Fact #6 – our illustrious history!

Frank Dunlop (left) opening Young Vic

The Young Vic began as an offshoot of the National Theatre based at the Old Vic. Before the National Theatre moved to it’s current home on the South Bank, the National Theatre Company had its home at the Old Vic. 40 years ago, in 1970, the Young Vic was born under the direction of Founder-Director Frank Dunlop. In the words of Laurence Olivier, then director of the National Theatre, “here we think to develop plays for young audiences, an experimental workshop for authors, actors and producers.” The aim was to create an accesible theatre which offered high quality at a low cost in an informal environment and to appeal to younger audiences, but not specifically children.

My Dad’s a Birdman takes flight!

We were so excited when filming voxpops after last Saturday’s performance of My Dad’s a Birdman, as we had a line of children waiting to give their opinions!

Click below to watch what they thought of My Dad’s a Birdman. Tickets are ‘flying’ out the door, so get in there quick! Extra performances added including next Sunday 12 December at 3pm.

Everything you wanted to ask Tennessee Williams himself

Last week, we invited the great Tennessee Williams scholar (and editor of the Tennessee Williams Annual Review) Dr Robert Bray in to answer questions we had collected over Twitter, Facebook, as well as from the cast and creative team.

We wanted to know whether it got awkward for his family that The Glass Menagerie got so big but that it was so clearly an autobiographical play, why Tennessee Williams leaves home and what his relationship with his family was like afterwards, which was his favourite play and character, whether he ever found love and happiness and much more…

A great big thank you goes out to Dr Robert Bray who took the time to come in all the way from the US to answer our questions! You can read more about his thoughts on Tennessee Williams and The Glass Menagerie by reading his intro in Penguins Books and New Directions’ version of The Glass Menagerie.

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