The Old Vic is a 1,000-seat, not-for-profit producing theatre in Waterloo, London, England. Established in 1818 as the
Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the
Royal Victoria Theatre. In 1871 it was rebuilt and reopened as the
Royal Victoria Palace. It was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 and formally named the
Royal Victoria Hall, although by that time it was already known as the "Old Vic". In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian Baylis, assumed management and began a series of Shakespeare productions in 1914. The building was damaged in 1940 during air raids and it became a Grade II* listed building in 1951 after it reopened.