The Old Vic
Looking for a suitable London base, Robertson believed that the Old Vic would best meet the company's needs and would add lustre to its reputation. For two years he sustained a campaign for the Old Vic to make Prospect its resident company. For the Old Vic, Robertson's overtures proved increasingly hard to resist in the face of poor box office returns achieved by productions staged by other companies at the theatre; against this, Prospect staged a highly successful season which opened in May 1977, including "Hamlet" with Derek Jacobi, "Antony and Cleopatra" with Alec McCowen and Dorothy Tutin; and "Saint Joan" with Eileen Atkins. In July the Governors of The Old Vic announced "a marriage that was all but a merger" between the Vic and Prospect. In September Toby Robertson, director of Prospect, was asked to take artistic control of The Old Vic, and Christopher Richards, general manager of The Old Vic, became general manager of Prospect.