Young Vic the entire faculty resigned from the Old Vic, but in 1969 Frank Dunlop became founder-director of The Young Vic theatre with his free adaptation of Molière's "The Cheats of Scapin", presented at the new venue as a National Theatre production, opening on 11 September 1970 and starring Jim Dale in the title role with designs by Carl Toms (decor) and Maria Bjornson (costumes). Initially part of the National Theatre, the Young Vic Theatre became an independent body in 1974. In the words of Laurence Olivier, then director of the National Theatre: "Here we think to develop plays for young audiences,
Bill Mitchell (artistic director) In 2006, he was made an honorary Fellow of Falmouth University. Mitchell won the Best Director award at the Theatre Awards UK in 2011 for "The Passion", a joint production between National Theatre Wales and Wildworks. In 2015, Mitchell worked with Lost Gardens of Heligan on a show called "100: The Day Our World Changed" to commemorate local people who died in WW1. Mitchell was diagnosed with cancer in 2015, but continued to work up to his death on "Wolf’s Child" which was performed at Trelowarren Estate in Cornwall in July 2017. Bill Mitchell (artistic director) Bill Mitchell (2 December