The Old Vic and Laurence Olivier as its stars, performing mainly at the New Theatre (now the Noël Coward Theatre) until the Old Vic was ready to reopen in 1950. In 1946, an offshoot of the company was established in Bristol as the Bristol Old Vic. In 1963, the Old Vic company was dissolved and the new National Theatre Company, under the artistic direction of Lord Olivier, was based at the Old Vic until its own building was opened on the South Bank near Waterloo Bridge in 1976. In July 1974 the Old Vic presented a rock concert for the first time. National
The Old Vic to the stage. Since 2015 Matthew Warchus has been Artistic Director of The Old Vic. His debut season opened in September 2015 with Warchus's production of a new play about education, "Future Conditional" by Tamsin Oglesby. On 24 October 2017 The Old Vic announced its bicentenary season. The theatre celebrated its 200th birthday on Friday 11 May 2018 with a free performance of Joe Penhall's Mood Music, featuring Ben Chaplin. Productions with Kevin Spacey as artistic director include: 2011 season 2012 season 2013 season 2014 season 2015 season Productions with Matthew Warchus as artistic director include: 2015-16 season 2016-17 season