The Old Vic to re-release ‘Three Kings’, ‘Faith Healer’ and ‘Lungs’

Relive the three acclaimed performances, staged in London earlier this year.

After impressing critics and audiences alike, performances staged at the Old Vic in 2020 will be re-released. Recorded versions of Three Kings, Faith Healer and Lungs will be available to watch again over nine select dates in December and January 2021.

The Playback series will begin with Three Kings, starring Andrew Scott. He plays Patrick, a man who deals with his father's life as he remembers a childhood challenge. In a review for LondonTheatre.co.uk, Suzy Evans said: "Scott seems to be peering into the viewer's soul as he delivers this relatable tale of patriarchal estrangement and familial missed connections." Three Kings is available from 2-4 Dec. 2020.

Brian Friel's Faith Healer will be re-released from 20-22 Jan. 2021, starring Michael Sheen, Indira Varma and David Threlfall. Sheen plays Francis Hardy, a man who travels with his wife and manager alongside a predestined "Faith Healer." In a review for LondonTheatre.co.uk, Matt Wolf said: "Humankind is revealed to march to a marauding and lethal drum that leaves devastation in its wake. That's the startling note on which Faith Healer ends, leaving an audience to savor the pungency of an artist, namely Friel, punchdrunk on words that in the end are powerless to forestall the psychic wilderness into which his characters must fall." 

The series ends with the return of Lungs, starring Claire Foy and Matt Smith. They play a couple who consider the environmental impacts of raising a child in modern-day society, with the re-released version available from 27-29 Jan. 2021. In a review for LondonTheatre.co.uk, Will Longman commented: "Played in the round, Foy and Smith spend much in perfect symmetry: when there is harmony in their relationship, they are perfect reflections of each other."

As well as the Playback series, Andrew Lincoln will play Ebenezer Scrooge in the return of A Christmas Carol at the Old Vic. Performances of A Christmas Carol will be livestreamed from 12-24 December.

^{Photo credit: Claire Foy and Matt Smith in Lungs rehearsals (Photo courtesy of The Old Vic)}