Nancy Medina to be Bristol Old Vic's next artistic director

Award-winning director Nancy Medina has been appointed artistic director and joint-CEO of Bristol Old Vic.

Medina, who won the 2018 Peter Hall Director Award and the 2020/21 Peter Hall Bursary, has a raft of credits to her name including Trouble in Mind at the National Theatre, Two Trains Running in Northampton and on tour and The Half God of Rainfall at the Birmingham Rep and Kiln Theatre. She currently is a visiting director at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and joint artistic director of the Bristol School of Acting.

She said today, "I feel a great sense of awe and excitement to be embarking on a journey that will contribute to the great legacy of leading England's oldest working theatre. I feel gratitude to be joining the amazing team at Bristol Old Vic and to further the outstanding work that Tom and Charlotte have initiated for excellence in creativity, innovation, artist development and engagement with the wider city of Bristol.

"I have lived in Bristol for 14 years, have grown as a person, as an artist, and I am happily raising my children here. It will be a great honour to listen, reflect, and engage with the people of Bristol and together imagine what the future of theatre and the arts can be in this shining city of the South West."

Medina's production of The Darkest Part of the Night is set to open at the Kiln Theatre in July. She is set to take on the role at Bristol Old Vic full-time in spring 2023.

Tom Morris, the outgoing artistic director (with 12 years in the role) said: "This is a brilliant appointment made by an outstanding board through a groundbreaking and incisive process. Nancy is a landmark director at the height of her powers and a visionary creative leader. Through her own rehearsal rooms and the extraordinary achievement of setting up the Bristol School of Acting, she has established an unmatched reputation in combining radical change with artistic excellence. This combination is precious and rare.

"To survive and flourish over the next decades, British theatre is going to have to change and that will need outstanding leadership. Through this appointment, Bristol Old Vic has put itself in the best possible position to be in the vanguard of that process."

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