Old Vic Theatre

A shocking assassination in the heart of London. In a bizarre mix of high-stakes global politics and radioactive villainy, a man pays with his life.

At this time of global crises and a looming new Cold War, A Very Expensive Poison sends us careering through the shadowy world of international espionage from Moscow to Mayfair.

John Crowley (Brooklyn, The Goldfinch) directs Lucy Prebble’s (The Effect, ENRON) reimagining of Luke Harding’s jaw-dropping exposé of the events behind the notorious death of Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.

'I could fly to New York and back every day for seven years and still not leave a carbon footprint as big as if I have a child. Ten thousand tonnes of CO2.

That’s the weight of the Eiffel Tower. I’d be giving birth to the Eiffel Tower’

The ice caps are melting, there’s overpopulation, political unrest; everything’s going to hell in a handcart – why on earth would someone bring a baby into this world?
 

Matthew Warchus' big-hearted, smash hit production of Charles Dickens' immortal classic returns to The Old Vic, joyously adapted for the stage by Jack Thorne (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child).

Go and get two bicycle-wheels.’

‘There are no more bicycle-wheels.’

‘What have you done with your bicycle?’

‘I never had a bicycle.’

Nothing stirs outside. In a bare room, Hamm, an old, blind tyrant, is locked in a stalemate with his servant Clov. Interrupted only by the nostalgic musings of Hamm’s ancient, dustbin-dwelling parents, this bleakly funny double act cling stubbornly to their routine of casual savagery and mutual dependence.

Richard Jones (The Hairy Ape, Into the Woods) directs Beckett’s macabre comedy in which hope and cruelty are the last things to die.

Endgame will be presented in a double bill with Samuel Beckett’s rarely seen short play Rough for Theatre II, performed by members of the company.

‘Knox Oil will consider any price.’

‘I tell you what, Mister Mac, how about this: a dollar for every grain of sand in my hand?’

Ambitious Texan oil executive Mac MacIntyre arrives in Scotland on a mission to buy a small seaside village and replace it with a refinery. It’s the deal of a lifetime, but Mac soon finds that putting a price on this beautiful spot is more complicated than he bargained for. Before the locals get rich, they must decide what their home is worth.

The hit comedy film Local Hero takes to the stage as John Crowley (Brooklyn, The Goldfinch) directs a new musical adaptation by Bill Forsyth and David Greig (Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax) with music and songs by the legendary Mark Knopfler.