OLD VIC THEATRE
Category: TheatreOld Vic Theatre (in the Waterloo Road) is famous for its Shakespeare productions. The theatre opened in 1818. It was originally the Royal Cobury. Owning to the state of the roads the rank and fashion of town were unwilling to risk the journey across the river, and the Cobury became a local house for melodrama of the most sensational kind, but the plays were apparently well-staged. The interior was handsomely decorated, one of the most interesting features being the famous curtain installed in 1820—21, which consisted of sixty-three pieces of looking-glass and reflected the whole house. Its weight put too great a strain on the roof, and it had to be removed.
In 1871, after a period as a music-hall the theatre was sold by auction and became the New Victoria Palace. It closed in 1880. Then it was reopened on Boxing Day in 1880 as a temperance amusement-hall. It was named the Royal Victoria Hall and Coffee Tavern. It was intended as a cheap and decent place for family entertainment at reasonable prices, and in spite of considerable misgivings, it prospered. In 1900 the first opera was produced there and scenes from Shakespeare supplemented the usual vocal and orchestral concerts. In 1914 the first regular Shakespeare season was given.
A succession of excellent actors and directors assured the success of the Old Vic far beyond the confines of its own territory.
In 1963 on 15 June the Old Vic closed and was reopened after extensive alterations as the temporary home of the National Theatre company under the direction of Laurence Olivier.
ALDWYCH THEATRE
This was opened on 23 December 1905. In 1960 The Aldwych became the London home of the Royal Shakespeare company, and extensive alterations were in the interior.
(From The Oxford Companion to the Theatre Londont 1967)