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
New Vic Theatre New Vic Theatre The New Vic Theatre is situated in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. It was purpose-built as a theatre in the round and opened in 1986, replacing a converted cinema, the Victoria Theatre, Hartshill, Stoke-on-Trent. In the early 1960s Stephen Joseph was searching for a permanent base for his "Studio Theatre" company, which specialised in theatrical productions "in the round", that is with audience on all sides. He found it in a disused cinema in Hartshill, Stoke, which was converted to theatrical use and opened as a playhouse on 9 October 1962. The first resident director was Peter Cheeseman, and he