Matilda and Ghost The Musical director Matthew Warchus is to succeed Kevin Spacey as Artistic Director of the Old Vic Theatre.
The Old Vic announced today that Matthew Warchus, one of Britain’s most versatile and respected directors, has been appointed as the new Artistic Director of the Old Vic, taking over from Kevin Spacey.
The appointment is seen as a coup for Sally Greene and the Old Vic management, and shores up Kevin Spacey’s successful legacy at the venue.
Spacey said in a statement that, “I couldn’t be happier that my friend Matthew Warchus has agreed to take the reins at The Old Vic next year. ”
Warchus said: “I am excited and honoured to be following Kevin’s galvanising tenure at this wonderful building. He has re-established The Old Vic as a globally important theatre and I look forward to continuing to develop it as a hub of invigorating creativity”.
The award-winning director is an Associate Artist at the Old Vic, and his prior work at the venue includes his 2008 production of The Norman Conquests, which transferred to Broadway and won him a Drama Desk Award, and Speed the Plow with Kevin Spacey and Jeff Goldblum.
His direction of Matilda for the RSC scooped him an Olivier Award in 2012 and the show has won multiple Oliviers and Tonys. Ghost the Musical ran at the Piccadilly Theatre in London and the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York.
Other stage credits include La Bete, Deathtrap, God of Carnage, Boeing Boeing, The Lord of the Rings, Endgame, Tell Me on a Sunday and Art.
Warchus’s big break came with his production of Much Ado About Nothing in 1992 at the Queen’s Theatre starring Mark Rylance and Janet McTeer.
He is currently working on new movie Pride by Stephen Beresford starring Dominic West, Imelda Staunton and Bill Nighy.
Kevin Spacey’s final season at the Old Vic includes his forthcoming one-man play Clarence Darrow, Richard Armitage in The Crucible and Kristin Scott Thomas in Electra.
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