Matthew López’s Reverberation to have European premiere at Bristol Old Vic this autumn.

Tony and Olivier Award-winning writer of The Inheritance, Matthew López’s play about loneliness and longing, Reverberation, has today been announced as Bristol Old Vic’s flagship autumn production.

This sexy, funny, and hauntingly human play was originally staged at Hartford Stage CT in 2015. Now this brand-new production has been reshaped by López, transposing the action across the Atlantic to London, and will be the play’s European premiere. Tickets go on sale to Members from 10am Tue 4 June and on General sale Tue 11 June.   

 After a personal tragedy, Jonathan has withdrawn from the world, with little social life beyond the men he meets online. When the enigmatic free spirit Claire moves into the flat upstairs, she tries to coax him out of his shell. Drawn together by a mutual need for emotional attachment, they form a connection, but the past eventually reverberates into the present, threatening the happiness they’ve found…   

Reverberation will be directed by rising theatre director Jack Sain, who is making his Bristol Old Vic debut. Speaking today, Jack said:
“It’s a privilege to direct Matthew’s extraordinary play for Bristol Old Vic. British audiences have known that he is a force to be reckoned with since The Inheritance. I can’t wait for people to see Reverberation: a wholly different work, but with his trademark lyrical dialogue and excavation of humanity.

Reverberation is a unique piece of writing: at times tender, at others visceral; at times hilarious, at others disconcerting. It is a play about lost souls finding each other in the dark, about loneliness and longing, comfort and denial. I’m grateful to Matthew for entrusting us with it, for shaping it for a new era, and for this beautiful theatre. We look forward to showing you what we have in store.”  

Jack is joined by a brilliant creative team: Tony nominee Ti Green (Touching the Void) returns to Bristol Old Vic to design, alongside sound designer Nicola T Chang (For Black Boys…, West End), lighting designer Robbie Butler (The Glass Menagerie, UK Tour), video designer Daniel Denton (Misty, Bush Theatre and Trafalgar Studios) and intimacy co-ordinator Robbie Taylor Hunt (Red, White & Royal Blue, Amazon Prime).   

Matthew López wrote Reverberation three years prior to The Inheritance, which premiered at the Young Vic in 2018, before transferring to the West End later that year, and to Broadway in 2019. It received an incredible critical response, with The Daily Telegraph calling it “the most important American play of the century” and won multiple Olivier and Tony Awards.  

Matthew López said:
“I am overjoyed to bring my play Reverberation to Bristol Old Vic under the direction of Jack Sain. In the years since the premiere of The Inheritance, the UK has become my creative and literal home. I am excited to be back in front of a British audience with my first UK-set play.”

Bristol Old Vic Artistic Director Nancy Medina said: “Reading Reverberation for the first time felt like a much-needed balm for my heart and soul. The beauty in the writing and the tenderness of the relationships reminded me how much we truly need and deserve human connection, generosity and love – especially in this troubled time we are in globally and still reeling from the aftermath of the pandemic. This is a play we need right now, and we are so excited to share this with Bristol.”