Bristol Old Vic
Encyclopedia
The Bristol Old Vic is a theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, King Street, in Bristol
, England
. The theatre
complex includes the 1766 Theatre Royal, which claims to be the oldest continually-operating theatre in England, along with a 1970s studio theatre (the New Vic), offices and backstage facilities. Since the 1972 rebuild, it also incorporates the eighteenth-century Coopers' Hall as its foyer. The entire complex has been Grade 1 listed since December 2000.
The present company was established in 1946 as an offshoot of the London
Old Vic
theatre. It is associated with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
, which became a financially independent organisation in the 1990s. Bristol Old Vic also runs a popular, and highly successful Young Company for young people aged 7–25.
The theatre was closed from 2007–8, due to the need for a major refurbishment. It re-opened in December 2008 for one year; and will then close for refurbishment, which is planned to be completed by 2012. During the closure of the King Street premises, the company will relocate to other premises in central Bristol.
, a few yards from the Floating Harbour
. Since 1972, the public entrance is through the Coopers' Hall, the earliest surviving building on the site, having been built in 1744 for the Coopers' Company, the guild
of cooper
s in Bristol, by architect
William Halfpenny
. It has a "debased Palladian" façade with four Corinthian columns. It only remained in the hands of the Coopers until 1785, subsequently becoming a public assembly room, a wine warehouse, a Baptist chapel and eventually a fruit and vegetable warehouse.
The "Theatre in King Street" was built to designs by Thomas Paty
between 1764 and 1766 on land behind and to one side of the Coopers' Hall, with a passage through one of the houses in front of it serving as an entranceway. The design of the auditorium was based, with some variations, on that of the Drury Lane
Theatre Royal
in London. The theatre opened on 30 May 1766 with a performance which including a prologue and epilogue given by David Garrick
. As the proprietors were not able to obtain a Royal Licence, productions were announced as "a concert with a specimen of rhetorick" to evade the restrictions imposed on theatres by the Licensing Act 1737
. This ruse was soon abandoned, but a production in the neighbouring Coopers' Hall in 1773 did fall foul of this law.
Legal concerns were alleviated when the Royal Letters Patent
were eventually granted in 1778, and the theatre became a patent theatre
and took up the name "Theatre Royal". At this time the theatre also started opening for the winter season, and a joint company was established to perform at both the Bath Theatre Royal
and in Bristol, featuring famous names including Sarah Siddons
, whose ghost, according to legend, haunts the Bristol theatre. The auditorium was rebuilt with a new sloping ceiling and gallery in 1800. After the break with Bath in 1819 the theatre was managed by William M'Cready, the father of William Charles Macready
, with little success, but slowly rose again under his widow Sarah M'Cready in the 1850s. Following her death in 1853 the M'Creadys' son-in-law James Chute took over, but he lost interest in the Theatre Royal, which fell into decline when he opened the Prince's Theatre, originally known as the New Theatre Royal, in 1867. A new, narrow entrance was constructed through an adjacent building in 1903.
during the Second World War. In 1942 the lease owners put the building up for sale. The sale was perceived as a possible loss of the building as a theatre and a public appeal was mounted to preserve its use, and as a result a new Trust was established to buy the building. The Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA) leased the building from the Trust and in 1946 CEMA's successor, the Arts Council
, arranged for a company from the London Old Vic
to staff it, thus forming the Bristol Old Vic. Early members of the company included Peter O'Toole
, John Neville, Timothy West
, Barbara Leigh-Hunt
and Dorothy Tutin
. The first artistic director was Hugh Hunt. An early triumph for the Bristol Old Vic occurred when the 1954 première production of Salad Days transferred to the West End
and became the longest-running musical
on the London stage at that time. The Arts Council remained involved until 1963 when their role was taken over by the City Council. In the same year the London Old Vic was disbanded and the Bristol company became fully independent. The Bristol Old Vic also put plays on in the council-owned Little Theatre from then until 1980.
The present theatre complex, designed by Peter Moro, was completed in 1972. The 1903 entrance building was demolished, as were a number of surrounding buildings and, more controversially, the stage
area of the 1766 theatre. A new stage and fly tower were built along with technical facilities and offices. The 150 seat New Vic Studio (now the Studio) theatre was built in place of the old entrance, and the Coopers' Hall provided the theatre with the grand façade and foyer area it had previously lacked.
Throughout the 1970s and 80s Bristol Old Vic productions were well received both locally and on tour, but by the late 80s chronic underfunding placed the company in danger. A revival occurred under the leadership of Andrew (Andy) Hay who ran his first season with a company of 16 including musical director John O'Hara and associate directors Ian Hastings and Kristine Landon-Smith, producing nine plays in the Theatre Royal, the Studio and on a small scale regional tour. An increase in audience numbers and a varied programme of classics, new work and popular entertainment, including annual pantomimes followed. Local companies and small scale touring companies were given access to the studio and the Theatre Royal and an experimental space was developed in the former basement bar area. However the funding problems did not cease and the company was not financially viable, partly as a result of the relatively small capacity of the performance spaces.
s in January 2003, the company continued to lose money. Farr and Reade briefly branded the organisation as the "new bristol old vic" and its two theatres were temporarily called the "main house" and the "studio". Farr left Bristol to join the Lyric Theatre
, Hammersmith
, in the summer of 2005, leaving Reade as sole artistic director.
In July 2007, the board of trustees made a shock decision to close the theatre due to its need for refurbishment. Reade left without announcing the closure to staff, most of whom were made redundant. Many members of the theatre profession feared for the future of Bristol Old Vic as a producing organisation.
Following several public meetings in the winter of 2007/2008 a new board of trustees was formed and they appointed Dick Penny
, the director of the Watershed Media Centre
and the former director of the city's Little Theatre as executive chairman. The Bristol Old Vic will work throughout 2009 in the Theatre Royal Complex, after the completion of safety works in Autumn 2008. They plan to relocate in 2010, possibly to L-shed, a former dockside warehouse, where the company produced A. C. H. Smith
's Up the Feeder Down the Mouth and Back Again in 2001. In 2012 they will move back to the re-developed Theatre Royal complex. Some reservations about the plan have been expressed, especially in respect of the knock-on effects on other Bristol arts organisations which are suffering funding cuts from the city council.
On 25 February 2009 the company announced that Tom Morris
, at that time an associate director at the Royal National Theatre
and formerly head at Battersea Arts Centre
, had been appointed as Artistic Director.
Emma Stenning
, who had previously worked with Tom Morris at BAC, became Executive Director.
and overseas. Notable production toured include Hamlet
, Arms and the Man
and A Man for all Seasons
to Ceylon and Pakistan in 1962–63; Hamlet and Measure for Measure
to America, Holland and Belgium in 1966–67 and Man and Superman
to the June Schauspielhaus Festival in Zurich, 1958.
The company has also made frequent visits to the Edinburgh Festival
and productions have toured to the Theatre Royal Bath, Oxford Playhouse, Royal Court Theatre
, London and the Young Vic, London amongst others. Co-productions have taken Bristol Old Vic plays to most of Britain's major theatres.
in 1946, is an affiliate of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama
, an organisation securing the highest standards of training in the performing arts, and is an associate school of the University of the West of England
. The School began life in October 1946, only eight months after the founding of its parent Bristol Old Vic Theatre Company, in a room above a fruit merchant's warehouse in the Rackhay near the stage door of the Theatre Royal. (The yard of the derelict St Nicholas School adjacent to the warehouse was still used by the Company for rehearsals of crowd scenes and stage fights as late as the early 1960s, notably for John Hale's productions of Romeo and Juliet
starring the Canadian actor Paul Massie and Annette Crosbie
, a former student of the School, and Rostand
's Cyrano de Bergerac
with Peter Wyngarde
. Students from the Theatre School frequently played in these crowd scenes and fights.)
The School continued in these premises until 1954 when royalties from the musical, Salad Days by Julian Slade
and Dorothy Reynolds were given to the School towards the purchase and conversion of two large adjoining Victorian villas in Clifton, which remain their base today.
In 1995, that donation was formally recognised when a new custom-built dance and movement studio in the School's back garden was named the Slade/Reynolds Studio. The School provides comprehensive training courses for theatre, radio, film, and television professionals and its graduates are to be found in key positions as actors, directors, set designers, costumer designers, lighting designers and stage and company managers throughout the world.
Among the most notable of the many distinguished actors on the School's list of alumni are the Academy Award
winners Daniel Day-Lewis
and Jeremy Irons
.
See Alumni of Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
complex includes the 1766 Theatre Royal, which claims to be the oldest continually-operating theatre in England, along with a 1970s studio theatre (the New Vic), offices and backstage facilities. Since the 1972 rebuild, it also incorporates the eighteenth-century Coopers' Hall as its foyer. The entire complex has been Grade 1 listed since December 2000.
The present company was established in 1946 as an offshoot of the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
theatre. It is associated with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, opened by Laurence Olivier in 1946, is an affiliate of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama, an organisation securing the highest standards of training in the performing arts, and is an associate school of the Faculty of Creative Arts of the University of the...
, which became a financially independent organisation in the 1990s. Bristol Old Vic also runs a popular, and highly successful Young Company for young people aged 7–25.
The theatre was closed from 2007–8, due to the need for a major refurbishment. It re-opened in December 2008 for one year; and will then close for refurbishment, which is planned to be completed by 2012. During the closure of the King Street premises, the company will relocate to other premises in central Bristol.
History of the theatre
The theatre is situated on King StreetKing Street, Bristol
King Street is a 17th century street in the historic city centre of Bristol, England.The street lies just south of the old town wall and was laid out in 1650 in order to develop the Town Marsh, the area then lying between the south or Marsh Wall and the Avon...
, a few yards from the Floating Harbour
Bristol Harbour
Bristol Harbour is the harbour in the city of Bristol, England. The harbour covers an area of . It has existed since the 13th century but was developed into its current form in the early 19th century by installing lock gates on a tidal stretch of the River Avon in the centre of the city and...
. Since 1972, the public entrance is through the Coopers' Hall, the earliest surviving building on the site, having been built in 1744 for the Coopers' Company, the guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
of cooper
Cooper (profession)
Traditionally, a cooper is someone who makes wooden staved vessels of a conical form, of greater length than breadth, bound together with hoops and possessing flat ends or heads...
s in Bristol, by architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
William Halfpenny
William Halfpenny
William Halfpenny was an English 18th-century architectural designer; in some of his publications he described himself as "architect and carpenter". He also wrote under the name of Michael Hoare.-Life and architectural work:...
. It has a "debased Palladian" façade with four Corinthian columns. It only remained in the hands of the Coopers until 1785, subsequently becoming a public assembly room, a wine warehouse, a Baptist chapel and eventually a fruit and vegetable warehouse.
The "Theatre in King Street" was built to designs by Thomas Paty
Thomas Paty
Thomas Paty was a British surveyor, architect and mason working mainly in Bristol. He worked with his sons John Paty and William Paty.-List of works:* Bristol Bridge , with James Bridges...
between 1764 and 1766 on land behind and to one side of the Coopers' Hall, with a passage through one of the houses in front of it serving as an entranceway. The design of the auditorium was based, with some variations, on that of the Drury Lane
Drury Lane
Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster....
Theatre Royal
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
in London. The theatre opened on 30 May 1766 with a performance which including a prologue and epilogue given by David Garrick
David Garrick
David Garrick was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of theatrical practice throughout the 18th century and was a pupil and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson...
. As the proprietors were not able to obtain a Royal Licence, productions were announced as "a concert with a specimen of rhetorick" to evade the restrictions imposed on theatres by the Licensing Act 1737
Licensing Act 1737
The Licensing Act or Theatrical Licensing Act of 21 June 1737 was a landmark act of censorship of the British stage and one of the most determining factors in the development of Augustan drama...
. This ruse was soon abandoned, but a production in the neighbouring Coopers' Hall in 1773 did fall foul of this law.
Legal concerns were alleviated when the Royal Letters Patent
Letters patent
Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation...
were eventually granted in 1778, and the theatre became a patent theatre
Patent theatre
The patent theatres were the theatres that were licensed to perform "spoken drama" after the English Restoration of Charles II in 1660. Other theatres were prohibited from performing such "serious" drama, but were permitted to show comedy, pantomime or melodrama...
and took up the name "Theatre Royal". At this time the theatre also started opening for the winter season, and a joint company was established to perform at both the Bath Theatre Royal
Theatre Royal, Bath
The Theatre Royal in Bath, England, is over 200 years old. It is one of the more important theatres in the United Kingdom outside London, with capacity for an audience of around 900....
and in Bristol, featuring famous names including Sarah Siddons
Sarah Siddons
Sarah Siddons was a Welsh actress, the best-known tragedienne of the 18th century. She was the elder sister of John Philip Kemble, Charles Kemble, Stephen Kemble, Ann Hatton and Elizabeth Whitlock, and the aunt of Fanny Kemble. She was most famous for her portrayal of the Shakespearean character,...
, whose ghost, according to legend, haunts the Bristol theatre. The auditorium was rebuilt with a new sloping ceiling and gallery in 1800. After the break with Bath in 1819 the theatre was managed by William M'Cready, the father of William Charles Macready
William Charles Macready
-Life:He was born in London, and educated at Rugby.It was his intention to go up to Oxford, but in 1809 the embarrassed affairs of his father, the lessee of several provincial theatres, called him to share the responsibilities of theatrical management. On 7 June 1810 he made a successful first...
, with little success, but slowly rose again under his widow Sarah M'Cready in the 1850s. Following her death in 1853 the M'Creadys' son-in-law James Chute took over, but he lost interest in the Theatre Royal, which fell into decline when he opened the Prince's Theatre, originally known as the New Theatre Royal, in 1867. A new, narrow entrance was constructed through an adjacent building in 1903.
Formation of the Bristol Old Vic
Chute relinquished his lease on the Theatre Royal in 1861, concentrating his business at the Prince's Theatre, which was destroyed by bombingThe Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
during the Second World War. In 1942 the lease owners put the building up for sale. The sale was perceived as a possible loss of the building as a theatre and a public appeal was mounted to preserve its use, and as a result a new Trust was established to buy the building. The Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA) leased the building from the Trust and in 1946 CEMA's successor, the Arts Council
Arts council
An arts council is a government or private, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing events at home and abroad...
, arranged for a company from the London Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
to staff it, thus forming the Bristol Old Vic. Early members of the company included Peter O'Toole
Peter O'Toole
Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
, John Neville, Timothy West
Timothy West
Timothy Lancaster West, CBE is an English film, stage and television actor.-Career:West's craggy looks ensured a career as a character actor rather than a leading man. He began his career as an Assistant Stage Manager at the Wimbledon Theatre in 1956, and followed this with several seasons of...
, Barbara Leigh-Hunt
Barbara Leigh-Hunt
Barbara Leigh-Hunt , Bath, England, is a British actress who has appeared on stage, film, television and radio.-Career:...
and Dorothy Tutin
Dorothy Tutin
Dame Dorothy Tutin DBE was an English actor of stage, film, and television.An obituary in The Daily Telegraph described her as "one of the most enchanting, accomplished and intelligent leading ladies on the post-war British stage...
. The first artistic director was Hugh Hunt. An early triumph for the Bristol Old Vic occurred when the 1954 première production of Salad Days transferred to the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
and became the longest-running musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
on the London stage at that time. The Arts Council remained involved until 1963 when their role was taken over by the City Council. In the same year the London Old Vic was disbanded and the Bristol company became fully independent. The Bristol Old Vic also put plays on in the council-owned Little Theatre from then until 1980.
The present theatre complex, designed by Peter Moro, was completed in 1972. The 1903 entrance building was demolished, as were a number of surrounding buildings and, more controversially, the stage
Stage (theatre)
In theatre or performance arts, the stage is a designated space for the performance productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a focal point for the members of the audience...
area of the 1766 theatre. A new stage and fly tower were built along with technical facilities and offices. The 150 seat New Vic Studio (now the Studio) theatre was built in place of the old entrance, and the Coopers' Hall provided the theatre with the grand façade and foyer area it had previously lacked.
Throughout the 1970s and 80s Bristol Old Vic productions were well received both locally and on tour, but by the late 80s chronic underfunding placed the company in danger. A revival occurred under the leadership of Andrew (Andy) Hay who ran his first season with a company of 16 including musical director John O'Hara and associate directors Ian Hastings and Kristine Landon-Smith, producing nine plays in the Theatre Royal, the Studio and on a small scale regional tour. An increase in audience numbers and a varied programme of classics, new work and popular entertainment, including annual pantomimes followed. Local companies and small scale touring companies were given access to the studio and the Theatre Royal and an experimental space was developed in the former basement bar area. However the funding problems did not cease and the company was not financially viable, partly as a result of the relatively small capacity of the performance spaces.
Current status
Despite a new Arts Council funding package and the appointment of David Farr and Simon Reade as joint Artistic directorArtistic director
An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company, that handles the organization's artistic direction. He or she is generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the organization is generally a non-profit organization...
s in January 2003, the company continued to lose money. Farr and Reade briefly branded the organisation as the "new bristol old vic" and its two theatres were temporarily called the "main house" and the "studio". Farr left Bristol to join the Lyric Theatre
Lyric Hammersmith
The Lyric Theatre, also known as the Lyric Hammersmith, is a theatre on King Street, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, which takes pride in its original, "groundbreaking" productions....
, Hammersmith
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
, in the summer of 2005, leaving Reade as sole artistic director.
In July 2007, the board of trustees made a shock decision to close the theatre due to its need for refurbishment. Reade left without announcing the closure to staff, most of whom were made redundant. Many members of the theatre profession feared for the future of Bristol Old Vic as a producing organisation.
Following several public meetings in the winter of 2007/2008 a new board of trustees was formed and they appointed Dick Penny
Dick Penny
Dick Penny MBE is an arts administrator, consultant and producer, based in Bristol, England. Before his involvement in the arts, he worked in manufacturing industry, computer programming and the building trade.-Biography:...
, the director of the Watershed Media Centre
Watershed Media Centre
Watershed opened in June 1982 as the United Kingdom's first dedicated media centre. Based in former warehouses on the harbourside at Bristol, it hosts three cinemas, a café/bar, events/conferencing spaces, and office spaces for administrative and creative staff. It occupies the former V and W sheds...
and the former director of the city's Little Theatre as executive chairman. The Bristol Old Vic will work throughout 2009 in the Theatre Royal Complex, after the completion of safety works in Autumn 2008. They plan to relocate in 2010, possibly to L-shed, a former dockside warehouse, where the company produced A. C. H. Smith
A. C. H. Smith
A C.H. Smith is a British novelist and playwright from Kew. He was educated at Hampton Grammar School and Cambridge , where he read Modern Languages. Since 1960 his home has been in Bristol...
's Up the Feeder Down the Mouth and Back Again in 2001. In 2012 they will move back to the re-developed Theatre Royal complex. Some reservations about the plan have been expressed, especially in respect of the knock-on effects on other Bristol arts organisations which are suffering funding cuts from the city council.
On 25 February 2009 the company announced that Tom Morris
Tom Morris (director)
Tom Morris is a British theatre director, writer and producer. He was the Associate Director at the National Theatre in London, before taking over as Artistic Director of the Bristol Old Vic theatre in 2009.-Early life:...
, at that time an associate director at the Royal National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
and formerly head at Battersea Arts Centre
Battersea Arts Centre
The Battersea Arts Centre is a performance space near Clapham Junction in Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth that specialises in music and theatre productions.-History:...
, had been appointed as Artistic Director.
Emma Stenning
Emma Stenning
Emma Stenning is a British theatre producer based in Bristol, where she is currently Executive Director of Bristol Old Vic.-Career:After reading History at Cambridge University, Emma initially worked with director, Simon Godwin, with whom she created the theatre company Straydogs...
, who had previously worked with Tom Morris at BAC, became Executive Director.
Touring
The Bristol Old Vic has a long history of taking productions on tour both within the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and overseas. Notable production toured include Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
, Arms and the Man
Arms and the Man
Arms and the Man is a comedy by George Bernard Shaw, whose title comes from the opening words of Virgil's Aeneid in Latin:"Arma virumque cano" ....
and A Man for all Seasons
A Man for All Seasons
A Man for All Seasons is a play by Robert Bolt. An early form of the play had been written for BBC Radio in 1954, and a one-hour live television version starring Bernard Hepton was produced in 1957 by the BBC, but after Bolt's success with The Flowering Cherry, he reworked it for the stage.It was...
to Ceylon and Pakistan in 1962–63; Hamlet and Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604. It was classified as comedy, but its mood defies those expectations. As a result and for a variety of reasons, some critics have labelled it as one of Shakespeare's problem plays...
to America, Holland and Belgium in 1966–67 and Man and Superman
Man and Superman
Man and Superman is a four-act drama, written by George Bernard Shaw in 1903. The series was written in response to calls for Shaw to write a play based on the Don Juan theme. Man and Superman opened at The Royal Court Theatre in London on 23 May 1905, but with the omission of the 3rd Act...
to the June Schauspielhaus Festival in Zurich, 1958.
The company has also made frequent visits to the Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
and productions have toured to the Theatre Royal Bath, Oxford Playhouse, Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
, London and the Young Vic, London amongst others. Co-productions have taken Bristol Old Vic plays to most of Britain's major theatres.
Artistic directors of the Bristol Old Vic
| Name | Period | Notable productions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hugh Hunt | 1946–1949 | The Beaux' Stratagem The Beaux' Stratagem The Beaux' Stratagem is a comedy by George Farquhar, first produced at the Haymarket Theatre, London, in March 1707. In the play, Archer and Aimwell, two young gentlemen who have fallen on hard times, plan to travel through small towns, entrap young heiresses, steal their money and move on. In the... , The Playboy of the Western World The Playboy of the Western World The Playboy of the Western World is a three-act play written by Irish playwright John Millington Synge and first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on January 26, 1907. It is set in Michael James Flaherty's public house in County Mayo during the early 1900s... , An Inspector Calls An Inspector Calls An Inspector Calls is a play written by English dramatist J. B. Priestley, first performed in 1945 in the Soviet Union and 1946 in the UK. It is considered to be one of Priestley's best known works for the stage and one of the classics of mid-20th century English theatre... , Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a... |
|
| Allan Davis | 1950 | Arms and the Man Arms and the Man Arms and the Man is a comedy by George Bernard Shaw, whose title comes from the opening words of Virgil's Aeneid in Latin:"Arma virumque cano" .... , Julius Caesar Julius Caesar (play) The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, also known simply as Julius Caesar, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It portrays the 44 BC conspiracy against... |
|
| Denis Carey | 1950–1954 | The Merry Wives of Windsor The Merry Wives of Windsor The Merry Wives of Windsor is a comedy by William Shakespeare, first published in 1602, though believed to have been written prior to 1597. It features the fat knight Sir John Falstaff, and is Shakespeare's only play to deal exclusively with contemporary Elizabethan era English middle class life... , Macbeth Macbeth The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607... , An Italian Straw Hat, The Alchemist The Alchemist (play) The Alchemist is a comedy by English playwright Ben Jonson. First performed in 1610 by the King's Men, it is generally considered Jonson's best and most characteristic comedy; Samuel Taylor Coleridge claimed that it had one of the three most perfect plots in literature... |
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| John Moody | 1954–1959 | The Crucible The Crucible The Crucible is a 1952 play by the American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatization of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay during 1692 and 1693. Miller wrote the play as an allegory of McCarthyism, when the US government blacklisted accused communists... , The Cherry Orchard The Cherry Orchard The Cherry Orchard is Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's last play. It premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre 17 January 1904 in a production directed by Constantin Stanislavski. Chekhov intended this play as a comedy and it does contain some elements of farce; however, Stanislavski insisted on... , Uncle Vanya Uncle Vanya Uncle Vanya is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1897 and received its Moscow première in 1899 in a production by the Moscow Art Theatre, under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski.... , The Recruiting Officer The Recruiting Officer The Recruiting Officer is a 1706 play by the Irish writer George Farquhar, which follows the social and sexual exploits of two officers, the womanising Plume and the cowardly Brazen, in the town of Shrewsbury to recruit soldiers... , As You Like It As You Like It As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility... |
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| John Hale | 1959–1962 | The Clandestine Marriage The Clandestine Marriage The Clandestine Marriage is a comedy by George Colman the Elder and David Garrick, first performed in 1766 at Drury Lane. The idea came from one of William Hogarth's engravings.-Plot summary:... , A Taste of Honey A Taste of Honey A Taste of Honey is the first play by the British dramatist Shelagh Delaney, written when she was 18. It was initially intended as a novel, but she turned it into a play because she hoped to revitalize British theatre and to address social issues that she felt were not being presented... , Rhinoceros Rhinoceros (play) Rhinoceros is a play by Eugène Ionesco, written in 1959. The play belongs to the school of drama known as the Theatre of the Absurd... , Richard II Richard II (play) King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by some scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's... |
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| Val May | 1962–1975 | Brand Brand (play) Brand is a play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It is a verse tragedy, written in 1865 and first performed in Stockholm on 24 March 1867. Brand was an intellectual play that provoked much original thought.... , The Killing of Sister George The Killing of Sister George The Killing of Sister George is a 1964 play by Frank Marcus that was adapted as a 1968 film directed by Robert Aldrich.- Stage version :Sister George is a beloved character in the popular radio series Applehurst, a nurse who ministers to the medical needs and personal problems of the local villagers... , Hamlet Hamlet The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601... , The Italian Girl The Italian Girl -Plot introduction:Edmund has escaped from his family into a lonely life. Returning for his mother's funeral he finds himself involved in the same awful problems, together with some new ones... , Uncle Vanya Uncle Vanya Uncle Vanya is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1897 and received its Moscow première in 1899 in a production by the Moscow Art Theatre, under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski.... |
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| Richard Cottrell Richard Cottrell Richard Cottrell is an English theatre director. He has been the Director of the Cambridge Theatre Company and the Bristol Old Vic in England, and of the Nimrod Theatre in Sydney, Australia... |
1975–1980 | The National Health The National Health The National Health is a play by Peter Nichols. Reminiscent of the Carry On film series, this black comedy with tragic overtones focuses on the appalling conditions in an under-funded national health hospital, which are contrasted comically with a Dr... , Hedda Gabler Hedda Gabler Hedda Gabler is a play first published in 1890 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The play premiered in 1891 in Germany to negative reviews, but has subsequently gained recognition as a classic of realism, nineteenth century theatre, and world drama... , As You Like It As You Like It As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility... , A Doll's House A Doll's House A Doll's House is a three-act play in prose by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premièred at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having been published earlier that month.... , A Midsummer Night's Dream A Midsummer Night's Dream A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta... |
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| John David | 1980–1986 | Judy, King Lear King Lear King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological... , Wild Oats, Arturo Ui, The Tempest The Tempest The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,... |
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| Leon Rubin | 1986–1987 | The Doctor's Dilemma | |
| Paul Unwin Paul Unwin (film director) Paul Unwin is a film, theatre, TV writer / director.As a theatre director his work includes The Man Who Had All the Luck by Arthur Miller at the Bristol Old Vic and the Young Vic, The Misanthrope at the Bristol Old Vic and the Royal National Theatre, Hamlet, Othello, In Times Like These by Jeremy... |
1987–1991 | The Man Who Had All the Luck The Man Who Had All the Luck The Man Who Had All the Luck is a play by Arthur Miller.David Beeves is a young Midwestern automobile mechanic who discovers he is blessed with what appears to be almost supernatural good fortune that allows him to overcome every seemingly insurmountable obstacle that crosses his path while those... , Hamlet Hamlet The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601... , The Master Builder The Master Builder The Master Builder is a play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It was first published in December 1892 and is regarded as one of Ibsen's most significant and revealing works.-Performance:... |
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| Andy Hay | 1991–2002 | Blue Remembered Hills Blue Remembered Hills Blue Remembered Hills is a television play by Dennis Potter, originally broadcast on January 30, 1979 as part of the BBC's Play for Today series.... , The Duchess of Malfi The Duchess of Malfi The Duchess of Malfi is a macabre, tragic play written by the English dramatist John Webster in 1612–13. It was first performed privately at the Blackfriars Theatre, then before a more general audience at The Globe, in 1613-14... , The Hairy Ape The Hairy Ape -Plot :The play tells the story of a brutish, unthinking laborer known as Yank, as he searches for a sense of belonging in a world controlled by the rich... , The Rise and Fall of Little Voice The Rise and Fall of Little Voice The Rise and Fall of Little Voice is a 1992 play written by English dramatist Jim Cartwright. Sam Mendes directed stars Jane Horrocks and Alison Steadman at the Royal National Theatre before transferring to the Aldwych Theatre in London's West End.... , Marat/Sade Marat/Sade The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade , almost invariably shortened to Marat/Sade, is a 1963 play by Peter Weiss... , A Streetcar Named Desire A Streetcar Named Desire (play) A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. The play opened on Broadway on December 3, 1947, and closed on December 17, 1949, in the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The Broadway production was... |
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| David Farr David Farr (theatre director) David Farr is a writer, theatrical director and Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company.-Background:Farr was brought up in Surrey and educated in Guildford and the University of Cambridge .- Career :... and Simon Reade |
2003–2005 | Loot Loot (play) Loot is a two-act play by the English playwright Joe Orton. The play is a dark farce that satirises the Roman Catholic Church, social attitudes to death, and the integrity of the police force.... (Farr), The Odyssey (Farr), Private Peaceful Private Peaceful Private Peaceful is a novel for older children by Michael Morpurgo, first published in 2003. It is about a soldier called Thomas "Tommo" Peaceful, who is looking back on his life from the trenches of World War I. Structurally, each chapter of the book brings the reader closer to the present until... (Reade) |
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| Simon Reade | 2005–2007 | The Birthday Party The Birthday Party (play) The Birthday Party is the first full-length play by Harold Pinter and one of Pinter's best-known and most-frequently performed plays... |
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| Tom Morris | 2009–present | Juliet and her Romeo, Swallows and Amazons |
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, opened by Laurence OlivierLaurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
in 1946, is an affiliate of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama
Conservatoire for Dance and Drama
The Conservatoire for Dance and Drama is a higher education institution in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 2001 to co-ordinate the activities of a number of affiliated schools providing higher-level vocational training in the performing arts...
, an organisation securing the highest standards of training in the performing arts, and is an associate school of the University of the West of England
University of the West of England
The University of the West of England is a university based in the English city of Bristol. Its main campus is at Frenchay, about five miles north of the city centre...
. The School began life in October 1946, only eight months after the founding of its parent Bristol Old Vic Theatre Company, in a room above a fruit merchant's warehouse in the Rackhay near the stage door of the Theatre Royal. (The yard of the derelict St Nicholas School adjacent to the warehouse was still used by the Company for rehearsals of crowd scenes and stage fights as late as the early 1960s, notably for John Hale's productions of Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
starring the Canadian actor Paul Massie and Annette Crosbie
Annette Crosbie
Annette Crosbie, OBE is a Scottish character actor.-Life and career:Crosbie was born in Gorebridge, Midlothian, Scotland, to Presbyterian parents who disapproved of her becoming an actor. Nevertheless, she joined the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School while still in her teens...
, a former student of the School, and Rostand
Edmond Rostand
Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism, and is best known for his play Cyrano de Bergerac. Rostand's romantic plays provided an alternative to the naturalistic theatre popular during the late nineteenth century...
's Cyrano de Bergerac
Cyrano de Bergerac (play)
Cyrano de Bergerac is a play written in 1897 by Edmond Rostand. Although there was a real Cyrano de Bergerac, the play bears very scant resemblance to his life....
with Peter Wyngarde
Peter Wyngarde
Peter Paul Wyngarde is an Anglo-French actor best known for playing the character Jason King, a bestselling novelist turned sleuth, in two British television series in the late 1960s and early 1970s: Department S and Jason King .-Biography:He was born Cyril Goldbert in Marseilles, France, the...
. Students from the Theatre School frequently played in these crowd scenes and fights.)
The School continued in these premises until 1954 when royalties from the musical, Salad Days by Julian Slade
Julian Slade
Julian Penkivil Slade was an English writer of musical theatre best known for the show Salad Days, which he wrote in six weeks in 1954 and became the UK's longest-running show of the 1950s with over 2,288 performances....
and Dorothy Reynolds were given to the School towards the purchase and conversion of two large adjoining Victorian villas in Clifton, which remain their base today.
In 1995, that donation was formally recognised when a new custom-built dance and movement studio in the School's back garden was named the Slade/Reynolds Studio. The School provides comprehensive training courses for theatre, radio, film, and television professionals and its graduates are to be found in key positions as actors, directors, set designers, costumer designers, lighting designers and stage and company managers throughout the world.
Among the most notable of the many distinguished actors on the School's list of alumni are the Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
winners Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Day-Lewis
Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is an English actor with both British and Irish citizenship. His portrayals of Christy Brown in My Left Foot and Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood won Academy and BAFTA Awards for Best Actor, and Screen Actors Guild as well as Golden Globe Awards for the latter...
and Jeremy Irons
Jeremy Irons
Jeremy John Irons is an English actor. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969, and has since appeared in many London theatre productions including The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the...
.
See Alumni of Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
See also
- Bristol Old Vic Theatre SchoolBristol Old Vic Theatre SchoolThe Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, opened by Laurence Olivier in 1946, is an affiliate of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama, an organisation securing the highest standards of training in the performing arts, and is an associate school of the Faculty of Creative Arts of the University of the...
- Culture in Bristol
Further reading
- B. Little &, P. Moro, The Story of the Theatre Royal Bristol, Trustees of the Theatre Royal, 1981
- K. Barker, The Theatre Royal Bristol: The First Seventy Years, Bristol Branch of the Historical Association, 1961
- A. Gomme, M. Jenner & B. Little, Bristol: an Architectural History, Lund Humphries, 1979
- Walter Ison, The Georgian Buildings of Bristol, Kingsmead Press, 1952
- Kathleen Barker, The Theatre Royal Bristol 1766–1966: Two Centuries of Stage History, The Society for Theatre Research, 1974 ISBN 0-85430-022-8
- Audrey Williams and Charles Landstone, Bristol Old Vic—the First Ten Years, J. Garnet Miller Limited, 1957
External links
- Bristol Old Vic archive at the University of Bristol Theatre Collection, University of BristolUniversity of BristolThe University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...
- Kathleen Barker archive at the University of Bristol Theatre Collection, University of BristolUniversity of BristolThe University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...
- Bristol theatre archives at the University of Bristol Theatre Collection, University of BristolUniversity of BristolThe University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...
- John Elvery archive at the University of Bristol Theatre Collection, University of BristolUniversity of BristolThe University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...
- The Theatre Royal at Looking at Buildings
- Behind the scenes at Bristol Old Vic – video report from BBC Bristol