© Licensed to London News Pictures. 24/09/2018. Bristol, UK. The Bristol Old Vic Theatre in King Street reopens on Monday 24th September following a multi-million-pound transformation. Picture shows the foyer. The dramatic redevelopment, by leading theatre and Stirling prize-winning architects Haworth Tompkins, is designed to create a warm and welcoming venue to attract wider, more diverse audiences, and to place the theatre at the heart of the city's public and cultural life. A full-height timber and glass-fronted foyer, revealing the original auditorium façade to the street for the first time, acts like a covered public square. Huge sun-shading shutters, incorporating the text of Garrick's inaugural 1766 address and a poem by former Bristol city poet Miles Chamber, highlight the theatre's long history and look forward to its future role in the whole community. The internal layout of the theatre has also been completely transformed, with the restoration of the Georgian Coopers' Hall as a public assembly room for Bristol, a new studio theatre created in the old barrel vaults, mezzanine galleries, winding staircases and viewing platforms. Together, they provide new flexible spaces for productions, events, experimental theatre and city-wide participation. The Bristol Old Vic is the oldest continuously working theatre in the English speaking world. Photo credit: Simon Chapman/LNP
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