Kevin Spacey aims for a classic season at Old Vic

Kevin Spacey has unveiled a new programme of classic plays for The Old Vic for his seventh season as artistic director.

He has shunned modern or obscure American and European works in favour of British playwrights Noel Coward and Terence Rattigan and a French farce by Georges Feydeau.

They will be directed by a trio of top British directors - Anthony Page, Richard Eyre and Thea Sharrock - all working with him for the first time. Tom Hollander, Cranford's Lisa Dillon and rising star Tom Burke will be among the casts.

Some critics had argued the Old Vic should concentrate on established works in honour of its venerable history. Spacey insisted it was always the plan, adding: "I always said that we were going to get to the great classics that have been on the Old Vic stage in the past and the plays we're announcing are classic in a way that really fits. We can take the kind of artist risks that we are taking now [because] we have built an audience that is returning." Richard Eyre, who will direct Feydeau's A Flea in His Ear, said: "I admire the way that Kevin has given a tremendous uplift to the Old Vic and has persisted even in the face of initial criticism."

In the farce, Dillon plays the suspicious wife and Hollander her husband.

The season opens with Noel Coward's Design For Living. Burke, Dillon and Andrew Scott, recently seen as Paul McCartney in BBC drama Lennon Naked, will play Coward's trio of egotistical characters with Page directing. Terence Rattigan's final play, Cause Célèbre, will be directed by Sharrock. The season, sponsored by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, runs from September 3 until June 11.