Local Hero - Royal Lyceum Edinburgh / Chichester 2022

From The Box Office is offering 10% off tickets with the code SURVIVAL10. This means for Local Hero you can currently pick up some fantastic Stalls and Circle seats for £36. Ends Monday 27th Jan.

“Mark has written 19 new songs for the show and has become quite an intuitive theatre animal. He wants to revisit some of his music for London.”

www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/jan/25/sam-mendes-john-fowles-magus-tv-project

Now if everybody in the UK could please just stay indoors as requested, this show might be a fantastic way to reopen the Old Vic...

Many thanks.

TallPaul - his "Going Home" at the O2 last year was fantastic and available on Spotify... Well worth a listen!

Not cancelled. Postponed.


It is with great sadness that we temporarily closed The Old Vic in line with government advice on Coronavirus (COVID-19) on 20 March 2020. We are continuing to monitor the situation closely and, given the continued national uncertainty, we have taken the decision to postpone our production of Local Hero.


Whilst we understand that this will come as a huge disappointment, we hope that the prospect of coming together safely to collectively experience Local Hero serves as a reminder that there will be many exciting things waiting for us on the other side.


You don’t need to do anything at this point – we will be in touch as soon as we can with more details about the new performance dates.

As we are rescheduling the production rather than cancelling it, your tickets are still valid and we would ask that you hold onto these until we’re able to confirm the rescheduled dates.


We will endeavour to move all ticket holders to a performance that corresponds with their original booking in regards to ticket price band and performance day and time. For example, if you booked a £55 ticket for a Wednesday matinee performance, this will be reflected in your rescheduled ticket.


Once we have confirmed the details of the rescheduled performance, you can contact us to discuss alternative options if you are unable to attend any of the new performance dates.


If you have any questions you can contact us at box.office@oldvictheatre.com –please include your customer number and allow up to 14 working days for a response as the team are working through a very high number of enquiries.


We want to take this opportunity to thank you for booking a ticket to see this show – ticket sales make up two thirds of our income each year. The rest we receive through donations from our supporters. The Old Vic is an independent theatre and registered charity which receives no regular Arts Council England subsidy and so, without you, our theatre would simply not be here.


If you would like to support us during this difficult time, we would be incredibly grateful.


Finally, we’re working hard to come up with ways to continue to reach you during our closure and more news will follow – keep tuned into our social channels and check our website for details.

Has anybody listened to the new version of "Rocks and Water" (the track sent out in the email from the Old Vic)? The song is being sung by Mac rather than Stella (this track was originally sung by Stella in the Edinburgh Lyceum version)... Intriguing. I felt this song fleshed out Stella's role as a "blow in" from the city, though this was artistic license for the musical and was not borne out in the film. If Mac sings this song, it helps in his transition from city slicker to rural retreater. I always felt his plane song exposed a lot of self-doubt too early on in the musical which didn't manifest until later in the film. I'm wondering if they've tweaked some of the songs/structure to solve the pace issues (which seemed to be the only common criticism of the Lyceum version).

As I booked a matinee for when I was on holiday, it is unlikely they will give me something I can use. If this is after Christmas Carol that might assist in planning, but before that there’s no chance. Next summer would be good.

That makes no sense at all. They would still be paying for essentially 2 casts to rehearse a show. And 2 casts to perform it. There is no saving there.

Perhaps they could also fit in Hello Dolly before ?

Seems like an unnecessarily rude and personal response? ;(

Although ceebee is, I suspect, more than capable of defending himself, there is merit to his idea.

Actors always talk about trust, so once that has been established, it should be possible, without all those falling backwards exercises, to shorten the rehearsal period by a week...or two. Granted, not much in the grand scheme of things, but an important saving when money is tight. And if the majority of Local Hero's Edinburgh cast travel with the production to the Old Vic, then that is probably another week or two saved in the rehearsal room.

When the main Leeds Playhouse closed for refurbishment, it hired a company of perhaps a dozen actors and took its work into the community, alongside a pop-up theatre in the scenery workshop round the back. At Christmas, I saw Robert Pickavance as Scrooge, a few weeks later he was a ghost in Hamlet, then at Easter he was Phileas Fogg.

I understand very well how theatre production works, and also how business works. At no point did I suggest "one lot of pay". That's a ridiculous assumption on your part. I was musing on how they might take a commercial risk that can be mitigated by utilising a company of actors on a rep-type basis. It may yet be the case.

Folk like yourself are so quick to jump on the slightest thing and belittle the thought process of individuals who simply wish to air a different view.

One thing's for certain: innovative solutions such as building an old style rep-based company to enable non-subsidised theatres to continue in business are not so far-fetched and carry less financial risk whilst still enabling artistic risks to be taken.

Yep... the powers that be weren’t impressed by the show- and it was selling terribly for London.