After Drury Lane, Covent Garden and the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, the Old Vic is London's oldest theater, with a continuous history since 1818. Drawing on important archives, George Rowell sheds new light on the management, audience, productions and players. In particular he offers fresh information on its early years, when such famous figures as Edmund Kean and William Charles Macready appeared there, and Paganini gave his farewell concert. The book contains numerous illustrations from the early years of the Theatre and of important productions, as well as a chronology of plays produced there by the Old Vic, National and other companies.