Michael Rosen Will Bring New One-Person Show GETTING THROUGH IT to the Old Vic
The performance is on Sun 19 Oct at 2pm.
By: Stephi Wild Aug. 19, 2025
The Old Vic has announced that former Children's Laureate, poet and writer, Michael Rosen, will present his new one-person show Getting Through It, exploring themes of love, loss and mortality, at The Old Vic on Sun 19 Oct at 2pm. This is the show's London premiere.
Getting Through It is a powerful, deeply personal yet universally relatable, double bill of monologues and poetry. In the first part, The Death of Eddie, Michael explores his experience after losing his 18-year-old son to meningitis, recalling the strange and contradictory mix of emotions felt after the unexpected loss. This story, memorably captured in Michael's children's book The Sad Book, is told in vivid and poetic detail. In the second part, Many Kinds of Love, Michael recounts his 48-day period in intensive care, after contracting COVID-19 early in the pandemic, and having to face his own mortality. Both stories are told with Michael's signature positivity, humour and poetry. Together, the two pieces are a testimony to the spirit of recovery.
On creating the show, Michael Rosen said: ‘I have found that the best way for me to handle the 'big stuff' that I've been through, is to write about it in 'bits', fragments. Then, when I string these fragments together, they tell a story of what happened and how I feel about it. It's like a mosaic. As the title says, it is indeed about 'getting through it', but I very much hope that in telling the story, it helps anyone watching find that though we might bend we can find ways to not break. One of the ways, as you might expect with me, has been to discover that there is, incredibly, an absurd and comic side to this.'
On bringing his show to The Old Vic, Michael said: ‘I'm delighted to be able to share Getting Through It with audiences at The Old Vic. I've had the pleasure of taking to The Old Vic stage with Christmas Storytelling for the last eight years, which I'm looking forward to again this year. It's a special honour to be bringing my new show to a new audience and I hope it can embolden more people to talk about everything life throws at us.'
Michael is known internationally for his work as a bestselling children's author and poet, heralded for children's classics such as We're Going on a Bear Hunt and The Sad Book. Michael held the esteemed position of Children's Laureate between 2007–09 and was awarded the PEN Pinter Prize in 2023. He is also a prolific author and poet for adults, exemplified by his family memoir, The Missing: The True Story of My Family in World War II.
