The Bristol Old Vic (grid reference ST587727) is a theatre complex and theatrical company in the centre of Bristol, England. The complex includes the 1766 Theatre Royal, which claims to be the oldest continually-operating theatre in England, along with a 1970s studio theatre, offices and backstage facilities. It also incorporates the eighteenth-century Coopers' Hall as its foyer. The Theatre Royal is a grade I listed building, while the Coopers' Hall is grade II*. The present company was established in 1946 as an offshoot of the London Old Vic theatre. It is also affiliated with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, a well-regarded school for both actors and technicians. The Bristol Old Vic theatre complex in Bristol, England. ... Bristol (IPA: ) is a city, unitary authority and ceremonial county in South West England, 115 miles (185 km) west of London and between the cities of Bath, Gloucester and Newport. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... A villa with a superimposed portico, from Book IV of Palladios I Quattro Libri dellArchitettura, in a modestly priced English translation published in London, 1736. ... The British national grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references commonly used in Great Britain, different from using latitude or longitude. ... Serge Sudeikins poster for the Bat Theatre (1922). ... Bristol (IPA: ) is a city, unitary authority and ceremonial county in South West England, 115 miles (185 km) west of London and between the cities of Bath, Gloucester and Newport. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... 1766 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Buckingham Palace, a Grade I listed building. ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The exterior of the Old Vic. ...

History

The theatre is situated on the quiet cobbled King Street, a few yards from the Floating Harbour. The Coopers' Hall is the earliest surviving building on the site, having been built in 1744 for the Coopers' Company, the guild of coopers in Bristol, by architect William Halfpenny. It has a "debased Palladian" façade with four Corinthian columns. It only remained in the hands of the Coopers until 1785, subsequently becoming a public assembly room, a wine warehouse, a Baptist chapel and eventually a fruit and vegetable warehouse. A cobblestone-covered street Cobblestones are stones used in the pavement of early streets. ... St Augustines Reach and Peros Bridge, during the 2004 Harbour Festival. ... // Events The third French and Indian War, known as King Georges War, breaks out at Port Royal, Nova Scotia The First Saudi State founded by Mohammed Ibn Saud Prague occupied by Prussian armies Ongoing events War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748) Births January 10 - Thomas Mifflin, fifth President... This article includes a list of works cited but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... A cooper readies the end of a barrel at the Van Ryn Brandy Cellar near Stellenbosch, South Africa The barrel is sealed with a lid, waterproofed using reed leaves, and the end-ring fitted Traditionally, a cooper is someone who makes wooden barrels, casks, buckets and other similar wooden objects. ... Architect at his drawing board, 1893 An Architect is a person who is involved in the planning, designing and oversight of a buildings construction. ... A villa with a superimposed portico, from Book IV of Palladios I Quattro Libri dellArchitettura, in a modestly priced English translation published in London, 1736. ...

The "Theatre in King Street" was built to designs by Thomas Paty between 1764 and 1766 on land behind and to one side of the Coopers' Hall, with a passage through one of the houses in front of it serving as an entranceway. The interior was modelled, with some variations, on that of the Drury Lane Theatre Royal in London. The first performance, on 30 May 1766, included a prologue and epilogue by David Garrick. However, the theatre was initially unable to obtain a Royal Licence, and had to advertise its productions as "a concert with a specimen of rhetorick" to avoid prosecution under the Licensing Act 1737. This pretence was dropped after two years, though a touring production playing in the Coopers' Hall in 1773 did run into legal trouble. Thomas Paty (c. ... 1764 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Drury Lane is a street in the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. ... The present-day Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, sketched when it was new, in 1813. ... May 30 is the 150th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (151st in leap years). ... Portrait of David Garrick David Garrick (February 19, 1717 – January 20, 1779) was an English actor, dramatist, theatrical producer and theatrical manager, and a friend and pupil of Samuel Johnson. ... The Licensing Act or Theatrical Licensing Act of 1737 (citation ) was a landmark act of censorship of the British stage and one of the most determining factors in the development of Augustan drama. ...

Legal concerns were alleviated when the Royal Letters Patent were eventually granted in 1778, and the theatre became a patent theatre and took up the name "Theatre Royal". At this time the theatre also started opening for the winter season, and a joint company was established to perform at both the Bath Theatre Royal and in Bristol, featuring famous names including Sarah Siddons, whose ghost, according to legend, haunts the Bristol theatre. The auditorium was remodelled with a new sloping ceiling and gallery in 1800. After the break with Bath in 1819 the theatre was managed by William M'Cready, the father of William Charles Macready, with little success, but slowly rose again under his widow Sarah M'Cready in the 1850s. After her death in 1853 the M'Creadys' son-in-law James Chute took over, but allowed the Theatre Royal to decline again when he opened the Prince's Theatre in 1867. A new, but still unsatisfactory, entranceway was constructed in 1903. Letters Patent by Queen Victoria creating the office of Governor-General of Australia Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of an open letter issued by a monarch or government granting an office, a right, monopoly, title, or status to someone or some entity such as... The patent theatres were the theatres that were licenced to perform spoken drama after the English Restoration of Charles II in 1660. ... Numerous theatres, especially in the UK, have been named Theatre Royal; the name was once an indication that the theatre had a Royal Patent without which theatrical performances were illegal. ... The Theatre Royal in Bath has been established for over 200 years and is one of the more important provincial (ie not in London) theatres in the UK, with a capacity for an audience of 950. ... Sarah Siddons Sarah Siddons (1755–1831) was a British actress, the best-known of the 18th century. ... // ON MAY 5 1853 MR.FADER HAD SEX WITH A MAN NAME MR WIEN THEN THEY HAD SON NAMEDMRS COTURE AND MR MANOOGIAN WENT INTO MRS HASKELLS OFFICE NAKED AND DANCED AROUND AND MASTERBATED ON HER CHEST AND SHE LICKED IT OFF THEN THEY HAD ORAL SEEX WITH NAPLOEAN OF... William Charles Macready (March 3, 1793 - April 27, 1873), English actor, was born in London, and educated at Rugby. ... // Events and Trends Technology Production of steel revolutionised by invention of the Bessemer process Benjamin Silliman fractionates petroleum by distillation for the first time First transatlantic telegraph cable laid First safety elevator installed by Elisha Otis Science Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species, putting forward the theory of evolution... 1853 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Cunt BAg Twat Fuk suck my penis ring 0778851865!!!!!!Year 1867 (MDCCCLXVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... 1903 (MCMIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Friday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ...

The Theatre Royal remained in the shadow of the Prince's for over 70 years, until the Prince's was destroyed by German bombs during the Second World War. The threat of closure in 1942 led to a public appeal to preserve the historic theatre, and as a result a new Trust was established to buy the building. The Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts leased the building from the Trust and in 1946 CEMA's successor the Arts Council arranged for a company from the London Old Vic to staff it, thus forming the Bristol Old Vic. The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School was also established in 1946. The Bristol Old Vic had its greatest triumph when its 1954 production Salad Days transferred to the West End and became the longest-running musical on the London stage. The Arts Council remained involved until 1963 when their role was taken over by the City Council. The Bristol Old Vic also put plays on in the council-owned Little Theatre from then until 1980. Heinkel He 111 German bomber over the Surrey Docks, Southwark, London (German propaganda photomontage) The Blitz was the sustained bombing of the United Kingdom by National Socialist Germany between 7 September 1940 and 16 May 1941 in World War II. It was carried out by the Luftwaffe to retaliate the... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Year 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... The Arts Council of Great Britain was a Quango dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Britain. ... Salad Days is a romantic Shounen Manga created by Shinobu Inokuma, which is a collection of romance stories occuring in a High School/college setting Salad Days is different as compared to other mainstream manga which usually have plotlines relating to super heroes/super heroines, adventures or in contrary, mushy... // West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre in London, or sometimes more specifically for shows staged in the large theatres of Londons Theatreland . Along with New Yorks Broadway Theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of theatre in the... The Fantasticks was the longest-running musical in history. ...

The present theatre complex, designed by Peter Moro, was completed in 1972. The entrance building was demolished, as were a number of surrounding buildings and, more controversially, the stage area of the 1766 theatre. A new stage and fly tower were built along with technical facilities and offices. The 150-seat New Vic Studio Theatre was built in place of the old entrance, and the Coopers' Hall provided the theatre with the grand façade and foyer area it had previously lacked. 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ...

Current activities

Facade of the Old Vic

The theatre has enjoyed a small renaissance since a new Arts Council funding package and the appointment of David Farr and Simon Reade as joint artistic directors in January 2003. The company briefly branded itself as the "new bristol old vic" and its two theatres are now called the "main house" and the "studio", and house audiences of 400 and 150 respectively. As well as hosting its own productions and Theatre School performances, it also provides a venue for small touring groups and local theatre companies. It thus remains the main venue for highbrow professional theatre in the city, while major commercial touring productions generally visit the much larger Bristol Hippodrome. Farr left Bristol to join the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, in the summer of 2005, leaving Reade as sole artistic director. The main house pantomime for December 2005 and January 2006 is a new adaptation of Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp based on the version by popular children's author Philip Pullman. The Bristol Hippodrome is a theatre in the city centre of Bristol with a capacity of nearly 2000. ... Lyric Theatre (sometimes Theater, the American spelling) is a common name for performing-arts houses, including: // Lyric Theatre Brisbane, Queensland Lyric Theatre, Sydney, New South Wales Lyric Theatre in Dublin Lyric Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri. ... Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, approximately 5 miles (8km) west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Christmas Pantomime colour lithograph bookcover, 1890 Pantomime (informally, panto) refers to a theatrical genre, traditionally found in Great Britain, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Ireland, which is usually performed around the Christmas and New Year holiday season. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... Aladdin in the Magic Garden, an illustration by Max Liebert from Ludwig Fuldas Aladdin und die Wunderlampe Aladdin (a corruption of the Arabic name , Arabic: علاء الدين literally nobility of faith) is one of the tales with an Arabic Syrian origin[1] in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights... Philip Pullman CBE (born October 19, 1946) is an English writer. ...

Despite a number of closures, due to reconstruction, economics and war, the Theatre Royal has remained a playhouse continually since 1766, and thus claims the title of "Britain's oldest continually working theatre". The auditorium retains a small area of the original bench seating in the gallery and the original "thunder-run" in which cannonballs would be rolled down a wooden frame in the roof to simulate the sound of a storm.

Touring

The Bristol Old Vic has a long history of taking productions on tour both within the United Kingdom and overseas. In March 1973, led by Paul Eddington and Judy Campbell the Company helped launch the first Hong Kong International Arts Festival with productions of The Taming of the Shrew and Congreve's The Double Dealer. During its visit the Company also appeared in a radio production for Radio Hong Kong of The Importance of Being Earnest with Judy Campbell as Lady Bracknell, Stephen Moore as Jack and Elizabeth Power as Gwendolyn. Paul Eddington playing Jim Hacker in Yes, Prime Minister. ... Taming of the Shrew by Augustus Egg The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare. ... The Importance of Being Earnest The Importance of Being Earnest is a play by Oscar Wilde, a comedy of manners in either three or four acts (depending on edition) inspired by W. S. Gilberts Engaged. ... Stephen Moore (born December 11, 1937) is a British actor from Brixton, London. ...

Bristol Old Vic Theatre School

The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, opened by Laurence Olivier in 1946, now operates under Principal Christopher Denys as an affiliate of the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama, an art council securing the highest of training in the arts, alongside RADA, with some courses validated by the University of the West of England. The theatre school only accepts 12 people out of some 2500 applications a year,^{[citation needed]} for the three-year BA acting course making it one of the most selective drama schools in the world.^{[citation needed]} Applicants are purely judged on talent alone in two rounds of intense auditions;^{[citation needed]} there are no educational requirements. It has its own premises in Clifton, bought with proceeds from the London success of Salad Days.^{[citation needed]} It previously had working links with the Drama Department of the University of Bristol, which still holds many papers of the Bristol Old Vic in its Theatre Collection. For many years it presented regular student productions in the Department's experimental Drama Studio converted from an indoor tennis court off a corridor in the Wills Memorial Building behind the University's Bell Tower at the top of Bristol's fashionable Park Street. Students from the School and the Drama Department shared many of each others' formal lectures and a number of the Department's graduates went on to continue their studies as full-time students at the School. Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM (22 May 1907–11 July 1989) was an Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA and four-time Emmy winning English actor, director, and producer. ... The Conservatoire for Dance and Drama is a higher education institution in the United Kingdom. ... The University of the West of England (abbrev. ... The crowded Princess Victoria Street lies at the heart of Clifton Village Clifton is an inner suburb of the English port city of Bristol. ... The University of Bristol is a university in Bristol, England. ... The Wills Memorial Building The Wills Memorial Building is situated at the top of Park Street in Queens Road in Bristol, United Kingdom. ...

Having struggled with limited resources until the 1960s, the School now has access to a number of performing venues, including the private Redgrave Theatre at Clifton College and the Bristol Old Vic theatre, known as the Theatre Royal. (The theatre was named after the actor Sir Michael Redgrave, who was an old boy of the College.) It also takes productions on tour to various locations in the nearby West Country, a tradition dating back to the 1950s when for several years students moved to Dartington Hall in South Devon for two weeks each spring where they rehearsed and presented a public production in the Barn Theatre. While the School was able to use broadcasting studio facilities at the University Drama Studio for radio drama training in the 1950s and also ran occasional courses in conjunction with the BBC at their Bristol Studios in Whiteladies Road, in 1996 it was able to acquire its own production facilities, Christchurch Studios, a suite of fully-equipped former BBC radio studios in Clifton. An 1898 etching of the College Close Clifton College is a major coeducational public school in Clifton, Bristol, England. ... Michael Redgrave and Margaret Lockwood in The Lady Vanishes (1938) Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave (March 20, 1908 - March 21, 1985) was an English actor. ... The West Country is an informal term for the area of south-western England encompasing the counties of Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, and Dorset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. ... Dartington Hall Estate Gardens Dartington Hall, near Totnes, Devon, England, is a medieval hall built between 1388 and 1400 for John Holand, Earl of Huntingdon, half-brother to Richard II. After John was beheaded, the Crown owned the estate until it was acquired in 1559 by Sir Arthur Champernowne, Vice... For other uses, see Devon (disambiguation). ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion...

The School began life in October 1946, only eight months after the founding of its parent Bristol Old Vic Theatre Company, in a room above a fruit merchant's warehouse in the Rackhay near the stage door of the Theatre Royal. (The yard of the derelict St Nicholas School adjacent to the warehouse was still used by the Company for rehearsals of crowd scenes and stage fights as late as the early 1960s, notably for John Hale's productions of Romeo and Juliet starring the Canadian actor Paul Massie and Annette Crosbie, a former student of the School, and Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac with Peter Wyngarde. Students from the Theatre School frequently played in these crowd scenes and fights.) For other meanings see Romeo (disambiguation) and Juliet (disambiguation). ... Annette Crosbie, OBE (born 12 February 1934) is a Scottish character actress, best known for her many television appearances. ... Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand (April 1, 1868 - December 2, 1918), French poet and dramatist. ... Cyrano de Bergerac Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac (March 6, 1619 – July 28, 1655) was a French dramatist and duellist born in Paris, who is now best remembered for the many works of fiction which have been woven around his life story, most notably the play by Edmond Rostand which... Peter Wyngarde in an episode of The Champions (1968). ...

The School continued in these premises for eight years because of the Old Vic's lack of funds in the post-war decade until 1954 when the Company produced a small-scale end-of season topical musical for the entertainment of regular patrons and to allow the actors to let their hair down after a season of mainly serious productions.

This musical, Salad Days by Julian Slade and Dorothy Reynolds, proved very popular with Bristol audiences and was subsequently transferred to London's West End where it was an instantaneous hit and played for more than four years, making it the longest running production in West End history at the time. Since then it has never been out of production somewhere in the world^{[citation needed]} and has become part of theatre history. £7,000 from the Salad Days profits — a large sum in those days — was given to the School towards the purchase and conversion of two large adjoining Victorian villas at 1 and 2 Downside Road in Clifton. In 1995 the enduring benefit to students of that donation was formally recognised when a new custom-built dance and movement studio in the School's back garden was named the Slade/Reynolds Studio.

Many distinguished members of the theatrical profession have taught at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Perhaps the best known was the legendary Rudi Shelly, who joined the teaching staff only two weeks after the School opened in 1946 and was still working, conducting a master-class from his hospital bed, just hours before his death at the age of 90 in May 1998.^{[citation needed]} Former students from around the world gathered in Bristol for his funeral at which the eulogy was delivered by former student Stephanie Cole. Apart from students of the School, over the years many established actors from around the world sought out Rudi Shelly's master classes when visiting or working in England. Stephanie Cole, in character as Diana Trent on Waiting for God. ...

At the time of the School's move to its current premises in Downside Road, Clifton, in 1956, the Principal was Duncan (Bill) Ross, who had succeeded the first Principal, Edward Stanley in 1954. After guiding the School through seven difficult years that are nonetheless still regarded by his former students as a golden age, Ross left in late 1961 to take up a teaching post in the USA. Soon after the departure of this much-loved principal, other key staff members resigned, including Daphne Heard and Maggie Collins, and Paula Gwyn-Davies, the School Secretary. Image:Daphneheard. ...

After a short interregnum under the actor Richard Ainley, the post of Principal was taken by Nat Brenner, a distinguished actor and theatre technician and, at that time, General Manager of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre. Brenner's stewardship was regarded by students of the time as another golden age. He remained in the post until 1980, when he was succeeded by the current Principal, Christopher Denys. Richard Ainley (22 October(?) 1910 - 18 May 1967) was a stage and film actor, son of Henry Ainley and brother of Anthony Ainley. ...

The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, as its name suggests, is not simply a school for actors. It provides comprehensive training courses for all theatre, radio, film, and television professionals and its graduates are to be found in key positions as actors, directors, set designers, costumer designers, lighting designers and stage and company managers throughout the world.

Among the most notable of the many distinguished actors on the School's list of alumni are the Academy Award winners Daniel Day-Lewis and Jeremy Irons. See Alumni of Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Academy Award The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent and most watched film awards ceremony in the world. ... Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis (born 29 April 1957), is an Academy-Award winning and Golden Globe-award nominated actor. ... Jeremy Irons (born September 19, 1948) is an Oscar, Tony and double-Emmy award winning English film, television and stage actor. ...

References

• B. Little &, P. Moro, The Story of the Theatre Royal Bristol, Trustees of the Theatre Royal, 1981
• K. Barker, The Theatre Royal Bristol: The First Seventy Years, Bristol Branch of the Historical Association, 1961
• A. Gomme, M. Jenner & B. Little, Bristol: an Architectural History, Lund Humphries, 1979
• Walter Ison, The Georgian Buildings of Bristol, Kingsmead Press, 1952
• Kathleen Barker, The Theatre Royal Bristol 1766-1966: Two Centuries of Stage History, The Society for Theatre Research, 1974 ISBN 0-85430-022-8
• Shirley Brown, Bristol Old Vic Theatre School: the first 50 years, BOVTS Productions Ltd, 1996 ISBN 1-85459-395-1
• Audrey Williams and Charles Landstone, Bristol Old Vic—the First Ten Years, J. Garnet Miller Limited, 1957

External links

• Bristol Old Vic
• Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
• University of Bristol Theatre Collection
• The Theatre Royal at Looking at Buildings