Bristol Old Vic announces 2023 Spring season

Bristol Old Vic have announced their Spring season for 2023, with partnerships taking centre stage in a series of blockbuster titles. 

Collaborations with The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, Complicité, Extraordinary Bodies and Paines Plough will fill the theatre with returning hits and premieres, whilst the Weston Studio has a full season for the first time since 2019. 

In the main theatre, Complicité brings their new work to the venue, Drive Your Blow Over the Bones of the Dead, directed by Simon McBurney. This darkly comic noir runs from 19 January-11 February. This will be followed by You Bury Me, co-produced by Paines Plough, 45North, Orange Tree Theatre and The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh. This coming of age story of six young Egyptians and runs 24 February-4 March. 

Extraordinary Bodies, Diverse City and Cirque Bijou join forces with Bristol Old Vic and Theatre Royal Plymouth to present Waldo’s Circus of Magic and Terror, an uplifting new circus theatre musical by Hattie Naylor and Jamie Beddard. The show sees Waldo’s troupe of misfits taking refuge in their circus, but can it keep them safe in the shadow of a growing fascist movement? The show runs 11 March-1 April. 

The venue then welcomes Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of) back after taking the West End by storm. The audacious retelling of Jane Austen’s love story sees microphones fought over in this “smart, laugh out loud funny” (Daily Telegraph) show which features a string of pop classics. The show runs from 8-20 May. 

Bristol Old Vic and Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh then join forces once again to produce Tolstoy’s Masterpiece Anna Karenina, which runs from 7-24 June. 

In the Weston Studio, Phosphoros Theatre’s All The Beds I Have Slept In is back, with an updated version and new cast of refugee performers exploring the seam of kindness and care within their experiences of seeking asylum. The show runs from 3-4 February. This is followed by Little Murmur, a new dance show for young people aged 7+, by Aakash Odedra, playing from 16-18 February. 

Help! I think I’m A Nationalist runs from 1-3 March, with the new one-man comedy show exploring identity, second homes, nationalism, xenophobia and bagpipes by Cornish artist Seamas Carey. Running from 15-18 March, theatre company YESYESNONO with We Were Promised Honey!, their new show which took Edinburgh by storm. 

North Somerset’s Living Spit then return with their musical comedy One Man and His Cow, a unique story of friendship in a laugh out loud production. This show runs from 24 April-5 May. 

With families in mind, the spring season is also full of guaranteed crowd pleasers including Judith Kerr’s Mog the Forgetful Cat (14-18 February), and her classic tale The Tiger Who Came to Tea (28-30 July). Zog also returns, running from 5-16 April, with Dinosaur World Live stomping into the venue on 25-27 July. 

The spring season goes on sale to members today, and on general sale from 27 October here.