Old Vic Theatre Review

Magical Christmas Carol, sweet, powerful and moving

Nice theatre although seats don't offer a lot of leg room. Good shows

Great venue with good performances. Would be nicer if had a larger bar

Fantastic play 'The American Clock'. Great afternoon.

We saw a Christmas story here and it was spectacular! The seating threw me off when I was booking the tickets, but it was wonderful for the show. It seemed like everyone in the theatre had a great seat. Would love to come back and see another show here.

Classic old British Theatre which has some of the biggest shows all year round. Has its own underground bar open till 1 am.

Good auditorium, but terrible meeting places! Impossible to socialise before the show, or at the interval- it's far too crowded.

Fantastic and entertaining show. The cast are amazing.

Went to see The Lorax, show was excellent, venue was really nice, not a great selection of snacks unless you like hand knitted yoghurt and kale flavoured jelly beans but there is a Sainsbury's only 2 mins walk away.

Girl from the North Country is excellent. Production excellent. Actors excellent. Well worth trying to get tickets

The play we saw, A Monster Calls, was spectacular. The theater was beautiful. The seating... was a little challenging. But frankly, the whole thing was wonderful.

We purchased a couple of cheap seat tickets. With most theatres you expect a restricted view given the price tag. However with this theatre booking there was absolutely no view of the stage whatsoever and at the time of booking it was not apparent that the 'Seats' were in fact standing spaces. My partner and I are not tall people 5ft 3 - 5ft 5 and unless you are a giant you have no chance of seeing any of the play. The attached image reflects exactly what we could see, even on tip toes. Selling tickets labelled as seats is false advertising and dishonest. We would never have purchased them had we known. When we raised the issue with the front desk they seemed blase about our situation and are clearly aware of the seating / standing issue. Avoid seats 17/18 in the top tier area of the baylis circle at all costs! Its really not worth the hassle. Very disappointed about the entire experience. Sad as it was our first trip to the Old Vic, it will now be our last.

Great service, brilliant actors and shows. I just tend to find the young Vic takes more chances show wise

Very beautiful, old theatre. We saw Arthur Miller's, All My Son's with Bill Pullman, Sally Fields, Colin Morgan, Jenna Coleman and more. It was a fabulous performance, it was totally engrossing and the time flew by, is easy to see why SF and BP get top billing. The only blot was a woman near us with bronchitis, had an endless coughing fit near the end and despite sitting at the end of the row did not have the courtesy to move, deal with it and come back, so, much vital dialogue was missed. The theatre is having renovations so the loos are inconveniently located outside. Which was perhaps why the 1st floor bar was rammed and lacking in space for people to sit or even stand and have a drink before the show, especially as the doors where not opened until about 10 minutes before the performance started. Long communal tables or small round ones, would make better use of the available space.

Lovely theatre with great history. Saw a wonderful play. Enjoyable night.

Too many Bob Dylan fans drinking pints and going to the wc during the performance, which marred n excellent Conor Macpherson play.

Very friendly staff! Stage was small but very cozy and that is why i loved it. Seats were confortable too!

One of my favourite theatres in London - however they really need to fix the number of fire exits that they have here. They only have 2-3 fire exits on the ground floor for all of the stalls which wouldn't be adequate into he event of a fire. Great atmosphere and good show selection.

Great venue. Doesn't look great at the moment as currently undergoing refurbishment

Very nice little theater. .
Good places everywhere. .

Intimate venue with some great shows. Much smaller than some of the other west end theatres, but this is a big plus. Can see the actors expressions from even the furthest seats. Audience participation is much better due to the seating layout and venue has been nicely renovated. Even the bar prices and snacks are reasonable for the venue type.

Great performance space with a variety of productions on through out the year. Currently the box office/foyer is limited due to the redevelopment of the toilets.

Apart from the over enthusiastic program seller insisting I stop photographing an empty (before the show started) thratre. It was amazing!

If you have seats in the stalls you can get a very up close view of the stage depending on the set and show. The seats up in the top circle can be very tight so watch out if you have long legs.

Good, comfortable theatre, easy to get.beautiful shows

Great production of a Christmas Carol. Shame about the queue to get in on a cold wet day

Went to see A monster calls - brilliant stage, cast and effects. A must see!

Always a gorgeous time at this beautiful venue, and consistently high quality of work.

Great fun night and brilliant show - American Clock

Good acoustics, excellent work by actors and actresses.

Lovely independent theatre which always has outstanding performances.
Situated in close proximity it's little sister The Young Vic Theatre.
Staff are welcoming, enthusiastic, and informative.
Once renovation is complete and the toilets are up and running properly again I am sure it will be even better.
Nearest stations are Waterloo East and Waterloo.
Scenic walk from either Lambeth or Westminster.

Probably the best theatre in London, certainly in terms of programmation. The bar downstairs is a bit on the small and stuffy side though, even if the food looks lovely.

The toilets are all outside so go before... there was plenty of them too. Excellent venue inside

Disappointing evening. My daughter booked "A Christmas Carol" tickets for 6 as a Christmas present. No mention was made during the booking process about the severely restricted view when sitting three rows back or higher in the centre of the upper circle. We literally could not see two thirds or more of the stage because of the hanging lanterns being directly in our sight line. The theatre must be aware of this problem and it is totally unreasonable not to make customers aware when booking. I can only assume The Old Vic doesn't care about the dozens of seats involved as the problem could be easily remideed by raising the lanterns.

Excellent, good, mediocre and bad.
I guess it depends on what you see and where you sit. A small theatre which does have quite a few seats with limited views. The seats them selves are comfortable.

The theatre is pleasant enough, traditional theatre stage but modern sleek and airy bar areas.

Very good and attentive staff. Magical show ( a Christmas Carol) and a free mince pie.
Wonderful

Great venue and comfortable seating! Staff is also very helpful

Love The Old Vic. Great not- for- profit theatre that always had a great bill board. Right by Waterloo Station. Great seating, good food and drinks. We saw our dear friend in an understudy run of 'Endgame'. Wonderful actors.

Kristin Scott Thomas here; Elecktra, 2015? She was sublime. The play was merely fine. The production was good-ish. But they spent all their money on her. The rest of the cast was so bad it made my arse squeak. Memorable for that.

2016: Lisa Dwan in Samuel Beckett's No's Knife: again - my bottom hurt afterwards. But a good hurt.

Peter O'Toole in Jeffrey Bernard is unwell. Too sweet and hammy for words. But nevertheless... a ball.

Watched a Christmas Carol. The show was amazing and it made you feel part of it as you are so close to the stage. The actors are stunning. Worth seeing live and not just on the tv

One of my favourite theatres. Always a pleasure to go back.

Very small bar area with limited seat. Lots of bar type stools which frighten the life out of me, I have mobility issues, although I imagine space is limited in this old building. The actual theatre & stage area is typical of old style entertainment.
Taxi dropped us off right outside & we managed to get a taxi outside when we cane out, which was great for us.
Please I visited & very pleased to say I ve watched a play in the old vic.

Kevin Spacey left a valuable legacy. A treat to visit the Old Vic at every opportunity. A national treasure in every way.

Historic theatre close to Waterloo station in central London.

Great theatre near Waterloo Station. The sound here is great with a majority of the seats having a good view of the stage. They are having a refit at the moment (July 19) so the toilets are outside

Interesting place - endgame. Great acting by Daniel and Alan, And of course there others

Great shows everytime! A grand theatre and great smiling staff. Its a shame that Kevin is no longer there and I can't see him on stage again, but never the less a great theatre!

This is my second time seeing a show here. It s a great playhouse, with some eclectic showings. I already have tickets to the next few productions.

Nice cosy theatre and with the new Development, should be even better when they've completed refurbishments on the other section of the building

Fantastic evening with Charles Dickens Christmas story.

Classic / classy venue showing some excellent performances. We watched "All my Sons" ft Bill Pullman, Sally Field and Jenna Coleman. Unfortunately toilets were not working but a minor point.

Always interesting program of plays and never disappoints.

Lovely old theatre with wide range of plays and reasonable prices if you book in advance...

I went to see the lorax. My enjoyment was helped by the wonderful venue and helpful staff.

A great experience for anyone living of visiting London. Masterful productions!

Very intimate theatre! Really good facilities, staff, and bar areas. Looking out for the next show that I can come and see

Start selling ice creams and programme at the bar where we can pay by card.

We visited the entrepreneurial show The very expensive poison. A very true story, although you know how it ends, keeps the audience tense from the beginning to the curtain. Bravo!