The Old Vic in Waterloo, south London, was founded in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre and renamed the Royal Victoria Theatre in 1833 under the patronage of the Duchess of Kent. It was rebuilt in 1871. From 1880 Emma Cons ran it on strict temperance lines as the Royal Victoria Hall; her niece Lilian Baylis took over the management in 1898 and began a series of Shakespeare productions in 1914. Damaged in air raids in 1940, it reopened in 1950. From 1963 to 1976 the newly formed National Theatre was based here under Laurence Olivier before moving to its own building on the South Bank. After a refurbishment in 1982 to 1983 under Canadian owner Ed Mirvish, the listed 1,000-seat theatre has been run since 1998 by a charitable trust as a producing house.
The Old Vic, founded in 1818, is one of the oldest continuously operating theatres in London — Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, and Kevin Spacey led the house in different eras.
At a glance
- Type
- Theatre
- Location
- London, United Kingdom
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