Young Vic Theatre Company

The Young Vic Theatre Company began as an off-shoot of the Royal National Theatre in 1969, becoming a separate company in 1974. Its aims and principles developed those of the Old Vic Theatre School set up by directors George Devine, Michel St Denis and Glen Byam Shaw in 1946, to provide continuous training and development for actors and directors and to stage classic plays for audiences aged nine to fifteen in a 'Young Vic'. This first Young Vic company ceased in 1951 when its funding was withdrawn but the idea of a theatre for young people with low ticket prices was revived by Laurence Olivier and Frank Dunlop, an Associate Director and Administrative Director at the Royal National Theatre. In 1969 Dunlop became the founding director of the theatre. He was followed by Michael Bogdanov, David Thacker, co-directors Tim Supple and Julia Bardsley, and David Lan.

The theatre was built on The Cut, a bomb-site adjacent to the Old Vic, and opened in 1970 with Molière's The Cheats of Scapino starring popular TV actor Jim Dale. Unlike more traditional spaces, the Young Vic auditorium offered the directness and intimacy of in-the-round performance.The breeze block on steel frame building was designed as a temporary structure with a life expectancy of 5 years but lasted much longer and was renovated between 2004 - 2006 by architects Haworth Tompkins. The new Young Vic boasted a further two performance spaces: The Maria (named after theatre designer Maria Bjornson), and The Clare (named after theatre director Clare Venables) as well as a set of small offices for resident companies to use. Under David Lan, the theatre has become an important centre for the training of theatre directors and community work.