‘I was right to speak out on how slavery funded Bristol Old Vic,’ says departing artistic director

Tom Morris has steered the Bristol Old Vic through the Covid shutdowns and the city’s Black Lives Matter protests. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Bristol Old Vic’s outgoing artistic director Tom Morris has defended his decision to publicly highlight the slave trade riches that financed the theatre’s construction and urged the city to face up to slavery’s legacy if it is to battle the scourge of racism today.

Morris, who is stepping down in the autumn after 12 years, said it had been vital – in order to engage with the city’s African-Caribbean community –to acknowledge the brutal origins of the vast fortunes that paid for the theatre in the 18th century.