London Theatre Tour


Sponsored by the Barter Theatre




This 6 day 6 night theatre tour of London includes: roundtrip group airfare, six nights accommodations at the Strand Palace Hotel, daily English breakfast, three theatre tickets, introductory theatre critic talk, Globe Theatre talk, backstage tour at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, guided visits per itinerary, hotel hospitality desk 5 mornings, roundtrip transfers Gatwick airport / Strand Palace, porterage of 1 bag per person at airport, service charges and taxes.  
 
Trip price: $2579 (double occupancy), details below.  
 



Barter Theatre weeklong tour is filled with theatre themed events- taking Barter Theatre patrons backstage and on the aisle.  Participants will have three tickets offering a variety of dynamic plays, a backstage tour at the vintage Theatre Royal Drury Lane, a theatre talk by a London drama critic, and an afternoon concert at the legendary St. Martin’s In the Field.    
 
The cultural content is enriched with guided visits to the National Gallery, Britain’s premier art museum, the venerable British Museum, and London’s newest attraction, the Winston Churchill Museum. The tour is based at the Strand Palace Hotel, ideally located on the Strand in the heart of the theatre district and festive Covent Garden.  Each morning there is a planned activity. A local guide will be available in the morning to assist travelers in planning the remainder of the day, offering suggestions for optional tours, museums, and shopping excursions.  






1.  Monday, June 20     Depart
Depart TRI on Delta Airlines at 3:00pm and connect in Atlanta for Delta’s non-stop flight to Gatwick airport.  Dinner and breakfast on board.    
 



2.  Tuesday, June 21     Welcome to London
Upon arrival at 7a.m. the Carew Travel representative meets the group and assists with private coach transfer to the Strand Palace Hotel.   Originally built as an Art Deco showpiece, the hotel has been carefully modernized. As a guest you will enjoy one of finest central locations in the capital. Just outside the doors are London's famed Theatreland and the cosmopolitan bustle of Covent Garden. Close by are many famous tourist attractions such as Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, The Royal Opera House and the Victoria Embankment. Early check in has been requested, however official hotel check in time is at 3pm.   In the late afternoon we have an introductory talk with a local theatre critic who will offer insight into the best and most interesting theatre currently on the boards. Evening free. You can enjoy one of the hotel’s two restaurants and after the theatre relax in one of the three cozy bars.  



3.  Wednesday, June 22     Theatre Walk/Theatre Ticket
This morning your London guide is available to help guests plan optional tours and individualize their London experience.  This morning, tour members take the “Great West End Theatreland  
Walk,” a colorful tour in this historic area. Our guide provides historic vignettes, theatre lore and anecdotes about the West End's most illustrious personalities.  The highlight of the morning  is  
“ THROUGH THE STAGE DOOR”,  an interactive theatre tour at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. This historic theatre is brought to vivid life by professional actors who play key characters, writers and actors from the theatre's 300 year old past.  Since its construction in 1663 the theatre has triumphed over tragedy, fire, bankruptcy and even murder! During this fun tour, which lasts approximately one hour, participants will meet characters such as the playwright Richard Sheridan, the great clown Grimaldi, the celebrated actress/mistress Nell Gwynne and many others who played an important role in the theatre's history.  The tour ends at the Theatre Museum, which houses the world's largest and most important collection of material relating to the British stage. The permanent collections include exhibitions and memorabilia of the British Stage and its stars from Shakespeare to the present day.  
 
The afternoon is free.  Tonight guests will have tickets for the best available seats for the hit show, Mary Poppins. For this highly anticipated theatrical event, Disney and Cameron Mackintosh have teamed up to produce Mary Poppins, bringing to life Pamela Travers' fantastic stories filled with eccentric and perceptive characters whose adventures have delighted every generation since they first appeared in the 1930's. The witty, imaginative books, aglint with magic and many of the much-loved Sherman Brothers songs from Walt Disney's Academy Award-winning motion picture, have been re-invented and created afresh by Academy Award-winning writer Julian Fellowes and Olivier Award-winning songwriters George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, who have also composed several terrific new songs to add to a score that already boasts more than a spoonful of sugar. The London Times critic calls the show a “`Marvelously fresh adaptation.... Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”



4.  Thursday, June 23     British Museum
This morning your London guide assists tour members at a hospitality desk.  Your guide then provides members with an overview tour of the highlights of the British Museum. The British Museum houses a wonderful collection of treasures from around the world. Its new glass dome has proved a great success and visitors all stop and look up as soon as they enter the Great Court, which it encloses. The world-famous Reading Room is at the centre of the courtyard, which is the largest covered public square in Europe.  After the tour why not stay on in the area or shop on Oxford Street.  The afternoon is free.    
 



5.  Friday, June 24     National Gallery/Theatre Ticket
Today’s morning activity is a guided visit at the National Gallery. The National Gallery's permanent collection spans the period from about 1250 to 1900 and consists of over 2,000 Western European paintings. Many of them are instantly recognizable and among the most treasured works of art anywhere with works from painters of the Italian Renaissance and earlier, from the Flemish and Dutch masters, the Spanish school, and of course the English tradition, including Hogarth, Gainsborough, Stubbs, and Constable.  The museum's low, gray, colonnaded neoclassic facade fills the north side of Trafalgar Square, which has now been redesigned exclusively for pedestrians, as if the whole square is the grand and spacious entrance to the gallery.  After the visit our guide will take the group to St Martin-in-the-Fields lunchtime Concert.   This series has been running for over 50 years, and it remains one of the most popular and successful concert series  and features an extraordinarily wide range of performers and repertoire. The remainder of the day is free.  
 
This evening, tour members have tickets for The Philadelphia Story by Phillip Barry at the Old Vic Theatre.  Two time Oscar winner, actor Kevin Spacey,  plays one of the lead roles in this sparkling and witty Broadway comedy, never before seen in the West End. This is Spacey’s first season as artistic director of London's venerable Old Vic Theatre. The Old Vic is the most famous theatre in the world. It was first opened during the Regency, in 1818, and is the only theatre in London from that time still in business. Laurence Olivier described The Old Vic stage in 1983 as "The most powerful actor / audience relationship in the world".  
 



6.  Saturday, June 25     Free Morning/Matinee Theatre Ticket
Guests are on their own this morning to enjoy their personal pursuits.  Why not make an early visit to the Portobello Antique Market, the world's largest antique market where over 1500 dealers sell anything imaginable and collectable or browse in the fashionable Knightsbridge Shops.  This afternoon we include a ticket for a matinee in the West End.  



7.  Sunday, June 26     Churchill Museum
The morning is spent in the Westminster area with a visit to London’s newest museum, The Churchill Museum. The museum forms the core of the Churchill Project, a major restoration and expansion program at this once secret underground wartime headquarters. Looking at Churchill’s life, work and achievements, the Museum will be the final component in the expansion and development of the Cabinet War Rooms, the scene of his historic wartime leadership.  The World War II Cabinet War rooms will also be visited.  The afternoon is free.  Why not take a Thames cruise which embarks from Westminster pier?



8.  Monday, June 27     Depart
After breakfast guests check out of the hotel and board a private coach for transportation to the Gatwick airport.  The nonstop Delta flight departs at 11:00am and arrives in Atlanta where travelers connect to the flight to Tri State airport, arriving at 8:00pm.  
 





This engaging experience includes:

  • Roundtrip group airfare: TRICITIES/GATWICK
  • Six nights accommodations at the Strand Palace Hotel
  • Daily English breakfast
  • Three theatre tickets
  • Introductory theatre critic talk
  • Globe Theatre talk
  • Backstage tour at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane
  • Guided visit National Gallery
  • Guided visit British Museum
  • Guided visit Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum
  • Guided visit Theatreland Walk
  • Guided visit Theatre Royal Drury Lane
  • Hotel hospitality desk- 5 mornings
  • Roundtrip transfers Gatwick airport / Strand Palace
  • Porterage of 1 bag per person at airport
  • Service charges and taxes
PROGRAM PRICES  
Per person (double occupancy) from New York: $2579*  
Single Supplement: $475*  
*Rate based on exchange rate of $1.00-1.9 pound sterling and a minimum of 20 persons.