Discover A Theater Built For a Prince, Named For A Queen — The Old Vic, London

I took this photo of the Old Vic whilst we were visiting London last summer. The rather dull weather added a nice little piece of drama to the image, taken close to Waterloo Station south of the river Thames. The theater has a long and famous history including being damaged during the bombing of London during the Second World War.

A brief history of the Old Vic, London The Old Vic was first opened in 1818, built at a cost of 12,000 pounds. It was built for the Prince Leopold of Saxe Coburg and was originally called the Roval Coburg theater. It wasn’t until 1833 that it was renamed for Queen Victoria, hence it later became The Old Vic.

The theater has gone through many transformations with several closings and revivals over the years. Many of the famous British actors of the 20th century performed here or in its company It closed during the second world war and received bomb damage. It was rebuilt in 1946 at which time an offshoot of the theater the ‘Bristol Old Vic’ was established in Bristol, in the West of England. More recently (2003) Kevin Spacey was appointed artistic director expressing a desire to revitalize British theater and bring new British and American talent to the stage.

This photo of the Old Vic is a composite HDR from 3 exposures taken on my Pentax k-r. I took the shots between traffic which combined with the dull weather gave me a somewhat grainy end result.