Bristol Old Vic announces packed 2025 autumn season

Bristol Old Vic has announced a packed autumn season for 2025, with something on offer for audiences of all ages and tastes.

Leading the charge at the end of the summer will be a month-long run of Starter for Ten, back by popular demand.

The David Nicholls adaptation first came to the stage in the spring of 2024, when it was a huge hit with audiences. In this returning production, Mel Giedroyc is “beyond thrilled” to be reprising her role of Brian’s mum, Irene Jackson, as well as Bamber Gascoigne’s memorable sidekick, Julia Bland.

“Our first run in Bristol was glorious,” enthuses Giedroyc; “– the audiences, the energy, the sheer joy – and to be returning to Bristol Old Vic feels like coming home (again).

“We’re bringing back the nail-biting competition, the romance, the wild ’80s-inspired original soundtrack that will have you throwing on a legwarmer, back-combing your hair till it’s as big as Thatcher’s and dancing like nobody’s watching. I am genuinely so proud of our show and cannot wait for even more people to see it!”

Noël Coward’s celebrated play Private Lives will also be visiting the theatre in the autumn. It is directed by Tanuja Amarasuriya, the Bristol-based co-founder of Sleepdogs and resident of Pervasive Media Studio, who describes Coward’s writing as “funny, sexy, shocking – and full of bittersweet truths about the complex difficulties of relationships”.

From one brilliantly written play to another; Jack Thorne is the next homegrown star to figure large in the new season, with his stage adaptation of the international vampire hit Let the Right One In (based on the book and film by Jon Ajvide Lindqvist).

“I am so excited”, says Thorne, reflecting on the significance of Bristol Old Vic. “It is my home theatre, the one I still imagine in my head when I think of what a theatre looks like. It is also a place of rare beauty which makes it all the better.

“So inflicting blood and gore on the place is probably entirely wrong but Let the Right One In is also about difference and love – a love note to acceptance – and there is no better place for those themes than BOV!”

Smash-hit drag extravaganza – with multiple sell-out Fringe runs, a UK tour and a West End season behind it – Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho crash lands for a four-night run in October. On the eve of the vote on Section 28, the action follows Maggie, who is lost in Soho and finds herself becoming an accidental cabaret star.

Fringe First winner and London Poetry Slam champion Richard Marsh brings his unauthorised parody of Die Hard to the Bristol Old Vic main stage a few days later. Pitched as a celebration of the classic festive film, Yippee Ki Yay also integrates a more personal story of fandom.

Always a much-anticipated show, the Christmas production for 2025 will be the swashbuckling adventure, Treasure Island, a new musical written by Jake Brunger and Pippa Cleary (creators of The Great British Bake Off Musical and Adrian Mole The Musical), who met while at the University of Bristol.

For younger audiences, a Little Angel Theatre and Polka co-production of Julia Donaldson’s much-loved picture book The Paper Dolls will be arriving at the Weston Studio over half term, featuring irresistible puppetry and original music. And in December, Little Bulb will be at the helm with a heart-warming exploration of Antarctica, pitched at 3-7 year olds and their families.

Sunday standup nights are set continue throughout the season, with upcoming stars announced so far including Kieran Hodgson, Josie Long, Jen Brister and George Lewis.

And looking ahead to the start of 2026, Frantic Assembly’s 30th anniversary show, Lost Atoms is a hilarious – and at times devastating – exploration of love and memory, written by the acclaimed Anna Jordan (Succession, HBO; One Day, Netflix; Killing Eve, BBC America) and directed by Scott Graham.

For more information and tickets to all upcoming Bristol Old Vic theatre and Weston Studio shows, visit www.bristololdvic.org.uk.

Main photo: Marc Brenner

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