What you need to know
Running Time
TBCSuitable for ages
14+Tickets
Previews £10–£70, Off Peak £13–£70, Peak £15–£75. Premium and Old Vic Plus tickets available. A £2.50 transaction fee applies per booking (does not apply to OV TOGETHER Members).
Preview
PwC £10 Previews 10 Apr–15 AprAccess Performances
Audio described: Fri 30 May, 7.30pm (Touch Tour 5.30pm)
Relaxed (also audio described, captioned and BSL interpreted): Sat 31 May, 2.30pm
Captioned: Mon 02 Jun, 7.30pm
British Sign Language (BSL) interpreted: Fri 06 Jun, 7.30pm
£22–£25 access rate available for all performances and one carer/companion ticket per booking available at the same price. Please visit www.oldvictheatre.com/access to join the free Access Membership and book online or call 0344 871 7628.
Dates
10 Apr–14 Jun 2025About the show
How much of living is really just forgetting?
The family home is more than merely a building. It can be a destination of pilgrimage, an inherited investment, a repository of memory or even magic.
And, for brother and sister Stephen and Billie, home is all they have. Mucking along in their decaying farmhouse, they’re doing just fine.
That is, until the arrival of an ex-clergyman uncle with an unscrupulous plan, a sister-in-law seeking a miracle, and a prodigal brother hell-bent on trouble.
A world premiere from Olivier Award-winning writer and director Conor McPherson (The Weir, Girl from the North Country), The Brightening Air is an entrancing tale of fate, family and unseen forces in 1980s Ireland.
Info & Discounts
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Off peak performances: 10–23 Apr and all Mon–Wed performances.
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Conor McPherson
Rae Smith
Rae Smith
Theatre includes: Sweet Bird of Youth, Dublin Carol (The Old Vic); Girl from the North Country (The Old Vic/US tour); Waiting for Godot, Uncle Vanya — Sky Arts Award, Hello Dolly!, Rosmersholm (West End); The Importance of Being Earnest, Paradise, Translations, Wonder.land (National Theatre); War Horse — Tony and Obie Awards (National Theatre/UK tour); Barber Shop Chronicles (National Theatre/Roundhouse/International tour); Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (Barbican/European tour); Hansel and Gretel (Shakespeare’s Globe); A Doll’s House, Part 2 (Donmar). Opera includes: Benvenuto Cellini (West End); Rigoletto — Sky Arts Award (Opera North, Leeds); Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci (The Met, New York).
Mark Henderson
Gregory Clarke
Lucy Hind
Serena Hill CDG
Charlie Hughes-D'Aeth
Charlie Hughes-D'Aeth
Theatre includes: The Real Thing, The Constituent, Machinal, Just For One Day, Pygmalion, Groundhog Day, Sylvia, Eureka Day, Camp Siegfried, Lungs, A Very Expensive Poison, Present Laughter, The American Clock, A Monster Calls, Girl from the North Country, The Divide, A Christmas Carol, Woyzeck, ‘Art’, The Caretaker, The Master Builder, Future Conditional (The Old Vic); Cymbeline (Shakespeare’s Globe); When Winston Went to War with the Wireless (Donmar); What’s New Pussycat? (Birmingham Rep); Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The World (UK tour); The Gods Weep, The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing (RSC). Charlie is Consultant Voice Coach for Matilda the Musical and Resident Voice Coach for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 2013–17.