Spacey may be the company’s figurehead and guiding force, but this first show has the Oscar-winner as director rather than actor. After the next show (Ian McKellen as Widow Twanky in Aladdin), Spacey takes leading roles for the season’s last two productions.

Cloaca was a big hit in the Netherlands but, until Spacey picked it up, all but unknown elsewhere. The title is the Latin word for sewer, and the show depicts four old friends reunited in middle age. Brought together by the possible loss of a paintings collection, they find themselves facing the compromises each of them has made.

The cast includes Neil Pearson, Stephen Tompkinson, Hugh Bonneville, Adrian Lukis and Ingeborga Dapkunaite. Of the five, Stephen Tomkinson has perhaps the highest-profile career — not only for TV turns in series “Drop the Dead Donkey” and “Ballykissangel,” but for West End showings, including Arsenic and Old Lace opposite Michael Richards and Art. Bonneville is becoming an increasingly recognizable face thanks to noticeable film work including 1999’s “Notting Hill.”

Still, for celebrity power, Spacey fans might be looking forward to seeing the new Old Vic boss in 2005’s production of The Philadelphia Story. With the female lead still to be cast, press reports have put Gwyneth Paltrow, Cameron Diaz and Nicole Kidman in the frame as favorites.

Cloaca is designed by Rob Jones. For more information, call (0)870 060 6628.