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Morris Announces Bristol Old Vic Season Highlights

Artistic director Tom Morris has announces Bristol Old Vic’s new season. Highlights include major productions of Treasure Island and Coram Boy

With the main stage currently dark whilst undergoing a major refurbishment, the company continue their series of projects which sees them perform work across Bristol, forging new relationships, and strengthening existing ones as they continue to programme high quality, challenging work.

The season highlights include a new production of Treasure Island adapted from the classic novel by Robert Louis Stevenson directed by Sally Cookson. The production will dominate King Street – the site of the theatre – over the summer. Tristan Sturrock leads the company as Long John Silver.

Also, a city wide production of Coram Boy at Colston Hall, which will see 150 people from across Bristol join with professional actors to present Jamila Gavin’s Whitbread Award-winning novel over Christmas.

Bristol Ferment returns for a second year (20 – 30 July) – it is the company’s artist development programme which promotes and supports the extraordinary talent of the city. It is made possible through the generous support of The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. Bristol Ferment also includes Adam Peck’s Only (9 – 11 June), and a full studio production of Natalie McGrath’s Coasting.

The company will collaborate with St George’s to welcome Kneehigh to Bristol with their new production, The Wild Bride (18 – 22 October).

Other projects includes the on-going monthly series Word of Mouth, and Bassett – a continuation of the collaboration with National Theatre Connections – which sees Bristol Old Vic Young Company take to the Studio stage (7 – 11 September).

Tom Morris, artistic director says; “While the theatre itself is being refurbished, we thought we’d build our own “New Theatre in King St.” to stage Treasure Island. It will be huge. It will seat 500 people. It will be as if a ship had been dragged up the street from the welsh back and docked at the front of the building.

Designed by the legendary “Fleds” (of Improbable’s Sticky) and conceived with him by Bristol’s hottest directorial talent Sally Cookson, the Treasure Island design will be a talking point from Broadmead to Botany Bay.

This season we’ve set out to build a programme that embraces the whole city and collaborates with some of the other pioneering arts organisations that make Bristol “one of Europe’s creative power spots”.

That’s why we’re bringing Kneehigh’s Wild Bride to St George’s in October – and that’s why we’re creating our most ambitious production to date, Coram Boy, at the Colston Hall this Christmas. It’s a story of vast emotional scale, with a heart-stirring power you will never forget. This collaboration is nothing short of vast – and will involve 200 Bristolians (including a choir and orchestra) alongside a professional cast.”

- by Simon Cole

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