Lyttelton Theatre — Attraction in London

Despite this being the National Theatre in the heart of London, I was quite disappointed with the whole experience. If you will use public transport to get there then be careful when crossing the road (absolutely frightful experience). Also, make sure you have a proper meal before going there or arrange one somewhere else afterwards. The food choices are limited and it’s very crowded anyways. I just got a coffee at the theatre café before the show and it was dreadful. I liked that they use reusable cups for their tap water which you can pour yourself but the first cup I grabbed had a long hair in it so I aborted the idea. DON’T book the narrow seats (or limited view). Yes, they are more affordable at £20 but the entire show will become an exasperating experience as you strain your neck to see what’s happening on stage (even worse if you have a tall person sitting in front of you like I had); you will feel like a tinned sardine as you are crammed into a narrow seat with no leg space and the persons either side of you almost sitting in your lap and telling you off for anything after having stepped on your feet on their way to their seats. What was supposed to be an exciting experience I was looking forward to has become a disappointing memory. I will NOT be going there again...

Saw Three Sisters here, the performance was incredible but this review is about the theatre itself. Our seats were in the Circle and they were a little uncomfortable for the 3hr+ show. A little cramped on all sides and not much space for coats/bags, it was January so lots of big coats and scarves etc. It was a little difficult to find our seats upon entering the building and the ushers were relatively useful. During the interval it wasn't easy to find the toilets and of course the queues were very long once we did find them. There are probably more toilets tucked away somewhere but they are not well signposted. The snacks they had on sale during the break were overpriced - which is to be expected for central London but there also wasn't much variety, my advice is bring your own snacks. One stand out feature of this performance was that they had captions on two screens either side of the stage, they weren't intrusive and they also helped me follow along with the...

This was our first show at the National Theatre which is crazy as we have pretty much been to every West End theatre most several times. Even if we don’t come back for a show for a while we will be back for the terraces. Really nice place to relax over the river.

The National has several theatres within it. The Lyttelton is like other modern theatres more like a uni lecture theatre rather than a beautiful old theatres. But this is to be expected in this brutalist building.

There is a great rake so even if further back generally should be ok. The seats in the stalls were very cushioned and had good leg room.

One annoying thing is that there are only 2 entrances at the back so getting in and out is a pain. At the end bit better as side fire exists open but still have to join the crowd at the top...