about bristol old vic...

Timeline

• 1744 - The Coopers Hall, the earliest surviving building on the site, was built for the Coopers Company.  This now provides the entrance for the theatre.
• 1766 - The theatre opens for its first performance.  The theatre was the brainchild of a group of influential citizens led by Alexander Edgar and Thomas Symons.  Silver tokens were given to those who financially contributed to the project.  These admitted the bearer to the "sight of every performance to be exhibited in the house".  Many of these original silver tokens are in existence today and are still honoured by the Box Office.
• 1778 - George III's Royal Licence was granted, giving the Theatre its Royal title, and the right to display the Royal Arms. This licence allowed the theatre to perform serious "spoken drama".
• 1833 - The Royal Coburg, a theatre on the south bank of the Thames is renamed The Royal Victoria.  Due to its reputation as a dirty, boozy melodrama house it became affectionately known as The Old Vic.
• 1881 - The theatre undergoes a decoration that gives us the theatre we see today, most notably the star studded ceiling around the great centre rose.
• 1905 - Electricity comes to the Theatre!  The auditorium was previously lit first by candles, then oil lamps and gas.
• 1942 – A public appeal is launched to preserve the historic theatre; as a result the Theatre Royal Trust is established to buy the building for £10500.  The Council for the Encouragement of Music and Arts leased the building from the trust, making it the first State theatre in the country.
• 1946 - The Old Vic, by this point the most famous classical theatre company in the world, was invited to set up a resident repertory company in Bristol, and on the 19th February with a production of The Beaux Stratagem the Bristol Old Vic was born.
• 1970 - The Theatre Royal closes on 2 May with a performance of As You Like It, after which Dame Sybil Thorndike delivered an epilogue.
• 1972 - The new theatre complex, designed by Peter Moro, is completed.  The New Vic Studio Theatre was built in place of the old entrance, with Coopers Hall providing the new grand façade and foyer area. 
• 2007 - Work begins to address the aspects of the building that have fallen into disrepair.  Architect Andrzej Blonski begins plans to revitalize the theatre in order to make it accessible and attractive for audiences and artists in the 21st century.