Old Vic

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Old Vic

The Old Vic is a theatre

Theatre

Theatre is the branch of the performing arts defined by Bernard Beckerman as what "occurs when one or more actor, isolated in time and/or Theater , present themselves to Audience." By this broad definition, theatre has existed since the dawn of man, as a result of human tendency for story telling....
located just south-east of Waterloo Station

Waterloo station

London Waterloo is a major railway terminus in London, England owned and operated by Network Rail. It is in the London Borough of Lambeth near the South Bank, in Travelcard Zone 1, and houses a British Transport Police station....
in London

London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
on the corner of The Cut

The Cut (London)

The Cut is a street in Lambeth and Southwark, London SE1. It runs between Waterloo Road, London and Blackfriars Road . At the western end to the south is the well-established Old Vic Theatre and half way along on the north side is the more experimental Young Vic....
and Waterloo Road

Waterloo Road, London

Waterloo Road is a road straddling Lambeth and Southwark, London, London SE1. It runs between Westminster Bridge Road close to St George's Circus at the south-east end and Waterloo Bridge across the River Thames towards London's West End of London district at the north-west end....
. It became a Grade II* listed building in 1951.

It was also the name of a repertory

Repertory

Repertory or rep, called stock in the US, is a term used in Western theatre and opera.A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation....
company that was based at the theatre. The company formed the core of the National Theatre of Great Britain on its formation in 1963, under Laurence Olivier

Laurence Olivier

Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, Order of Merit was an English people Stage actor, Theatre director, and Theatrical producer. He is one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century, along with his contemporaries John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft and Ralph Richardson....
. The National Theatre remained at the Old Vic until new premises were constructed on the South Bank

South Bank

The South Bank is the area in London on the southern bank of the River Thames near Waterloo station that houses a number of important cultural buildings/institutions....
, opening in 1976.

theatre was founded in 1818 by James King and Daniel Dunn (formerly managers of the Surrey Theatre

Surrey Theatre

Bermondsey

Bermondsey is an area in London on the south bank of the river Thames, and is part of the London Borough of Southwark. To the west lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe, and to the south, Walworth, London....
), and Thomas Serres, then Marine painter to the King who managed to secure the formal patronage of Princess Charlotte and her husband Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg

Leopold I of Belgium

Leopold I was from 21 July 1831 the first King of the Belgians. He was the founder of the Belgian line of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. His children included Leopold II of Belgium and Charlotte of Belgium....
naming the theatre the Royal Coburg Theatre.

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Encyclopedia

The Old Vic is a theatre

Theatre

Waterloo station

London

The Cut (London)

Waterloo Road, London

Repertory

Laurence Olivier

South Bank

The South Bank is the area in London on the southern bank of the River Thames near Waterloo station that houses a number of important cultural buildings/institutions....
, opening in 1976.

History

Origins

The theatre was founded in 1818 by James King and Daniel Dunn (formerly managers of the Surrey Theatre

Surrey Theatre

Bermondsey

Leopold I of Belgium

Patent theatre

The patent theatres were the theatres that were licensed to perform "spoken drama" after the English Restoration of Charles II of England in 1660....
s) and was thus technically forbidden to show serious drama. Nevertheless, when the theatre passed to William Bolwell Davidge in 1824 he succeeded in bringing legendary actor Edmund Kean

Edmund Kean

Edmund Kean was an England actor, regarded in his time as the greatest ever. For many years he lived at Keydell House, Horndean....
south of the river to play six Shakespeare plays in six nights. The theatre's role in bringing high art to the masses was confirmed when Kean addressed the audience during his curtain call saying "I have never acted to such a set of ignorant, unmitigated brutes as I see before me." When Davidge left to take over the Surrey Theatre

Surrey Theatre

The Surrey Theatre began life in 1782 as the Royal Circus and Equestrian Philharmonic Academy, one of the many circuses that provided contemporary London entertainment of both horsemanship and drama....
in 1833 it was bought by Daniel Egerton and William Abbott who tried to capitalise on the abolition of the legal distinction between patent and minor theatres and also in 1833 the theatre was renamed the Royal Victorian Theatre after the heir to the throne Princess Victoria

Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria was from 20 June 1837 the Queen regnant of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and from 1 May 1876 the first Empress of India of the British Raj until her death....
. In 1880, under the ownership of Emma Cons

Emma Cons

Emma Cons was a United Kingdom social reformer, educationalist and theatre manager....
to whom there are plaques outside & inside the theatre, it became The Royal Victoria Hall And Coffee Tavern and was run on "strict temperance

Temperance movement

A temperance movement attempts to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed within a community or society in general -- and even to prohibit its production and consumption entirely....
lines"; by this time it was already known as the "Old Vic". The penny lectures given in the hall led to the foundation of Morley College

Morley College

Morley College is an adult education college in London, England, England. It was founded in the 1880s and has a student population of more than 15,000 adult students....
, an adult education

Adult education

Adult education is the practice of teaching and educating adults. This often happens in the workplace, through 'extension' or 'continuing education' courses at secondary schools, at a college or university....
college, that moved to its own premises nearby, in the 1920s.

Old Vic company

With Emma Cons's death in 1912 the theatre passed to her niece Lilian Baylis

Lilian Baylis

Lilian Mary Baylis Order of the Companions of Honour was an England theatrical producer and manager. She managed the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells theatres in London, and ran an opera company, which became the English National Opera , a theatre company, which evolved into the English Royal National Theatre, and a ballet company, which eventuall...
, who emphasized the Shakespearean repertoire. The Old Vic Company was established in 1929, led by Sir John Gielgud

John Gielgud

Sir Arthur John Gielgud, Order of Merit , Companion of Honour was an England actor and singer, particularly known for his warm and expressive voice, which his colleague Alec Guinness likened to "a silver trumpet muffled in silk"....
. Between 1925 and 1931, Lilian Baylis

Lilian Baylis

Lilian Mary Baylis Order of the Companions of Honour was an England theatrical producer and manager. She managed the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells theatres in London, and ran an opera company, which became the English National Opera , a theatre company, which evolved into the English Royal National Theatre, and a ballet company, which eventuall...
championed the re-building of the then-derelict Sadler's Wells Theatre, and established a ballet

Ballet

Ballet is a formalized type of performative dance, the origins of which date lay in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century France courts, and which was further developed in England, Italy, and Russia as a concert dance form....
company under the direction of Ninette de Valois

Ninette de Valois

Dame Ninette de Valois, Order of Merit, Order of the Companions of Honour, Order of the British Empire was an Irish dancer, teacher, choreographer and director of classical ballet....
. For a few years the drama and ballet companies rotated between the two theatres, with the ballet becoming permanently based at Sadler's Wells in 1935.

Wartime exile

The Old Vic was improved greatly during the Blitz

The Blitz

The Blitz was the sustained bombing of United Kingdom by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, in World War II. While the "Blitz" hit many towns and cities across the country, it began with the bombing of London for 57 consecutive nights ....
, and the war-depleted company spent all its time touring, based in Burnley, Lancashire

Burnley

Burnley is a large market town in the Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a population of around 73,500. It lies east of Blackburn and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder, Lancashire and River Brun....
at the Victoria Theatre during the years 1940 to 1943. In 1944, the company was re-established in London with Ralph Richardson

Ralph Richardson

Sir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....
and Laurence Olivier

Laurence Olivier

Noël Coward Theatre

The No?l Coward Theatre is a West End theatre on St. Martin's Lane in the City of Westminster. It opened on 12 March 1903 as the New Theatre, and was built by Charles Wyndham behind Wyndham's Theatre which was completed in 1899....
(now the Noël Coward Theatre) until the Old Vic was ready to re-open in 1950. In 1946, an offshoot of the company was established in Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a City status in the United Kingdom, unitary authority area and Ceremonial counties of England in South West England, west of London, and east of Cardiff....
as the Bristol Old Vic

Bristol Old Vic

The Bristol Old Vic is a theatre company based in the Theatre Royal 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 , offices and backstage facilities....
.

National Theatre company

In 1963, the Old Vic company was dissolved and the new National Theatre

Royal National Theatre

The Royal National Theatre, London, England, is generally known as the National Theatre and commonly as The National. It is located on the The South Bank in the London Borough of Lambeth, England, immediately east of the southern end of Waterloo Bridge....
Company, under the artistic direction of Lord Olivier

Laurence Olivier

Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, Order of Merit was an English people Stage actor, Theatre director, and Theatrical producer. He is one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century, along with his contemporaries John Gielgud, Peggy Ashcroft and Ralph Richardson....
, was based at the Old Vic until its own building was opened on the South Bank

South Bank

The South Bank is the area in London on the southern bank of the River Thames near Waterloo station that houses a number of important cultural buildings/institutions....
near Waterloo Bridge

Waterloo Bridge

Waterloo Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge crossing the River Thames in London, England between Blackfriars Bridge and Hungerford Bridge....
in 1976.

In July 1974 the Old Vic presented a rock concert for the first time. National Theatre director Sir Peter Hall arranged for the progressive folk-rock band Gryphon

Gryphon (band)

Gryphon were a British progressive rock band of the 1970s, notable for their unusual sound and instrumentation. Multi-instrumentalist Richard Harvey and his fellow Royal College of Music graduate Brian Gulland, a woodwind player, began the group as an all-acoustic ensemble that mixed traditional English folk music with medieval and Renaissa...
to première Midnight Mushrumps, the fantasia inspired by Hall's own 1974 Old Vic production of The Tempest
The Tempest

The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610?11, although some researchers have argued for an earlier dating. Its protagonist is the banished sorcerer Prospero, rightful Duke of Milan, who uses his magical powers to punish and forgive his enemies when he raises a tempest that drives them ashore....
starring Sir John Gielgud for which Gryphon had supplied the music.

Reopening

After the departure of the NT, the Old Vic continued as a home for classic and new drama, and was significantly restored under the ownership of Toronto department-store entrepreneur 'Honest Ed' Mirvish during the 1980s. In 1998, the building was bought by a new charitable trust, The Old Vic Theatre Trust 2000. In 2000, the production company Criterion Productions was renamed Old Vic Productions plc, though relatively few of its productions are at the Old Vic theatre.

Current developments

In 2003, actor

Actor

An actor or actress is a person who acting in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio programming in that capacity....
Kevin Spacey

Kevin Spacey

Kevin Spacey is an American character actor, film director, screenwriter, film producer, and crooner. He grew up in California, and began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television....
was appointed as new artistic director of the Old Vic Theatre Company receiving considerable media attention. Spacey said he wanted to inject new life into the British theatre

Theatre

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
and American

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
theatrical talent to the stage. He appears in one or two shows per season, and performs some directorial duties on other shows.

External links

official website
, University of Bristol
University of Bristol

The University of Bristol is a university in Bristol, England. It received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876....
, University of Bristol
University of Bristol

The University of Bristol is a university in Bristol, England. It received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876....