Bristol Old Vic has set out its 2027 programme, headed by a 40th anniversary revival of Winsome Pinnock's Leave Taking, the world premiere of the musical Disco Dracula and Rikki Henry's new staging of Uncle Vanya.
Three productions made by the theatre or with partners lead the year, and visiting companies fill out both the main house and the Studio. General booking opens at 12 noon on Wednesday 14 October 2026, and the three headline shows are priced from £11.
Spring brings Uncle Vanya (22 April - 15 May), in which Rikki Henry, the theatre's RYTDS Associate Artistic Director, moves Chekhov's play into a shabby office buried in paperwork. David Lan supplies the English version, and the production is shared with Stratford East.
Early summer belongs to Disco Dracula (27 May - 19 June), a new musical comedy co-produced with Disco Dracula Productions, in which a couple whose relationship has gone stale stumble into a vampire's nightclub. Charlie O'Connor wrote the music and shares the book and lyrics with Alena Henke; Robyn Grant directs.
In the autumn comes Leave Taking (23 September - 16 October), directed by the theatre's Artistic Director, Nancy Medina. Pinnock's first play opened at Liverpool Playhouse in 1987, and when the National Theatre staged it in 1994 it became the first play by a Black British woman produced there. It was Pinnock who, in 2024, became the first writer named to Bristol Old Vic's Five Year Commitment residency.
Among the visiting work, Dog Man: The Musical, adapted from Dav Pilkey's books for audiences aged five and over, stops in Bristol on 24-27 June. Adrian Lukis, who played Mr Wickham in the BBC's 1995 Pride and Prejudice, revisits the character, now on the eve of Wickham's sixtieth birthday, in Being Mr Wickham (22-23 June), and Hijinx brings Housemates, made in association with Sherman Theatre and performed by a company of neurodivergent and neurotypical actor-musicians (30 June - 3 July).
Those join visiting shows already on sale for January, among them The Signalman with occult illusionist David Alnwick (19-21 January), Food of Love (28 January) and Austentatious (29-30 January). Bristol School of Acting students then take over the main stage for Merrily We Roll Along, 12-17 July.
In the Studio, Ad Infinitum and the Mexican company El Ingenio del Caldero present Until I Find You (6-17 April), the story of Alma, a mother looking for her missing daughter. New Perspectives and Royal & Derngate follow with Let the Whale Die (18-22 May). The Studio programme also lists Bristol Old Vic Young Company's Isle of Glass, written and directed by Maddie Wakeling (20-23 January), Birdcatcher (26-30 January) and Undone Theatre's The Butterfly Project, presented by Kakilang (27 April - 1 May).
More 2027 titles are due in November. The season follows the theatre's free tour of two new plays to 19 Bristol secondary schools, announced in September.
