The Old Vic’s Bicentenary Season

To mark 200 days from our 200th birthday on 11 May 2018, we announce today Matthew Warchus’ 3rd season as Artistic Director. Our bicentenary year will be celebrated on stage with an exciting season of world premiere productions.

Following the previously announced A Christmas Carol, opening on 20 Nov, will be Alan Ayckbourn’s dystopian tale, The Divide from 1 Feb. Next up, director Max Webster will bring Ingmar Bergman’s classic film Fanny & Alexander, to the stage in an adaptation by BAFTA-winning writer Stephen Beresford from 21 Feb. We will be celebrating our birthday with Mood Music, a new play by Joe Penhall, directed by Roger Michell from 21 Apr. Director Sally Cookson will bring Patrick Ness’ moving and magical novel A Monster Calls to the stage from 7 Jul. And, drawing Season 3 to a close will be ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company with Sylvia, a brand new dance piece combining dance, hip hop, soul and funk to tell the story of suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst and her family’s fight for women’s rights to mark the 100th anniversary of women first gaining the vote.

Our Artistic Director Matthew Warchus commented:

‘We love and care for the elderly members of our family and community out of respect for all that they have achieved and contributed in their long lives. On the other hand, we love and care for the young because we are excited about their future and we want them to exuberantly fulfil their potential. 

To honour The Old Vic’s 200th birthday we are celebrating it partly as a treasured historic icon but mostly as an adventurous, youthful, hub of creativity with a vibrant future ahead of it. To emphasise this forward-facing spirit, I’m delighted to present a Bicentenary Season comprised entirely of world premiere productions, including four new commissions. The Old Vic will of course continue to mix pertinent revivals and refreshed classics into future seasons, but for this birthday year we are allowing ourselves to focus on new work. 

We aim for this famous building to be a welcoming, fun, surprising and indispensable cultural landmark, now and for another 200 years. Please join us this celebratory season and entertain something new.’

From The Old Vic will see the transfer of Girl from the North Country, written and directed by Conor McPherson with the music and lyrics of Bob Dylan, to the Noël Coward Theatre in the West End with performances from 29 Dec; Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax will tour North and Central America from 9 Dec; Kneehigh Theatre’s acclaimed production of Noël Coward’s Brief Encounter adapted and directed by Emma Rice, will open at the Empire Cinema in London’s West End and ‘ART’ (produced at The Old Vic in 2016) will embark on a UK tour from Feb until Jun 2018.

Join us over the next 200 days as we share stories, memories and insights into the past, present and future of our iconic theatre. Visit our OV200 page to get your daily update. There’ll be plenty of opportunities to hear from friends and supporters of The Old Vic and that includes YOU. If you have a special memory to share then get in touch.

With tickets from £10, we look forward to celebrating our bicentenary year with you very soon.