Bristol Old Vic shares hilarious stories of past Christmas mishaps

The theatre's Twitter thread has been shared hundreds of times

The Bristol Old Vic has held hundreds of Christmas performances since being built in 1766
Author: James DiamondPublished 24th Dec 2021

Bristol's oldest theatre has been sharing hilarious stories of its worst festive faux-pas from over the years.

In a twitter thread the Bristol Old Vic, which was built in 1766 and claims to be the oldest continually working theatre in the English speaking world, says during the Second World War for example, the venue was hit by several German bombs in the middle of its Christmas performance.

Two crashed through the roof but neither exploded, so the stage manager decided it was safe to carry on.

Another story, this time from 1812, details how that year's performance was due to feature a real life elephant, but it died before the opening night.

Instead of announcing the sad news, staff at the theatre decided to stuff the animal and tried to pass it off as real.

It's said the taxidermy was then given to the Theatre Royal in Bath, but where it is now is a mystery.

You can see the whole thread here.

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