The historic Georgian auditorium at the Bristol Old Vic reopens tomorrow. The first show in the newly restored theatre will be Wild Oats, whose company will then work together in-rep on Does My Society Look Big in This?, as Old Vic artistic director Tom Morris joins forces with writer Stephen Brown for “a thudding piece of satirical polemic that sifts the biggest news stories of today and unearths the truth that lurks behind the headlines”.
Visitors to the new theatre might be most pleased to find that 40 years after it was originally scheduled to happen, the seating will be replaced.
Other work done includes:
- Raising the stalls and gallery to improve sightlines;
- Converting the paintshop and sidestage into new performance spaces, so that more work can be programmed;
- Building new rehearsal spaces as current facilities are in desperate need of renovation;
- Installing a lift backstage to make the whole building accessible;
- Installing improved air-flow, mechanics and insulation, making the building a safer, greener space.
The second phase of redevelopment planned to begin in 2014 will see the transformation of the foyers, cafe and studio spaces, to be completed by 2016 in time for the theatre’s 250th anniversary.
In other Old Vic news, down in the studio tonight sees the relaunch of Word of Mouth as Blah Blah Blah.
“To show off our little tyke, we’ve decided to treat you to an exemplary selection of the region’s shimmering spoken word luminaries, past, present and future,” say the Old Vic team.
“This event is going to be so alluring, if it were an actual human you’d probably try to get it drunk on Thunderbirds and cop off with it behind the bike sheds.”
