The Duke of York’s closed in August 1940 after a successful production of the farce High Temperature. Within weeks, bombing raids would become a nightly feature of life in London. Although the East End of London bore the brunt of the blitz, with almost the entire Docklands area levelled, the West End was also badly affected, with several theatres destroyed, performers killed and audiences injured. Over 5,000 tons of bombs fell weekly. Despite being damaged, the Duke of York’s survived, finally reopening in May 1943 when Charles Killick and Tom Arnold took over the theatre, opening their first production there, Shadow and Substance. This was followed by Ibsen’s Ghosts, opening on 25th of June 1943.

In 1950 the theatre underwent complete redecoration to designs by photographer and Oscar–winning stage, film and costume designer Cecil Beaton. The Times praised the adherence to tradition of Beaton’s work as “a job of restoration and conservation…[Beaton] has restored the red plush, the gilding, and the debased rococo ornaments so that they glow and glitter exactly as they must have done to those who came to the theatre in hansom cabs.”

In May of the same year, new management took over the theatre but their arrival unfortunately heralded two of the theatre’s – and theatre world’s – shortest ever runs; All The Year Round opened in October 1951 and ran for just three nights and then, on 17^th December 1953 Thirteen for Dinner opened and closed on the same night.

In September 1960, the theatre was Grade II listed by English Heritage. In the decade which followed, successful productions included Goodnight Mrs Puffin starring Irene Handl, The Anniversary, featuring Sheila Hancock and Michael Crawford, The Killing of Sister George with Beryl Reid and Eileen Atkins and The Hotel in Amsterdam with Paul Scofield.

In the 1970s, Beryl Reid returned in the Joe Orton classic Entertaining Mr Sloane. Other notable productions included The Dame of Sark with Anna Neagle, and An Evening with Quentin Crisp featuring the colourful writer, raconteur and actor.

In the late 1970s the freehold of the theatre was purchased by Capital Radio and in 1979 closed for a major refurbishment with the aim of cutting the number of pillars holding up the royal and upper circles. A sound studio was built in the space while supporting beams were inserted; unfortunately despite this work, a number of seats still suffer from a restricted view of the stage. Despite many clever features, architect Walter Emden’s original design created as many problems as it solved, particularly the difficult sight-lines of such a long and narrow theatre. The price paid for the improvement was the introduction of a very deep beam over the gallery which, as a result, is permanently out of use. The 1950s box office added by Cecil Beaton, removed from the foyer at the same time, is now held by the V&A Theatre Collections.

The theatre reopened in February 1980 under the patronage of Capital with the play Rose, starring Glenda Jackson. Other notable productions here have included a nearly 3-year run of Richard Harris’s Stepping Out which opened in September 1984, and Willy Russell’s Shirley Valentine, which transferred from the Vaudeville Theatre in 1989 and ran for over 2 years.

The Ambassador Theatre Group bought the Duke of York’s in 1992; this coincided with the successful Royal Court production of Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden, which transferred here in February 1992. A host of successes followed including the 21st anniversary performance of Richard O’Brien’s cult classic The Rocky Horror Show.

In the mid-1990s, the Royal Court Theatre in Sloane Square (also designed by Walter Emden) was forced to close for rebuilding; the Theatre Downstairs found a home at the Duke of York’s and the Theatre Upstairs moved into an adapted Ambassadors Theatre on West Street. Between October 1995 and March 1996 the Royal Court presented Ron Hutchinson’s Rat in the Skull, Terry Johnson’s Hysteria and David Storey’s The Changing Room as part of a ‘Royal Court Classics’ season here at the Duke of York’s. This was followed by a drastically-rewritten revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Alan Ayckbourn musical, By Jeeves, which opened on 2^nd July 1996 and closed on 28^th September 1996, transferring to the Lyric Theatre. The Duke of York’s remained a home of The Royal Court for the next four years and was renamed The Royal Court Theatre Downstairs for the duration of their stay.

At the beginning of a new millennium, one of the theatre’s most successful productions arrived, with Marie Jones hit comedy Stones in his Pockets running for almost three years. The decade also saw noteworthy productions of Embers with Jeremy Irons and transfers of  Rock’n’Roll with Rufus Sewell and Sinead Cusack and Little Shop of Horrors with Sheridan Smith enjoying popular success.

After acquiring the Duke of York’s, the Ambassador Theatre Group also made the theatre its London headquarters. The building housed the production offices of ATG’s subsidiary Sonia Friedman Productions. It was Friedman’s production, In Celebration, which in 2007 attracted Hollywood A-lister Orlando Bloom to the Duke of York’s stage.

In 2010, the hugely entertaining jump-fest Ghost Stories by Jeremy Dyson/Andy Nyman enjoyed a year-long residency and in 2013, The Judas Kiss featured Rupert Everett as Oscar Wilde.

The Theatre’s facade was renovated and repainted in October 2014 when new gold leaf was added, and the signwriting was replaced. A year later, Mark Rylance opened in Farinelli and the King with success continuing throughout the decade in productions such as The Dresser and Mary Stuart, and with Ian McKellen in King Lear.

The Theatre continues to be one of the West End’s most successful playhouses (Coronavirus aside) and is rarely dark.

The Duke of York’s Theatre is run by the Ambassador Theatre Group.