Old Vic

The Old Vic, one of the most reknowned theatres in London, was established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre.

The theatre was founded by James King and Daniel Dunn (formerly managers of the Surrey Theatre in Bermondsey), and John Thomas Serres, then Marine painter to the King. The latter managed to secure the patronage of Princess Charlotte and her husband Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, naming the theatre the Royal Coburg Theatre. The theatre was a 'minor' theatre (as opposed to one of the two patent theatres) and was thus technically forbidden to show serious drama.

Nevertheless, when the theatre passed to George Bolwell Davidge in 1824 he succeeded in bringing legendary actor Edmund Kean south of the river to play six Shakespeare plays in six nights. The theatre's role in bringing high art to the masses was confirmed when Kean addressed the audience during his curtain call saying "I have never acted to such a set of ignorant, unmitigated brutes as I see before me." More popular staples in the repertoire were 'sensational and violent' melodramas demonstrating the evils of drink, "churned out by the house dramatist", confirmed teetotaller Douglas Jerrold.

In 1833 it was bought by Daniel Egerton and William Abbot who tried to capitalise on the abolition of the legal distinction between patent and minor theatres, enacted in Parliament earlier that year. On 1 July 1834 the theatre was renamed the Royal Victoria Theatre, under the 'protection and patronage' of Victoria, Duchess of Kent, mother to Princess Victoria, the 14-year-old heir presumptive.

In 1880, under the ownership of Emma Cons to whom there are plaques outside & inside the theatre, it became The Royal Victoria Hall


The theatre was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it became formally known as the Royal Victoria Hall And Coffee Tavern. It was run on 'strict temperance lines' and 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 Old Vic Company was established in 1929, led by Sir John Gielgud. Between 1925 and 1931, Lilian Baylis championed the re-building of the then-derelict Sadler's Wells Theatre, and established a ballet company under the direction of Dame Ninette de Valois. For a few years the drama and ballet companies rotated between the two theatres, with the ballet becoming permanently based at Sadler's Wells in 1935.

The building was damaged in 1940 during air raids but it became a Grade II listed building in 1951 after it reopened.

The Old Vic company 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 theatre underwent complete refurbishment in 1985 and in 1998, the building was bought by a new charitable trust, The Old Vic Theatre Trust 2000. In 2003 American actor Kevin Spacey was appointed as new artistic director of the Old Vic Theatre Company which received considerable media attention.