Old Vic Theatre
| Royal Coburg Theatre Royal Victoria Theatre Royal Victoria Palace Royal Victoria Hall and Coffee Tavern |
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The exterior of the Old Vic from the corner of Baylis Road and Waterloo Road
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| Address |
The Cut London, SE1 United Kingdom |
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| Coordinates | 51°30′08″N 0°06′35″W / 51.5022°N 0.1096°W |
| Public transit |
 Waterloo Waterloo
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| Owner | Old Vic Theatre Trust Chief Executive: Sally Greene |
| Designation | Grade II* listed |
| Type | Non-profit producing theatre Artistic Director: Matthew Warchus |
| Capacity | 1,067 |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1818 |
| Rebuilt | 1871: J. T. Robinson 1880/1902: Elijah Hoole 1922/1927: Frank Matcham 1933-38: F. Green & Co 1950: Pierre Sonrel 1960: Sean Kenny 1983: Renton, Howard, Wood & Levine |
| Architect | Rudolphe Cabanel of Aachen |
| Website | |
| oldvictheatre.com | |
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the Royal Victoria Theatre, in 1871 it was rebuilt and reopened as the Royal Victoria Palace. It was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 and formally named the Royal Victoria Hall, although by this time it was already known as the "Old Vic". In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian Baylis assumed management and began a series of Shakespeare productions in 1914. The building was damaged in 1940 during air raids and it became a Grade II* listed building in 1951 after it reopened.
It was also the name of a repertory company that was based at the theatre and formed the core of the National Theatre of Great Britain on its formation in 1963, under Laurence Olivier. The National Theatre remained at the Old Vic until new premises were constructed on the South Bank, opening in 1976. The Old Vic then became the home of Prospect Theatre Company, at that time a highly successful touring company which staged such acclaimed productions as Derek Jacobi's Hamlet. However, with the withdrawal of funding for the company by the Arts Council of Great Britain in 1980 for breaching its touring obligations, Prospect disbanded in 1981. The theatre underwent complete refurbishment in 1985. In 2003, Kevin Spacey was appointed as new artistic director of the Old Vic Theatre Company which received considerable media attention. In 2015, Matthew Warchus succeeded Spacey as artistic director.
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