ABSTRACT
The Old Vic theatre in Waterloo Road was bombed in 1941; but Tyrone Guthrie had kept an Old Vic company together, touring regional theatres from a base in Burnley. In 1944, however, Guthrie and the Vic-Wells governors decided that the Old Vic should return to London. One ofthe governors, Bronson Albery, was an impresario who owned the New Theatre, which he offered to the company as a temporary London home. Guthrie arranged that a new management team should be formed for the London seasons, consisting of Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson, who were both released from the Fleet Air Arm for the purpose, with John Burrell, a young drama producer from the BBC.
