whole bar area.

The gents loos at the Fortune are hilarious. They have a sloping ceiling and the three urinals are positioned around the corner of the tiny room, so (without being too graphic) you have to simultaneously lean your top half backwards while thrusting your bottom half forwards and squeezing yourself in between two other people. All at the same time as other people are trying to come into the room and directly facing you. When you retract to wash your hands, everyone has to do a sort of polite game of human Tetris to get into the right spaces for whatever they're doing.

There's a Gents' loo in the Gillian Lynne circle next to door 6. Presumably there's a Ladies up there somewhere too.

Couldnt actually stand up in the gents at the Fortune. It was like being in a plane!

I have to say the worst offender for me is the Victoria Palace - after the renovation it looks absolutely stunning, but was a massively missed opportunity for comfort. Legroom in the stalls was impossibly tight. After experiencing the generosity of the space in the Prince Of Wales after refurbishment I had hoped for something similar. I appreciate its a balance between number of seats / comfort / revenue but this could have been the Rolls Royce of theatres in London but once you get past the decoration it is sadly lacking. I find this harder to forgive than the theatres which haven't (yet) had money spent on them.

Surprisingly for a Frank Matcham theatre, I’ve always disliked the Victoria Palace from an architectural perspective as well as comfort. I totally agree.