New VicTheatre

The New Vic traces its origins to the Studio Theatre Company founded by Stephen Joseph in the late 1950s to stage theatre-in-the-round. Under founding director Peter Cheeseman the company settled at the Victoria Theatre, a converted cinema in Hartshill, from October 1962, before moving in August 1986 to its current purpose-built home on Etruria Road, the first purpose-built theatre-in-the-round in Europe. The single-site theatre, run by the registered charity Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire Theatre Trust, continues to stage verbatim documentary dramas in the tradition established by productions such as The Jolly Potters and Fight for Shelton Bar, alongside a year-round programme of new writing, touring work and productions for children and families.