Royal National Theatre

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Theatre

Coordinates: 51°30′25.6″N, 0°6′50.9″W

The Royal National Theatre from Waterloo Bridge
The Royal National Theatre from Waterloo Bridge

The National Theatre on the South Bank in the London Borough of Lambeth, England is immediately east of the southern end of Waterloo Bridge. The National Theatre's building was designed by architect Sir Denys Lasdun and its theatres opened individually between 1976 and 1977. In the years from 1963, before the company's permanent home on the South Bank was completed, the National Theatre Company, as it was then usually termed, was based at the Old Vic theatre in Waterloo.

The honorific "Royal" was added to the name in 1988, after a campaign by Max Rayne, retiring chairman of the NT board, to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the company’s inauguration (and Rayne’s own departure from office). The change was opposed by the theatre’s director, Richard Eyre, who feared that productions would become too “worthy” as a result. The addition was quietly dropped (but never officially rescinded) when Rayne retired. Most British theatre-goers still refer to both the company and venue as The National Theatre, frequently abbreviated to "The National".

The National Theatre presents a highly varied programme, including Shakespeare and other classics, new plays by leading contemporary playwrights, and revivals of classic musicals. Each auditorium in the theatre can run up to three shows in repertoire or repertory, thus further widening the number of plays which can be put on during any one season.

The building

The National Theatre building houses three separate auditoria:

  • The Olivier Theatre (named after the theatre's first artistic director, Sir Laurence Olivier), the largest space, is the main auditorium, and was modelled on the ancient Greek theatre at Epidaurus; it has an open stage and a fan-shaped audience seating area for about 1,160 people. It houses the Drum Revolve; a unique piece of stage technology which goes 8m under the stage. The Drum has two rim revolves and two platforms which can take 10 tonnes, facilitating dramatic and fluid scenary changes.
  • The Lyttelton Theatre (named after Oliver Lyttelton, the first chairman of the Theatre) has a proscenium arch design and holds up to 890 people.
  • The Cottesloe Theatre (named after Lord Cottesloe, chairman of the South Bank Theatre Board) is a small adaptable studio space, designed by Ian Macintosh, holding up to 400 people, depending on the seating configuration.
Denys Lasdun's building for the National Theatre - an "urban landscape" of interlocking terraces responding to the site at King's Reach on the River Thames to exploit views of St Paul's Cathedral and Somerset House.
Denys Lasdun's building for the National Theatre - an "urban landscape" of interlocking terraces responding to the site at King's Reach on the River Thames to exploit views of St Paul's Cathedral and Somerset House.

The riverside forecourt of the theatre is used for regular open air performances in the summer months. The terraces and foyers of the theatre complex have also been used for ad hoc experimental performances.

The National Theatre's foyers are open to the public, with a large theatrical bookshop, restaurants, bars and exhibition spaces. Backstage tours run throughout the day, and there is live music every evening from 6pm in the foyer before performances.

The style of the National Theatre building, described by Mark Girouard as "an aesthetic of broken forms" at the time of opening. Architectural opinion was split at the time of construction. Even enthusiastic advocates of the Modern Movement such as Sir Nikolaus Pevsner have found the Béton brut concrete both inside and out overbearing. Most notoriously, Prince Charles described the building in 1988 as "a clever way of building a nuclear power station in the middle of London without anyone objecting". Sir John Betjeman, however, a man not noted for his enthusiasm for brutalist architecture, was effuse in his praise and wrote to Lasdun stating that he "gasped with delight at the cube of your theatre in the pale blue sky and a glimpse of St. Paul's to the south of it. It is a lovely work and so good from so many angles...it has that inevitable and finished look that great work does."

Despite the controversy, the theatre has been a Grade II* listed building since 1994. Although the theatre is often cited as an archetype of Brutalist architecture in England, since Lasdun's death the building has been re-evaluated as having closer links to the work of Le Corbusier, rather than contemporary monumental 1960s buildings such as those of Paul Rudolph. The carefully refined balance between horizontal and vertical elements in Lasdun's building has been contrasted favourably with the lumpiness of neighbouring buildings such as the Hayward Gallery and Queen Elizabeth Hall, and is now in the unusual situation of having appeared simultaneously in the top ten "most popular" and "most hated" London buildings in opinion surveys. A recent lighting scheme illuminating the exterior of the building, in particular the fly towers, has proved very popular, and is one of several positive artistic responses to the building.

Artistic directors

  • Laurence Olivier ( 1963- 1973) with Kenneth Tynan as 'Literary Manager'.
  • Peter Hall ( 1973- 1988)
  • Richard Eyre ( 1988- 1997)
  • Trevor Nunn ( 1997- 2003)
  • Nicholas Hytner ( 2003 to date)

Notable productions

1963-1973

  • Othello directed by John Dexter with Laurence Olivier in the title-role and Frank Finlay as Iago ( 1964)
  • The Royal Hunt of the Sun by Peter Shaffer directed by John Dexter ( 1964); the National's first world premiere
  • As You Like It directed by Clifford Williams the all-male production with Ronald Pickup as Rosalind, Jeremy Brett as Orlando, Charles Kay as Celia, Derek Jacobi as Touchstone, Robert Stephens as Jaques ( 1967)
  • Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard directed by Derek Goldby with John Stride and Edward Petherbridge ( 1967)
  • Oedipus by Seneca translated by Ted Hughes directed by Peter Brook with John Gielgud as Oedipus, Irene Worth as Jocasta ( 1968)
  • The Merchant of Venice directed by Jonathan Miller with Laurence Olivier as Shylock, Joan Plowright as Portia (1970)
  • Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen directed by Ingmar Bergman with Maggie Smith as Hedda (1970)
  • Long Day's Journey Into Night by Eugene O'Neill directed by Michael Blakemore ( 1971)
  • Jumpers by Tom Stoppard directed by Peter Wood starring Michael Hordern and Diana Rigg ( 1972)
  • The Misanthrope by Molière translated by Tony Harrison directed by John Dexter with Alec McCowen and Diana Rigg ( 1973-74)

1973-1988

  • No Man's Land by Harold Pinter directed by Peter Hall with Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud ( 1975)
  • Illuminatus! an eight-hour five-play cycle from Ken Campbell’s The Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool ( 1977)
  • Bedroom Farce by Alan Ayckbourn directed by Peter Hall ( 1977)
  • Lark Rise by Keith Dewhurst directed by Bill Bryden ( 1978)
  • Tales from the Vienna Woods by Odon von Horvath, translated by Christopher Hampton directed by Maximilian Schell with Stephen Rea and Kate Nelligan
  • Plenty by David Hare directed by the author with Stephen Moore and Kate Nelligan ( 1978)
  • Amadeus by Peter Shaffer directed by Peter Hall with Paul Scofield and Simon Callow ( 1979-80)
  • Galileo by Bertolt Brecht translated by Howard Brenton directed by John Dexter with Michael Gambon ( 1980)
  • The Romans in Britain by Howard Brenton directed by Michael Bogdanov subject of a private prosecution by Mary Whitehouse ( 1980)
  • The Oresteia by Aeschylus translated by Tony Harrison directed by Peter Hall ( 1981)
  • Guys and Dolls by Frank Loesser directed by Richard Eyre ( 1982) the National Theatre's first musical
  • Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet directed by Bill Bryden ( 1983)
  • The Mysteries from medieval Mystery plays in a version by Tony Harrison directed by Bill Bryden ( 1985)
  • Pravda by Howard Brenton and David Hare directed by the author with Anthony Hopkins ( 1985)
  • Antony and Cleopatra directed by Peter Hall with Anthony Hopkins and Judi Dench ( 1987)

1988-1997

  • Fuente Ovejuna by Lope de Vega translated by Adrian Mitchell directed by Declan Donnellan ( 1989)
  • The Madness of George III by Alan Bennett directed by Nicholas Hytner starring Nigel Hawthorne ( 1991)
  • Angels in America: Part One: Millennium Approaches; Part Two; Perestroika by Tony Kushner directed by Declan Donnellan ( 1991-92)
  • An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestley directed by Stephen Daldry ( 1992)
  • The David Hare Trilogy: Racing Demon, Murmuring Judges, The Absence of War by David Hare directed by Richard Eyre ( 1993)
  • Arcadia by Tom Stoppard directed by Trevor Nunn ( 1993)
  • Sweeney Todd by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler directed by Declan Donnellan ( 1993)
  • King Lear directed by Richard Eyre with Ian Holm ( 1997)
  • The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht translated by Frank McGuinness directed by Simon McBurney ( 1997)

1997-2002

  • Copenhagen by Michael Frayn directed by Michael Blakemore ( 1998)
  • Oklahoma! by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein directed by Trevor Nunn with Maureen Lipman and Hugh Jackman (1998)
  • The Merchant of Venice directed by Trevor Nunn with Henry Goodman ( 1999)
  • Summerfolk by Maxim Gorky directed by Trevor Nunn ( 1999)
  • Honk! ( 1999; Olivier Award winner)
  • Blue Orange by Joe Penhall directed by Roger Michell, with Chiwetel Ejiofor, Bill Nighy and Andrew Lincoln ( 2000)
  • The Far Side of the Moon written, directed and performed by Robert Lepage ( 2001)
  • Humble Boy by Charlotte Jones directed by John Caird, with Simon Russell Beale ( 2001)
  • South Pacific by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein directed by Trevor Nunn with Philip Quast ( 2001)
  • The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare directed by Nicholas Hytner with Alex Jennings and Phil Daniels. ( 2001)
  • Vincent in Brixton by Nicholas Wright directed by Richard Eyre, with Claire Higgins ( 2002)
  • The Coast of Utopia, a trilogy by Tom Stoppard, comprising: Voyage, Shipwreck and Salvage, directed by Trevor Nunn, with computerised video designs by William Dudley ( 2002)
  • Anything Goes by Cole Porter directed by Trevor Nunn with John Barrowman and Sally Ann Triplett ( 2002)

2003-

  • Jerry Springer - The Opera, a musical by Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas ( 2003)
  • Henry V by William Shakespeare. A notable modern dress version directed by Nicholas Hytner starring Adrian Lester ( 2003).
  • Democracy by Michael Frayn directed by Michael Blakemore ( 2003)
  • His Dark Materials, a two-part adaptation of Philip Pullman’s novel directed by Nicholas Hytner starring Anna Maxwell Martin and Dominic Cooper ( 2003)
  • The History Boys by Alan Bennett directed by Nicholas Hytner starring Richard Griffiths ( 2004)
  • Coram Boy by Jamila Gavin, adapted by Helen Edmundson, directed by Melly Still ( 2005, 2006)
  • The Seafarer by Conor McPherson directed by the author, starring Jim Norton, Conleth Hill, Karl Johnson, Michael McElhatton and Ron Cook ( 2006)
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