LANNY
Based on the original book by Max Porter | Adaptation & Lyrics by Bea Roberts | Directed by Nancy MedinaThis is theatre with real imaginative nerve
StageTalk Magazine
An immersive triumph
Worth the Journey
Incredible beyond words
Theatre & Tonic
If you like your theatre adventurous, tinged with myth, imagination and spellbinding storytelling, then this is perfect
Bristol 24/7
Not far from Bristol, there is a village.
This village belongs to the people who live in it and to those who lived in it hundreds of years ago. It belongs to England’s mysterious past and its confounding present.
It belongs to families dead for generations, and to those who have only recently moved here, such as the boy Lanny, and his mum and dad.
But it also belongs to Dead Papa Toothwort, who has woken from his slumber in the woods. Dead Papa Toothwort, who is listening to them all.
By the author of Sunday Times Bestseller, Grief is the Thing with Feathers, Max Porter’s spectral novel Lanny rocked the literary world in 2019. Described as “a joyously stirred cauldron of words” (The Guardian) that is “magically beguiling” (Financial Times), it intertwines reality and imagination to thrillingly eerie effect.
Adapted for the stage by award-winning West Country playwright Bea Roberts (And Then Come The Nightjars), and directed by Nancy Medina (The Beautiful Future Is Coming; A Good House; Choir Boy – Best Director, Black British Theatre Awards 2024), this dark and powerful story of folklore, fable and the nature of belonging is the flagship production of our 260th year.
Artwork by Rosanna Morris
Full of pace and creepiness
The Guardian
Folk horror with an urban twist
The Stage
Charming, witty and deliciously atmospheric
Wheelie Stagey
Meet the Lanny boys
9 Oct 2026
"I could hear the music spilling out of the pages. " | 5 minutes with composer Dom Coyote
2 Oct 2026
"something ancient and unsettling is always just beneath the surface." | Talking 'Lanny' with designer Rebecca Jane Wood
2 Oct 2026
Bristol Old Vic announces Birketts as Sponsor of Open Concession Tickets for Lanny and Cinderella this Autumn.
14 Sept 2026
Cast announced for world premiere of Max Porter's "Lanny"
2 Sept 2026
Creative Team announced for World Premiere "Lanny"
19 May 2026
Strikingly imaginative
Morning Star
A handsomely mounted, alluring production
The Stage
Smartly directed... full of pace and creepiness
The Guardian
[The] shadow puppetry [is] guaranteed to drop jaws everywhere
Allthatdazzles
On Stage
In Rehearsal
Photos by Helen Murray
Birketts LLP’s generous support helps make Open Concession Tickets possible, keeping Bristol Old Vic affordable and accessible to more people.
