Dame Judi Dench lands ‘overwhelming’ West End honour

Veteran actress Dame Judi Dench is to be immortalised in London’s West End with a theatre being renamed in her honour.

Dame Judi Dench is to be immortalised in London’s West End with a theatre renamed in her honour.

The Shaftesbury Theatre will be known as the Judi Dench Theatre from February 2027 to recognise her “extraordinary talent and extensive contribution” to the arts while the renaming also celebrates Judi’s links to the venue.

Judi said in a statement: “The Shaftesbury theatre has always held a special place in my heart. My relationship to the Theatre of Comedy and to the Taffner family goes back many years, and to have this beautiful theatre renamed after me is truly overwhelming.

“Live theatre continues to be so important as a way of telling stories and entertaining audiences, something I have aimed to do all my working life.”

Judi was a founding member of the Theatre of Comedy collective which staged productions there in the 1980s and 1990s and she also worked closely with the Taffner family – who own the theatre – over the years. Judi’s hit sitcom As Time Goes By was produced by Don Taffner’s DLT Entertainment production company.

The theatre’s current chairman Donald Taffner Jnr said: “We have such fond memories of Judi at the Shaftesbury. We are therefore delighted to recognise her extraordinary talent and extensive contribution to many in the renaming of our theatre.

“Aside from business, my parents would often talk about how much they enjoyed spending time with Judi and [her late husband] Michael in both NY and London.”

Chief executive Eleanor Lang added: “We don’t celebrate brilliant women enough in our West End theatre names, so we are delighted that her name will be forever in lights above our doorway.”

The West End venue opened in 1911 and was originally called the New Princes Theatre but the name was changed in the 1960s to honour another theatre on the same street which was destroyed in the Blitz during World War II.

The theatre has most recently host runs of musicals including Juliet, Be More Chill and Mrs Doubtfire, while Avenue Q is currently being performed there until August.