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Way back when, before even Shakespeare was living and writing his plays in London, the courtyards of public houses (inns), or the walls of churches formed the backdrop to what was the first real street theatre - often religious stories called 'Mystery Plays'. Even now there is one 'pub' - The George Inn in Southwark - which partly survives as it did and still occasionally plays host to theatre as it used to be. It's not very far from the reconstructed Globe Theatre where you can watch the best-guess interpretations of Shakespeare's plays as they might have been viewed in the early 17th Century. If you had looked for Theatre at that time in central London (in what we now call the 'west end'), you would have found no theatre buildings since most performances were presented at Court and generally commissioned and/or paid for by royalty or the aristocracy. Nothing survives of this era save Inigo Jones's Banqueting House from the old Whitehall Palace - a wonderful 17th century classical building sitting alone close by the current Parliament buildings. It pretty certain that several of Shakespeare's plays were premiered there for James I.

Today, if you look for theatre in what is now called the 'west end' (or theatreland, as the local corporation tries to name it), you would be missing what is best about London (and British) theatre almost completely. And the source, historically, of many a west-end or Broadway transfer. It is true there are in the region of 40 conventional theatres - mostly built around the turn of the 19/20th centuries through to the 1930s - look especially for those built by Frank Matcham for particularly elaborate and wonderful decor. Bear in mind, though, that because of their age and the difficulty of updating these classic buildings, many of them don't have air-con or very comfortable seats, so you often get cramp and heat-fatigue included in the rather high prices!

But architecture aside, what really sets London apart are its 'Fringe' theatres - what in New York would be called off-Broadway or off-off-Broadway. And there are as many of them, or more, as there are conventional theatres. Famous international stars (Nicole Kidman, Kevin Spacey) queue to perform or even run theatres that are outside the 'west end' though still very much within the heart of the city. There are at least 50 of them, some seating a few hundred, but most seating in the dozens. From a cold, dark room above a pub to a well-designed purpose built local community and arts

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