In the award-winning super-flexible theatre, you'll never feel you're in the same place twice.

The Young Vic is known for telling stories that change the way people look at the world. With roots deep in the neighbourhoods, it reaches out to theatre makers across the globe.

The Young Vic, London

The Young Vic is a theatre on The Cut, located near the South Bank, in the London Borough of Lambeth.

It specialises in giving opportunities to young actors and directors. The theatre is publicly subsidised and has a high artistic reputation.

Playwright David Lan has been the theatre's artistic director since 2000. Its philosophy is to "produce great plays for great audiences, now and in the future".

Young Vic History

The Young Vic's name derives from the nearby Old Vic, one of the most celebrated of London's theatres and the first home of the National Theatre.

In the period after World War II a Young Vic Company was formed in 1946 by director George Devine as an offshoot of the Old Vic Theatre School for the purpose of performing classic plays for audiences aged nine to fifteen.

Initially part of the National Theatre, the Young Vic Theatre became an independent body in 1974.

Young Vic Theatre

Frank Dunlop completed creation of the theatre venue in 1970, a breeze-block building in The Cut constructed out of a former butchers' shop and an adjacent bomb-site. It was intended to last for five years, but has become permanent.

The auditorium, with a thrust stage, has a capacity of around 500 but this can vary depending on the configuration of the stage for each production.

In addition to the Young Vic's main house, there are now two smaller theatre spaces. The Maria, named after theatre designer Maria Bjornson, is the larger of the two with a capacity of 150.

The Clare, named after the former artistic director of the Sheffield Crucible, Clare Venables, seats 70. Like the main house, both of the theatres have flexible seating that is changed to suit the production.

In all of the Young Vic's theatres, seating is unreserved with the actors performing in close proximity to the audience.

The Young Vic primarily performs classic plays, but often in innovative productions.