The Old Vic is throwing a free party and parade for its 200th birthday

The extremely venerable Old Vic will be celebrating its double centenary this Saturday (May 12) with a series of free events, kicking off with a jolly good old-fashioned procession featuring special dance, theatre and opera performances. It will leave the National Theatre at noon and march to the Vic then, from 1.15pm, there’ll be a street party on Webber Street and a free but ticketed open-house programme of children’s entertainment (ages three-plus) within the theatre itself.

If that’s not enough fun for you, you can still buy tickets to a special night of variety to mark the theatre’s birthday celebrations on Saturday night itself, which will feature the likes of Tim Key, an exclusive performance written by ‘Matilda’ scribe Dennis Kelly, and original new music written and performed by Sheila Atim and Arthur Darvill, including a special birthday song for the theatre itself. Also, excitingly, it’s just been announced that Tim Minchin will pop in to perform a few songs. 

There’s also a completely free performance of current smash show ‘Mood Music’ on Friday night; the tickets have already technically been distributed by ballot, but if you can snag yourself a return then you will pay the princely sum of £0.00 for it. Chance your arm by queueing on the night, or add yourself to the waiting list by emailing box.office@oldvictheatre.com.

For more information, see oldvictheatre.com/200