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The cast of Fanny & Alexander in rehearsal at The Old Vic (Photo: Manuel Harlan)

The cast of Fanny & Alexander in rehearsal at The Old Vic (Photo: Manuel Harlan)

In rehearsal: Fanny & Alexander

Robin Johnson

By Robin Johnson First Published 1 February 2018, Last Updated 5 February 2018

Legendary filmmaker Ingmar Bergman’s masterpiece film Fanny & Alexander is being translated to the stage by BAFTA award-winning writer Stephen Beresford – and what an opening to The Old Vic’s bicentenary season it’s set to prove.

With a starry cast including Penelope Wilton (Taken At Midnight, West End – Olivier Award for Best Actress), Jonathan Slinger (Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, West End) and Lolita Chakrabarti (Hamlet, Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company), this classic story looks like it’ll be a must-see stage show to boot – take a sneak peek into the rehearsal room below.

The cast of Fanny & Alexander in rehearsal at The Old Vic (Photo: Manuel Harlan)The cast of Fanny & Alexander in rehearsal at The Old Vic (Photo: Manuel Harlan)

Sargon Yelda (Oscar Ekdahl) and Penelope Wilton (Helena Ekdahl) in rehearsal for Fanny & Alexander at The Old Vic (Photo: Manuel Harlan)Sargon Yelda (Oscar Ekdahl) and Penelope Wilton (Helena Ekdahl) in rehearsal for Fanny & Alexander at The Old Vic (Photo: Manuel Harlan)

The cast of Fanny & Alexander in rehearsal at The Old Vic (Photo: Manuel Harlan)The cast of Fanny & Alexander in rehearsal at The Old Vic (Photo: Manuel Harlan)

Opening as part of The Old Vic’s bicentenary season, Fanny & Alexander welcomes audiences to a fictional town in 1900s Sweden, a land of gilded romance and glamour in which siblings Fanny and Alexander reside.

But the duo’s world is turned upside down when their widowed mother remarries the iron-willed local bishop, and as creative freedom and rigid orthodoxy clash, a war ensues between imagination and austerity – and for Fanny & Alexander, between a lavish, joyful, playful life… and the severe punishments meted out to them by their callous new stepfather.

Matt Gavan (Michael Bergman/Aron Retzinsky) in rehearsal for Fanny & Alexander at The Old Vic (Photo: Manuel Harlan)Matt Gavan (Michael Bergman/Aron Retzinsky) in rehearsal for Fanny & Alexander at The Old Vic (Photo: Manuel Harlan)

Jonathan Slinger (Gustav Adolf Ekdahl) in rehearsal for Fanny & Alexander at The Old Vic (Photo: Manuel Harlan)Jonathan Slinger (Gustav Adolf Ekdahl) and Lolita Chakrabarti (Alma Ekdahl/Helena Vergérus) in rehearsal for Fanny & Alexander at The Old Vic (Photo: Manuel Harlan)

Vivian Oparah (Maj) in rehearsal for Fanny & Alexander at The Old Vic (Photo: Manuel Harlan)Vivian Oparah (Maj) in rehearsal for Fanny & Alexander at The Old Vic (Photo: Manuel Harlan)

Fanny & Alexander previews at The Old Vic from 21 February, with opening night on 1 March.

Book your Fanny & Alexander tickets today!

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