Last week, Prince Harry (aka the Duke Of Sussex) paid a visit to the Victoria Palace Theatre for a special gala performance of Hamilton. Seemingly inspired by his son’s outing, The Prince Of Wales visited The Old Vic today.
The theatre’s Royal Patron visited to mark the theatre’s bicentenary year. As Royal Patron for its milestone 200th birthday, Prince Charles continues a long family connection with The Old Vic, the only not-for-profit, unsubsidised producing theatre with 1,000 seats in the heart of London.
Earlier this year The Old Vic and The Prince’s Trust announced a partnership. It fuses The Prince’s Trust’s work which helps hundreds of thousands of young people transform their lives, plus The Old Vic’s use of transferable skills learnt in theatre to increase the employability. The partnership has so far created four work placements for young participants attending The Prince’s Trust’s Get Hired programme. Five young people have taken part in The Old Vic’s flagship employability project Front Line where they gain paid placements in the Front of House team. 25 other young people have taken part in workshops and programmes thanks to this collaboration.
As part of his visit, His Royal Highness along with guests, supporters, young project participants and local residents enjoyed a special showcase of works on at The Old Vic. It included a live performance from the cast of Sylvia – a new musical about celebrating the life of Sylvia Pankhurst and her pivotal role in the campaign for women’s rights. There was also a reading by Josie Walker to celebrate Lilian Baylis’ contribution and legacy to The Old Vic amongst others.
The final performance of the afternoon was from the multi-award-winning production of Girl From The North Country, the Bob Dylan musical which had its world premiere at The Old Vic last year. The Olivier Award-winning actress Shirley Henderson performed Forever Young.
The Prince of Wales met with Old Vic Bicentenary Ambassador Imelda Staunton, Artistic Director Matthew Warchus, Executive Director Kate Varah, Founding Trustee Sally Greene, Board Trustee Kevin McGrath, performers Shirley Henderson, Tamsin Greig, Josie Walker, the cast of new musical Sylvia and various members of education, community and employability projects run by the theatre.