Tonight:
8°c
Old Vic gets round to staging Ayckbourn at last
Evening Standard25.09.08
It is London's oldest theatre as you have never seen it before, transformed for a production not staged in the city for a generation.
The Old Vic, built in 1818, has become a theatre in the round for The Norman Conquests trilogy by Alan Ayckbourn. The plays - Table Manners, Living Together and Round And Round The Garden - were conceived to be performed in the round - and director Matthew Warchus decided the Old Vic should be adapted.
The cast includes names from TV comedies such as Jessica Hynes of Spaced, Stephen Mangan of Green Wing, and Ben Miles of Coupling.
The production is on until 20 December. The trilogy was last in London 34 years ago, when the cast included Tom Courtenay, Michael Gambon and Felicity Kendal.
