Bristol Old Vic

The Bristol Old Vic is a theatre complex and theatrical company in the centre of Bristol, England. The 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 facilites. It also incorporates the eighteenth-century Coopers' Hall as its foyer. The Theatre Royal is a grade I listed building, while the Coopers' Hall is grade II*. The present company was established in 1946 as an offshoot of the London Old Vic theatre. It also runs the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, a well-regarded school for both actors and technicians.

Current activities

The theatre has enjoyed a small renaissance since a new Arts Coucil funding package and the appointment of David Farr and Simon Reade as joint artistic directors in January 2003. The company briefly branded itself as the "new bristol old vic" and its two theatres are now called the "main house" and the "studio", and house audiences of 400 and 150 respectively. As well as hosting its own productions and Theatre School performances, it also provides a venue for small touring groups and local theatre companies. It thus remains the main venue for highbrow professional theatre in the city, while major commercial touring productions generally visit the much larger Bristol Hippodrome. Farr left Bristol to join the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, in the summer of 2005, leaving Reade as sole artistic director. The main house pantomime for December 2005 and January 2006 will be a new adaptation of Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp by popular children's author Philip Pullman.

Related Topics:
David Farr - Simon Reade - Bristol Hippodrome - Lyric Theatre - Hammersmith - 2005 - Pantomime - 2006 - Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp - Philip Pullman

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Despite a number of closures, due to reconstruction, economics and war, the Theatre Royal has remained a playhouse continually since 1766, and thus claims the title of "Britain's oldest continually working theatre". The auditorium retains a small area of the original bench seating in the gallery and the original "thunder-run" in which cannonballs would be rolled down a wooden frame in the roof to simulate the sound of a storm.

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