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Bristol Old Vic: the stage where students can learn on the job

Julian Glover is Julius Caesar, Lynn Farleigh is Calpurnia and John Hartoch is Cinna the Poet. Everyone else in the cast of Bristol Old Vic’s current production of Julius Caesar is a third-year student at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Traditionally, young actors learned their craft from more experienced ones in repertory companies. When it was founded by Laurence Olivier in 1946, Bristol Old Vic Theatre School was an adjunct to Bristol Old Vic. It went on to feed the theatre with good young actors such as Jeremy Irons and Tim Pigott-Smith.

As the rep system faded away, BOVTS developed into an independent entity. Now, several decades on, the two organisations are working actively together again …

Read the rest of this article https://www.thestage.co.uk/advice/2017/bristol-old-vic-stage-students-can-learn-job/

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Susan Elkin Susan Elkin is an education journalist, author and former secondary teacher of English. She was Education and Training Editor at The Stage from 2005 - 2016
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