26 November 2024
Newsdesk
Continuing Bristol Old Vic's commitment to championing new writing, the theatre today announced Artistic Director Nancy Medina will direct a second original production for Spring/Summer 2025. The Beautiful Future is Coming by Flora Wilson Brown, originally staged as part of the Jermyn Street Theatre's Footprints Festival for four nights in early 2024, is now being upscaled and further developed by Bristol Old Vic for a major run in the Theatre.
Can you feel it? Something is hanging in the balance – ready to fall.
1854. New York. Eunice sits in what will become Central Park and wonders if something is going horribly wrong.
2027. London. Clare falls in love as the streets begin to flood.
2100. Svalbard. Ana hears a baby crying in the seed vault.
The world is ending, sure. But what happens to us in between?
The Beautiful Future Is Coming is a fast-paced, wildly inventive look at 250 years of real and imagined history through the eyes of three couples. A powerful story about holding onto hope and humanity against all odds, it runs from 15 May –7 Jun.
Flora Wilson Brown said: "I could not be more thrilled to be doing this show with Nancy and the Bristol Old Vic team. Bristol Old Vic is the first theatre I remember coming to for panto with my grandparents when I was tiny, so to be coming back with my own play is honestly surreal. This story feels more relevant now than it did even when I wrote it a year ago, which is terrifying, but makes the need to hold on to hope more important than ever. I can’t wait to return to the stories of these three women, it’s a gift to be doing it with this team, in this building. I can’t wait."
Nancy Medina said: "We could not be more excited to be producing another brand-new play in our season. Bristol audiences have time and again shown enthusiasm and curiosity for bold and political new work and with The Beautiful Future is Coming Flora has created something truly unique; a play about global heating that balances honesty with humour, humanity and hope. It's a perfect scene partner for the rest of our Spring/Summer shows".
Bristol Old Vic is also thrilled to be presenting The House Party from 23 Apr –3 May. This adaptation of Strindberg's Miss Julie by Laura Lomas was originally presented in Chichester in 2023 and has been remounted in a co-production by Chichester Festival Theatre and Headlong, in association with Frantic Assembly, and presented by Leeds Playhouse and Rose Theatre Kingston with Bristol Old Vic. The House Party spins Miss Julie into intense, fizzing life for today's generation; exploring themes of class, power and privilege with raw intensity. It is directed by Headlong's Artistic Director Holly Race Roughan, with movement by the formidable Frantic Assembly.
Nancy continued: "With a season packed with joyful and thought-provoking original drama, several more original commissions in development for 2026 and the upcoming announcement of our Five Year Commitment writers (who will be in residence at Bristol Old Vic from 2025 – 2030) alongside our first ever Early Career Writers Programme participants, we're more excited than ever for the role that writers and their collaborators play in the future of our entire organisation."
The Beautiful Future is Coming and The House Party will go on sale to Members from 12noon Wed 20 Nov, and on General sale at 12noon Wed 27 Nov.
