LONDON — The Theater Royal in Drury Lane — one of London’s most historic venues, tracing its origins back to 1663 — is closing this weekend for a $56 million refurbishment, in part to meet a very immediate need: for more women’s toilets (18, in this case).

The nearby Old Vic will start a $4.1 million project this month that includes adding 12 stalls, while the Queen’s, home of “Les Misérables,” will shutter for a renovation this summer that will include 18 more places for women to use the bathroom.

Last year, a host of Broadway theaters started excavating, annexing, converting and renovating their buildings to remedy the problem of long, slow lines to the bathroom, for men and women. Now many in London are doing or considering the same. They include the Novello, home of “Mamma Mia!,” and the Noël Coward, showing “The Inheritance.”

A British theater publication this week put numbers to anecdotal evidence that going to the bathroom had become a major hassle at the theater.