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
Theatre on the Balustrade From the start of the season 2002/2003 a young director and playwright Jiří Pokorný became, together with Ivana Slámová, the new artistic director of the theatre. With arrival of new artistic director David Czesany in 2010 the Divadlo Na zábradlí (Theater on the Balustrade) started off with a program of theme-based seasons. The first was named “Who will be let through heaven’s gates?”, the current one (2011/2012) will be focused on public space and the city as a place for living and will be called “Whose city?”. Programming decisions as well as other projects of the theatre will be based