Bristol Old Vic has today announced its 2021/22 Autumn – Winter season featuring new productions and world premieres. The season, inspired by the creativity and resilience of the communities and artists they work with, is fuelled by a successful year of experiments in digital theatre and live broadcasting. 

Giles Terera’s ‘The Meaning of Zong’, which premiered as a Radio Play for BBC Sounds in March, will receive its long awarded theatrical world premiere from 11 September to 2 October, followed by the world premiere of Emma Rice’s new adaptation of Emily Brontë’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ in a co-production with Bristol Old Vic, Wise Children, the National Theatre and York Theatre Royal. It will run at Bristol Old Vic from 9 October to 6 November before transferring to York Theatre Royal from 9 to 20 November, with a run at the National Theatre planned for 2022. 

For the Christmas season, Bristol Old Vic teams up with one of the city’s most celebrated companies, The Wardrobe Ensemble, to present a fresh spin on the legend of Robin Hood, with ‘Robin Hood: Legend of The Forgotten Forest’. Designed as a magical tale about taking aim at the things you believe in, shooting from the heart and becoming a hero ‘Robin Hood: Legend of The Forgotten Forest’ will run at Bristol Old Vic from 15 November 2021 to 8 January 2022.

18 months on from the originally planned dates, Mark Rylance will finally make his Bristol Old Vic debut in ‘Dr Semmelwies’, telling the story of radical medical creative Dr Ignaz Semmelweis, whose rejection of received wisdom dared him to look at the world differently and held the potential to save countless lives. This new production, which is presented in association with Sonia Friedman productions, the National Theatre and Shakespeare Road will play from 20 January to 12 February.

The final show in the season is Ross Willis’ ‘Wonder Boy’, a powerful coming of age story of a young boy finding his voice and power in a world in which he doesn’t belong. Directed by Olivier award winning director Sally Cookson, ‘Wonder Boy’ premieres of 5 March, running until 26 March. 

Bristol Old Vic plans to build upon the success of past digital livestreams, such as its recent global livestream of ‘Touching the Void’, and present more digital theatre going forwards. A schedule of digital broadcasts is expected to be announced later this month.