Dunlop completed creation of the theatre venue in 1970, a
breeze-block building constructed out of a former butcher's shop and an adjacent bomb-site with a red wooden slat auditorium bench seating . The structure was intended to last for five years, but has become permanent. The auditorium, with a
thrust stage, has an approximate capacity of 420, although the configuration and capacity can vary depending on the design of each production. The theatre undertook a significant rebuilding and renewal project in the 2000s, designed by architects
Haworth Tompkins, boosting its visibility on The Cut. In addition to the Young Vic's main house, there are now two smaller theatre spaces. The Maria, named after theatre designer Maria Björnson, is the larger of the two with a capacity of 150. The Clare, named after
Clare Venables, a former artistic director of the Young Vic and
Sheffield Crucible, seats 70. Like the main house, both smaller theatres have flexible seating configurations which can be arranged to suit the production design. In the two smaller auditoria, seating is usually unreserved, with the actors performing in close proximity to the audience. The Young Vic performs both new writing and classic plays, the latter often in innovative productions. Despite its small size, like the
Almeida Theatre, the Young Vic has attracted well-known actors since its creation. These have included
Ian Charleson, who made his professional debut with the Young Vic 1972–74, and who played Jimmy Porter in
Look Back in Anger and Hamlet in the first revival of
Tom Stoppard's
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead in 1973, as welk as
Vanessa Redgrave,
Helen Mirren,
Judi Dench,
Timothy Dalton,
Robert Lindsay,
Willard White,
John Malkovich,
Michael Sheen and
Arthur Lowe. The rock band
The Who held free, weekly concerts at the Young Vic in early 1971, in order to rehearse what would become their album, ''
Who's Next''. One of these shows was released on the Deluxe edition of this album. A memorial at the theatre's south-east corner commemorates the fifty-four people killed in 1941 while sheltering in the cellars of the former building during
the Blitz of World War II. In 1982, the theatre hosted a
Poetry Olympics, where comedian
Pat Condell took part.
Virginia Woolf taught at
Morley College from 1905, a precursor of the Young Vic's education and community engagement programme. The latter now runs an office which accommodates and houses the "homeless"
Belarus Free Theatre, of
Nikolai Khalezin,
Natalia Kaliada, with
Sarah Kane's play
4.48 Psychosis performed underground, illegally in
Minsk and
Farringdon, in the cold cells of
Clerkenwell House of Detention, a secret location in London. Echoing the words of Woolf and mirroring her suicide, Kane's play was sponsored by another feminist, Sue Emmas, who since the year 1993 has been associate director of the social engagement programme, working closely with
Kwame Kwei-Armah and leads the Directors Program which provides initiatives for emerging directors, with emphasis on seeking out and nurturing artists from under-represented backgrounds. == Artistic directors ==