...in her beloved Lake Distict

Victoria Wood is to have a theatre named in her honour in her beloved Lake District.

The 260-seat Old Laundry Theatre in Bowness-on-Windermere has announced that it is to become the Victoria Wood Theatre from January.

Wood had a cottage in nearby Ambleside which she left to her children Grace and Henry after her death in 2016 at the age of 62. Her will instructed them not to sell it ‘so long as it's enjoyed by family’.

The comedian was also a trustee and patron of the Old Laundry Theatre, which was opened in 1992 by husband-and-wife team Roger Glossop and Charlotte Scott in – as the name suggests – a disused laundry. They also turned the neighbouring building into the World of Beatrix Potter attraction, which Wood officially opened.

The couple first met Wood while working as stage manager and designer on Wood’s musical Talent at the Sheffield Crucible in 1978 and remained lifelong friends, going on family holidays together.

They are also trustees of the Victoria Wood Foundation, which  sponsors the ‘spirit of the Fringe’ prize at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards.

Glossop told today's Sunday Times: ‘People do forget very quickly. The trust is intent on people remembering Vic and her remarkable talent. So what we want from these legacy projects is to keep the name bouncing along.’

Wood directed a revival of Talent  in the Old Laundry Theatre in 2009, and four years later, a play based on her ITV drama Housewife 49 had its premiere there.

To mark its reopening as The Victoria Wood Theatre, the venue is staging the jukebox musical Fourteen Again, with Everybody’s Talking About Jamie writer Tom MacRae penning a book based around the comedian’s songs. The show previews from  May 1 with a gala night on what would have been Victoria’s birthday, May 19.

MacRae  also wrote the TV mini-series version of Fungus the Bogeyman, which was to be Wood's last TV role. He said: 'Creating Fourteen Again has felt very much like working with Vic, even though we sadly can’t collaborate in person any more.

'Her joy and genius loom large over everything we’ve built. I wanted to create a show that is genuinely dramatic and surprising, with high stakes and real tension, as well as celebrating Vic’s innate sense of comedy and the warmth of her world, populated with loveable, relatable characters and celebrating friendship.  '

Scott added: 'Vic was always supportive - performing at The Old Laundry in her stand-up, doing benefits in larger venues, and productions of her own shows  at the theatre. So now 10 years after her death it is a great delight to be putting on this show, and Vic’s name is on the theatre - we are set for the next 30-plus years!'

Nigel Lilley, Wood's musical director, will take the same role on Fourteen Again. He said: 'After having such a hit with Talent in 1978 it seems crazy that it took Vic over 25 years to venture back into the world of musicals with Acorn Antiques.

'By the time we worked on That Day We Sang in 2014 it felt like she was absolutely in her happy place, and I have no doubt that had she lived longer she would have had so many more glorious musicals to offer us.

'Vic's ability to flip between side-splitting comedy and devastating pathos in an instant remains unmatched for me. Going back to her songs in preparation for Fourteen Again I was struck again by the exquisite and meticulous skill in her writing - and yet the music and lyrics still feel so effortless on the ear.

'Vic was always on the search for new and original projects. I think she'd be cheering us on loudly with Tom's brilliant new script which honours her songs so beautifully.'
 

Published: 9 Nov 2025