The Old Vic’s 2021–2022 season will include a string of monologues curated by Tony nominee and Olivier winner Noma Dumezweni, a new staging of Into the Woods, and the return of the pandemic-inspired Old Vic: In Camera series—now with streaming and in-person audience options.
The season begins online with its One Voice: Solo Performances banner, presented on The Old Vic YouTube. First up is the Dumezweni-curated Home? (June 14–20), featuring three new commissions created in collaboration with refugee artists. The series of monologues will reflect those who have sought safety from their homes, their place within our collective community, and the journey that it took to get there.
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Next is Queers (June 30), curated by Mark Gatiss. Expanding beyond the original 2017 works (which will be re-released on BBC iPlayer June 2), the piece features two new commissions that expands the scope of focus on the LGBTQIA+ community.
The Old Vic: In Camera series then returns for streaming and socially distant in-person offerings of Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter (July 7–10), starring Daniel Mays and David Thewlis in a production directed by Jeremy Herrin. Emma Rice’s stage adaptation of the film Bagdad Cafe (July 19–August 21) by Percy and Eleonore Adlon follows.
In the fall, The Old Vic intends to welcome audiences back at full capacity with the world premiere of Bess Wohl’s Camp Siegfried (September 7–October 30). Patsy Ferran and Luke Thallon will star in the play, inspired by the real camp of the same name located in Long Island. As the world unknowingly sits on the brink of World War II, a boy meets a girl at a summer camp exclusively for American youth of German descent.
Audiences will get to enjoy Jack Thorne and director Matthew Warchus’ A Christmas Carol (November 13–January 8, 2022) this holiday season in a return to the stage after the Old Vic: In Camera presentation last year. In 2022, The Old Vic presents Caryl Churchill’s A Number (January 24–March 19), directed by Lyndsey Turner and starring Lennie James and Paapa Essiedu. Finally, Terry Gilliam (of Monty Python) and Leah Hausman co-direct Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods (April 16–July 9).
Full casting and creative teams for all productions will be announced at a later date. For more information, visit OldVicTheatre.com.
On top of the productions, a digital presentation of the current Old Vic 12 cohort’s new works will take place in June. The London institution also announced a number of new commissions by Diana Nneka Atuona, Natasha Gordon, Regina Taylor, and Roy Williams. In addition, The Old Vic is developing an adaptation of When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr, with a book and lyrics by Caroline Bird and music by Miranda Cooper and Nick Coler, and is helping with The NHS Play, which is in development with Atri Banerjee, Sarah Frankcom and Paul Unwin.
Finally, Tinuke Craig has been selected as Baylis Director, joining the company for 12 months to direct a full-scale production, receive a fund with which to commission a new piece of work, and shadow the artistic director.