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The Old Vic was built in 1818 and was known as the Royal Coburg Theatre until 1833. On its opening night it presented a melodrama, an Asiatic ballet and a harlequinade, and today it continues to present a wide range of work from classic drama to innovative contemporary work.

Despite being described as ‘a licensed pit of darkness, a trap of temptation, profligacy and ruin’ by Charles Kingsley in the 1850s, the theatre has considerably influenced dramatic art. It is said to be haunted by the ghost of Lillian Baylis, who managed the theatre in the early twentieth century, and Eric Ross, an actor who died during the Spanish ’flu epidemic of 1917–18. There have also been reports of a distraught actress re-enacting the sleepwalking scene from Macbeth.

The Old Vic Theatre, The Cut, Waterloo Road, London SE1 8NB; Tel:0870 060 6628 (box office),020 7928 2651 (administration); Fax:020 7261 9161; Website: www.oldvictheatre.com