The Old Vic has announced two new upcoming shows in Matthew Warchus’ In The Round season, including musical Martin Guerre and How the Other Half Loves by Alan Ayckbourn.
Phillip Breen (Anna Karenina, Red or Dead) is set to Ayckbourn’s 1969 play How the Other Half Loves, starring Roger Allam (Endeavour, The Thick of It) and Dorothy Atkinson (Ludwig, Mum). This farcical play explores an adulterous affair between a married man and his boss’s wife.
Artistic Director Matthew Warchus is set to direct an all-new semi-staged version of Martin Guerre, from Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, the creators of Les Misérables.
Warchus said in a press release that ‘as my penultimate show, I’m very excited to be sharing an all-new version of Boublil and Schönberg’s extraordinary musical, the creation of which has been many years in the making. The show has been radically reworked, featuring new lyrics, new folk-inflected orchestrations and an immersive In the Round staging.’
How the Other Half Loves will begin previews on 29 July, and Martin Guerre will arrive in October 2026 for a limited 5 week run.
In the Round Staging
Both productions will continue in the round, much like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Glengarry Glen Ross earlier in the season. The set up was originally conceived when Matthew Warchus directed The Norman Conquests by Alan Ayckbourn. Warchus stated that the acclaimed playwright has “has long been one of [his] favourite writers.”
Also directed by Warchus, Martin Guerre will be semi-staged in-the-round, and feature new music, lyrics and folk-inflected orchestrations. From the creators of Les Misérables, this musical is based on the true story of a 16th-century French peasant who abandoned his wife and village, only to have another man impersonate him years later.
Old Vic, London
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