1818
The Old Vic, as it is now known, first opens on 11 May 1818 at a cost of £12,000 with design by architect Rudolph Cabanel. Building work had commenced two years earlier after Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Princess Charlotte of Wales laid the foundation stone. Some of the material for the new theatre, named the Royal Coburg, is recycled from the original Savoy Palace on the Strand.
1821
Installation of a looking-glass curtain on stage. Comprising 62 mirrored panels in a gilt frame and weighing five tonnes, the novelty curtain causes a stir, but it quickly proves a hazard and is dismantled.
1831
Edmund Kean plays Richard III, Othello, Macbeth and King Lear during a six-night engagement. He tells a rowdy audience: ‘In my life I have never acted to such a set of ignorant, unmitigated brutes as I have before me’.
1833
Theatre re-opens after refurbishment for the encouragement of ‘Native Dramatic Talent’. Renamed The Royal Victoria, in honour of Princess (later Queen) Victoria.
1850
The Royal Victoria is recognised for bringing theatre to the ‘common people’. Charles Dickens notes: ‘Whatever changes of fashion the drama knows elsewhere, it is always fashionable in the New Cut.’
1858
A false cry of fire causes a stampede in the theatre’s upper gallery, which leads to the death of 16 people.
1871
The theatre is put up for auction and sold to new owners who commission an entire reconstruction of the interiors by architect Jethro T Robinson, resulting in the removal of the upper gallery. The Old Vic is today one of the only two surviving examples of Robinson’s work. Back in 1871, the theatre is rebranded and reopened as The New Victoria Palace in an attempt to shed earlier misfortunes but financial troubles persist and it is twice put up for sale during the decade.
1879-1880
Leading Victorian social reformer Emma Cons establishes the Coffee Tavern Movement in 1879, acquiring the leasehold for the theatre a year later. Reopening on Boxing Day as the Royal Victoria Hall and Coffe Tavern – a ‘cheap and decent place of amusement on strict temperance lines’ – the word ‘theatre’ is dropped because of its impure associations.
1888-1889
Morley Memorial College for Working Men and Women founded at the theatre.
1891
Freehold is bought by the charity, the Royal Victoria Hall Foundation. In Munich, Germany, the first performance of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler is given with the playwright present.
1898
Emma Cons’ niece Lilian Baylis, aged 23, appointed acting manager.
Lilian Baylis, Manager of The Old Vic Theatre, 1912-37
1900
Baylis promotes the idea of opera in English by staging The Bohemian Girl. Opera programme begins.
1912
Emma Cons dies. Baylis takes over as manager and lessee, and obtains a theatre licence from the Lord Chamberlain.
1914
The Old Vic Shakespeare Company formed under director Ben Greet. Over the course of seven years, Baylis mounts the complete First Folio, the first undertaking of its kind by a theatre. Sybil Thorndike becomes a leading lady during the war years at the new home of Shakespeare in London.
1918
Royal Centenary Gala. Baylis to Queen Mary: ‘Your dear husband’s picture isn’t as big as Aunt Emmie’s, but then he hasn’t done so much for The Old Vic.’
1925-1926
Edith Evans joins the company having been turned down years earlier. Baylis: ‘I was a fool…she didn’t look the leading lady type.’ Baylis adopts The Old Vic, a popular local nickname, as the theatre’s official title.
1929-31
John Gielgud’s Hamlet and Richard II establish him as exciting new Shakespearean star and he goes on to lead The Old Vic Company: ‘The Old Vic is pre-eminently the place for artistic experiment, even if some eggshells of prejudice have to be smashed in the process.’ Ralph Richardson joins the company.
1931-1932
Sadler’s Wells opens as Baylis’ second theatre. The two venues alternate drama, opera and ballet until 1934 when opera and ballet move to Sadler’s Wells. Peggy Ashcroft joins the company.
Peggy Ashcroft in Caesar and Cleopatra, 1932
1933
Tyrone Guthrie’s first season as director. Establishes an acting company including Charles Laughton, Flora Robson, Marius Goring and a young James Mason.
Michael Redgrave and Edith Evans in As You Like It, 1936
1936
Michael Redgrave, Alec Guinness and Laurence Olivier join the company for the first time. Guthrie appointed permanent director.
Alec Guinness in Hamlet, 1938
1937
Lilian Baylis dies on 25 November, the day of the dress rehearsal for Macbeth starring Laurence Olivier. He barely misses severe injury when a stage weight comes crashing down. The opening is postponed as the director and lead actress are involved in a car accident. The show begins late, prompting Baylis’ portrait to fall off the wall.
1940-1941
Following closure of The Old Vic due to World War Two, the company is relocated to New Theatre and headquarters to Burnley. Several companies tour Shakespeare to mining and industrial areas, subsidised by the forerunner of the Arts Council. A direct bomb hit on 10 May, shortly before the Blitz ends, damages The Old Vic.
1946
The Joint Council of The Old Vic and National Theatre is established.
1950-1951
A performance of Twelfth Night on 14 November 1950 celebrates the reopening of the theatre. Guthrie returns to direct Donald Wolfit in Tamburlaine the Great.
1953-58
Under director Michael Benthall the complete First Folio is staged for a second time, beginning with Hamlet. Richard Burton is cast in the lead role for the first time.
John Stride and Judi Dench in Romeo and Juliet, 1960
1957-1958
Judi Dench joins for the first of four seasons, with her parts including Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli’s production of Romeo and Juliet. A private performance is given in the presence of The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to mark the opening of The Old Vic annex.
1962
Olivier appointed first director of the National Theatre. The Old Vic governors agree to offer the theatre as its temporary home.
Laurence Olivier and Maggie Smith in Othello, 1964
1963
The Old Vic company disbands. The National opens with Hamlet, starring Peter O’Toole. Over the next 13 years company regulars include Albert Finney, Anthony Hopkins, Geraldine McEwan, Joan Plowright and Maggie Smith.
1970
Following a West End run, Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler with Maggie Smith in the title role arrives at the Old Vic. Directed by Ingmar Bergman, Smith is praised for her ‘gripping’ performance although in response to some critics, she remarks: ‘I wish a woman could review the play. She would understand about Hedda.’ Money from recent surpluses, meanwhile, is used to finance the Young Vic, which serves the National as a studio theatre until 1974 when it became home to a separate company.
Diana Rigg in Jumpers, 1972
1973-75
Olivier’s last stage performance, in Trevor Griffiths’ The Party. He resigns as director of the National, and is succeeded by Peter Hall whose productions include John Gabriel Borkman and No Man’s Land with Richardson and Gielgud.
John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson in No Man’s Land, 1975
1976
The National’s last performance before moving to the South Bank is Tribute to the Lady. Peggy Ashcroft plays Baylis, Gielgud and Richardson are among those taking part. In her curtain speech Ashcroft repeats Baylis’ threat to come back and haunt The Old Vic should her and her aunt Emma Cons’ work ever be put at risk.
1976
Theatre leased to visiting companies. The first production is The White Devil, with Glenda Jackson.
1977
It becomes the home of the Prospect Theatre Company. Productions include Hamlet with Derek Jacobi, Antony and Cleopatra with Alec McCowen and Dorothy Tutin, and Saint Joan with Eileen Atkins.
1982-1983
The theatre is put up for sale through a sealed bid. Canadian entrepreneur Ed Mirvish outbids Andrew Lloyd Webber and spends £2.5 million restoring the building. The facade of the building is based on an 1830 engraving while the auditorium is modelled on the designs of 1871. The restoration goes on to win architectural awards.
David Suchet and Michael Sheen in Amadeus, 1996
1987-90
Jonathan Miller directs 17 productions, collecting five Olivier Awards, including for the musical Candide.
1997
Peter Hall returns with a classic repertory season includes Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, with Ben Kingsley.
1998
The Mirvish family puts the theatre on the market. Suggestions for changing it into a themed pub, a bingo hall or a lap-dancing club provoke widespread outrage and protests. In response to public and political pressure, it’s acquired by The Old Vic Theatre Trust 2000, a registered charity set up by Sally Greene.
1998
Transfer of the Almeida’s production of The Iceman Cometh is a huge success. Kevin Spacey wins the Evening Standard Drama and Olivier Awards as Best Actor.
1999
The first production presented under the ownership of the The Old Vic Theatre Trust - Amadeus directed by Peter Hall, starring David Suchet and Michael Sheen – is nominated for five Olivier Awards.
2003
An announcement confirms that The Old Vic will once again become a producing house, with Kevin Spacey appointed the first Artistic Director of The Old Vic Theatre Company.
Imogen Stubbs and Ben Wishaw in Hamlet, 2004
2004
The Old Vic Theatre Company’s first season includes Maria Goos’ Cloaca directed by Kevin Spacey and Aladdin with Ian McKellen as Widow Twankey.
2005
National Anthems starring Kevin Spacey, Mary Stuart Masterson and Steven Weber. The Philadelphia Story starring Jennifer Ehle. In September, Spacey plays title role in Trevor Nunn’s Richard II, with Ben Miles as Bolingbroke.
2006
A new version of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale. Arthur Miller’s Resurrection Blues directed by Robert Altman. Eugene O Neil’s A Moon for the Misbegotten, with Eve Best and Kevin Spacey, directed by Howard Davies.
2007
The Taming of The Shrew and Twelfth Night directed by Edward Hall with his all-male company Propeller. John Osborne’s The Entertainer, starring Robert Lindsay, directed by Sean Holmes. Patrick Hamilton’s Gaslight, directed by Peter Gill. A new play by Samuel Adamson, based on Pedro Almodóvar’s film All About My Mother, starring Lesley Manville, Diana Rigg and Mark Gatiss directed by Tom Cairns. Steven Fry’s new version of panto favourite Cinderella is also staged.
2008
David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow, starring Jeff Goldblum, Kevin Spacey and Laura Michelle Kelly, directed by Matthew Warchus. Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion starring Tim Piggot-Smith and Michelle Dockery, directed by Peter Hall. Alan Ayckbourn’s The Norman Conquests, with Jessica Hynes and Stephen Mangan.
2009
Joe Sutton’s Complicit, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Elizabeth McGovern and David Suchet, directed by Kevin Spacey. Brian Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa, directed by Anna Mackmin. The Bridge Project: The Cherry Orchard & The Winter’s Tale, with Simon Russell Beale, Sinead Cusack, Rebecca Hall and Ethan Hawke, directed by Sam Mendes. Inherit the Wind starring Kevin Spacey and David Troughton, directed by Trevor Nunn.
2010
Six Degrees of Separation by John Guare, starring Obi Abili, Anthony Head and Lesley Manville, directed by David Grindley. The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard, starring Toby Stephens and Hattie Morahan, directed by Anna Mackmin. The Bridge Project: As You Like It & The Tempest, directed by Sam Mendes. Noel Coward’s Design for Living, starring Tom Burke, Lisa Dillon and Andrew Scott, directed by Anthony Page. Feydeau’s A Flea in Her Ear, in a translation by John Mortimer, starring Tom Hollander, directed by Richard Eyre.
2011
In Terence Rattigan’s centenary year, Cause Celebre starring Anne-Marie Duff, directed by Thea Sharrock. Kevin Spacey in Richard III , directed by Sam Mendes, for the final year of The Bridge Project. The Playboy of the Western World, featuring Ruth Negga and Robert Sheehan, directed by John Crowley. Michael Frayn’s Noises Off directed by Lindsay Posner, starring Janie Dee, Robert Glenister and Celia Imrie.
2012
Eve Best returns to The Old Vic in The Duchess of Malfi, directed by Jamie Lloyd. Democracy by Michael Frayn, directed by Paul Miller.
