ntlive 50th programme
TRANSCRIPT
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years on stage
#NT50 @ntlive
ntlive.com
Internationalcinemas fromSat November 2
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Drawing by Alison Chitty of a playreading at the NT Studio
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1
A SHORT HISTORY OF THENATIONAL THEATRE
1848 2013
1848 The first proposal for a Nat ional Theatre is made byEffingham Wilson, a London publisher. It is supported by leading
figures of the day, including Charles Dickens, critic and poet Matthew
Arnold, and actors Charles Kemble and Sir Henry Irving.
1903 Actor-director-author Harley Granvi lle Barker and cr iticWilliam Archer publish the first detailed plans for a National Theatre,
and circulate their book privately. The estimated total cost of the
project is 300,000.
1908 Supporters of the campaign join forces with a groupplanning a memorial to Shakespeare, to form the Shakespeare
Memorial National Theatre. The Committee includes Bernard Shaw,
Arthur Wing Pinero, Beerbohm Tree, Johnston Forbes-Rober tson,and Granville Barker; plus leading social and political figures like
Viscount Esher and the Hon Mrs Alf red Lyttelton.
The Objects of the Shakespeare National Theatre are published
under the following headings:
1. To keep the plays of Shakespeare in its repertory
2. To revive whatever else is vital in English classical drama
3. To prevent recent plays of great merit from falling into oblivion
4. To produce new plays and to further the development of the
modern drama
5. To produce translations of representative works of foreign drama,
ancient and modern
6. To stimulate the art of acting through the varied opportunities
which it will offer to the members of the company.
1909 Mrs Lyttelton obtains the first substantial donation to theappeal: 70,000 from Carl Meyer, son of a Hamburg banker.
1913 42 Various sites are considered, acquired and rejected,architects appointed and plans submitted.
1930 In a revised edition of his book on the National Theatre,Granville Barker writes prophetically: The site facing the river,
between County Hall and the Surrey Approach to the new Charing
Cross Bridge, is about all that one can wish for; a National Theatre
could hardly be better placed.
1937 A site is purchased opposite the Victoria and Albert
Museum. Sir Edwin Lutyens and Cecil Masey are appointed todesign the building. A building committee begins to meet.
Lilian Baylis dies. Her work, as the legendary manager of the Old Vic
for 25 years, had laid the foundations for a national theatre.
1939 The Second Wor ld War delays the bu ilding of the theatre.
1940 The Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Artsis set up with direct grants from the Exchequer to fund the arts. In
1946 it is to become the Arts Council of Great Britain.
1942 The London County Council agrees to exchange theKensington site for a new one on the South Bank of the Thames.
Harley Granville Barker
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1949 The National Theatre Bill is brought before Parliament, andpassed without division, empowering the government of the day to
contribute up to 1 million for the theatres building and equipment.
1951 In Festival of Britain year, a foundation stone is laid by HMThe Queen ( later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother) on a site next
to the Festival Hall.
1952 The LCC of fer a bet ter si te, adjoining County Hall.
1962 The Chancellor appoints the National Theatre Board,chaired by Lord Chandos (the former Oliver Lyttelton), and the South
Bank Theatre and Opera House Board, chaired by Lord Cottesloe, to
supervise the building operation.The appointment is announced of the Nationals first Di rector,
Laurence Olivier, then launching the first season at Chichester
Festival Theatre of which he is Director. The Governors of the Old
Vic agree to offer their theatre as a temporary home for the National
Theatre.
1963 22 October: The Nationals inaugural production opens Shakespeares Hamlet, directed by Laurence Olivier, with Peter
OToole in the lead. The repertoire for the first season also consists
of Chekhovs Uncle Vanya and ShawsSaint Joan, which had
opened at Chichester, Farquhars The Recruiting Officer, Ibsens
The Master Builder, Harold Brighouses Hobsons Choice, Becketts
Playwith Sophocles Philoctetes, Max FrischsAndorra, and
Shakespeares Othello.
A ticket in the stalls for the first
season costs 27s 6d (1.28) and
in the gallery 3s (15p). The Arts
Council grant for the first season
is 130,000. Despite House
Full signs every night, the first
season ends with a deficit of
22,500.
Denys Lasdun is chosen as
architect of the new theatre
and opera house on the South
Bank. For two years he explores
the challenges with a building
committee.
1964 The Royal Hunt of theSunby Peter Shaffer is the NTs
first world premiere.
1965 The National Theatre Company v isits Russia and EastGermany with Othello, Hobsons Choiceand Love for Love.
1966 The National at the Old Vic goes 250,000 into the red. ArtsMinister Jennie Lee announces an increase in government subsidy
to cover the deficit. Jacques Charon, from the Comdie Franaise,
directs an acclaimed production of FeydeausA Flea In Her Ear
adapted by John Mortimer.
1967 The site for the new theatre is shif ted a few hundred yardseast its last move. The capital cost is now estimated at 7.5million.
The Nationa l stages As You Like Itwith an all-male cast, and its first
new play by an untried author: Tom Stoppards Rosencrantz andGuildenstern Are Dead.
1969 Work starts on the building; it is expected to be completedby 1973.
1970 Money from recent surpluses is used to finance the YoungVic, a hundred yards down The Cut from the Old Vic. The Young
Vic serves the NT as a studio theatre unti l 1973 when it becomes
a separate company. Olivier receives a life peerage, the first ever
offered to an actor.
1971 The National is brought to a low point with a series ofunpopular productions at the Old Vic, and a season staged at the
New Theatre (now the Nol Coward), unsuccessful apart from LongDays Journey Into Night, with Olivier as James Tyrone.
Sir Max Rayne (later to be Lord Rayne) succeeds Lord Chandos as
Chairman of the NT Board.
1972 The Nationals fortunes revive with Jonathan Millersproduction of The School for Scandaland Michael Blakemores of
The Front Page.
1973 Olivier gives his last stage performance in Trevor GriffithsThe Party.
Peter Hall, founder and former director of the Royal Shakespeare
Company, succeeds him as Director of the NT.
Left: Laurence Olivier. Photo by Zo Dominic
Right: Laurence Olivier at the Royal Ope ning, 1976. Photo by Nobby Clark
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1974 The opening of the new building is delayed further byconstruction difficulties; but the National Theatre Bill 1974 removes
the limit on government support for the building work.
1975 Peter Hall takes the decision to move into the new buildingas soon as one auditorium is ready. NT staff leave the huts in
Aquinas Street which have served as their temporary offices
throughout the companys years at the Old Vic, and move into the
still unfinished building to prepare to open it theatre-by-theatre.
Harold Pinters No Mans Land, one of several new plays written
for the opening of the National, opens at the Old Vic with RalphRichardson and John Gielgud, directed by Peter Hall.
1976 The first productions in the Lyttelton Theatre (named afterOliver Lyttelton, Lord Chandos), are transfers from the Old Vic, and
on 8 March a week of previews of five plays begins with Becketts
Happy Days. Peggy Ashcroft plays Winnie.
16 March:The Lyttelton Theatre officially opens with Albert Finney as
Hamlet, directed by Peter Hall.
The work at first known as NT Extras starts, under Associate
Director Michael Kustow. The first Platform performance is staged
Scenes from National Life. It begins a programme of short, early-
evening events plays, talks, readings, discussions in each of the
three theatres which has continued to the present day.
Foyer music begins free live concerts ranging from baroque andjazz to folk, given by professiona l groups each day in the foyer before
performances. The first free exhibitions go on view in the foyers,
which are described by Denys Lasdun as the fourth auditorium
all the public areas, foyers and terraces are in themselves a theatre
with the city as a backdrop.
The opening of the Olivier Theatre, due in July, is put back further
by contractors delays and industrial troubles within the theatre.
It eventually opens on 4 October with Marlowes Tamburlaine The
Great, directed by Peter Hall with Albert Finney in the lead. The
company had been in rehearsal since April, and had resorted to
performing sections of the play outside on the terraces.
25 October:The Queen officially opens the National Theatre,
although the building is still unfinished. Laurence Olivier, giving a
speech of welcome in the auditorium named after him, makes his
only appearance on one of the new NTs stages.
1977 The first of the plays commissioned for the new building tohave its premiere there is Howard Brentons Weapons of Happiness,
in the Lyttelton. Others are Robert Bolts State of Revolution and
Alan Ayckbourns Bedroom Farce, which later transfers to West End.
4 March:The Cottesloe finally opens with a visiting production from
the Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool, Ken Campbells eight-hour
epic Illuminatus!Bill Brydens promenade production of medieval
Mystery plays, The Passion, in a version by Tony Harrison is one ofthe first plays to open in the Cottesloe. Eventually, with the addition
of The Nativityand Doomsdaythis becomes The Mysteries, staged
several times until 1999, sometimes with all-day performances.
The theatre is closed for five nights by an unofficial strike over the
dismissal of a plumber. The deficit on the first years operation is
250,000, caused by the late opening of the Olivier and the high
costs of servicing the building. Much of the machinery, including the
Oliviers drum-revolve, still does not work.
1978 79 Further industrial action over the next two yearscauses cancelled performances and huge costs.
An Arts Council inquiry into the costs o f running the National
recommends a once-for-all grant to clear the accumulated deficit.
1979 Warren Mitchell wins three best actor awards as WillyLoman in Michael Rudmans production of Arthur Millers Death
of a Salesman. Peter Shaffers new play,Amadeus, directed by
Peter Hall, wins 13 awards, and later transfers to the West End and
Broadway.
1980 Brechts The Life of Galileo, with Michael Gambon inthe title part, directed by John Dexter in the Olivier, is the biggest
popular success a Brecht play has had in London.
The premiere of Howard Brentons The Romans in Britain, which
includes a scene depicting attempted homosexual rape, causes
an uproar. The director, Michael Bogdanov is prosecuted by Mary
Whitehouse (the case is finally dropped in 1982).
The Na tional celeb rates Oliviers 80th Birth day: Max Rayne, Laurence Olivi er,
Peter Hall and Richard Eyre meet a t the Stage Door. Photo Nobby Clark
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1981 Peter Halls production of Tony Harrisons version of TheOresteia of Aeschylus is staged in the Olivier, and later visits the
ancient theatre at Epidaurus, the first foreign company to play there.
1982 Richard Eyres production of Guys and Dollsis an enormoushit in the Olivier, eventually playing to nearly 400,000 people before
transferring to the West End, and enabling the National to withstand
the effect of cuts in real terms in the Arts Councils grant.
1983 The years hits include Peter Woods production ofThe Rivals, the premieres of Christopher Hamptons Tales from
Hollywood, directed by Peter Gill, and David Mamets Glengarry Glen
Rossdirected by Bill Bryden.
1984 Wild Honey, MichaelFrayns version of Chekhovs
Platonov play, wins nine awards for
its director, Christopher Morahan,
designer, John Gunter, and leadactor Ian McKellen.
Peter Gill founds the Nationals
Studio, an experimental workshop
for the company, which encourages
new writing. It is funded by private
sources, and housed in the Old Vic
annexe which Ed Mirvish, owner of
the Old Vic Theatre, leases to the NT
free of charge.
1985 At a press conferencecalled to announce cuts in the NTs
activities, including the closure of
the Cottesloe, Peter Hall attacksgovernment cut-backs in spending
on the arts. Government advice
to theatres is to seek private
sponsorship.
A series of hi t product ions includes
David Hare and Howard Brentons
Pravdaand Alan AyckbournsA
Chorus of Disapproval.
In the autumn, the Cottesloe re-
opens, thanks to a special grant from the GLC, which is soon to be
abolished. The Studio stages a festival of new work there.
1986 Peter Halls adaptation of OrwellsAnimal Farm, which
opened in the Cottesloe in 1984, becomes the first production toplay in all three NT theatres. It also tours to nine cities in Britain
and six more overseas. The company tours abroad more than ever
before, including visits to France, Austria, Switzerland, the USA and
Canada.
1987 Private sponsorship enables the National to present anInternational Theatre Festival, produced by Thelma Holt. The first
visitors are from West Germany (Peter Steins production of ONeills
The Hairy Ape), Sweden (Ingmar Bergmans productions of Hamlet
and Miss Julie), Japan (Ninagawas Macbethand Medea), and
Moscow (the Mayakovsky Theatres Tomorrow Was War).
1988 Peter Halls last year as Director of the National Theatre.He stages three late Shakespeare plays (The Tempest, The Winters
Tale, and Cymbeline) in the Cottesloe then in the Ol ivier, and leaves
to start his own company in the West End.
September: Richard Eyre takes over as Director of the National.
Alan Bennetts Single Spies, consisting of two short plays, contains
the first representation on the British stage of a living monarch. In
Howard Davies production of Dion Boucicaults The Shaughraun,
the Oliviers drum-revolve is put to full use for the first time by William
Dudleys award-winning set.
To mark the companys 25th bi rthday in October, The Queen
approves the title Royal for the National Theatre, and attends
an anniversary gala in the Olivier.
The funds raised are to set up a
National Theatre Endowment Fund.
Lord Rayne retires as Chairman
of the Board and is succeeded by
Lady Soames, daughter of Winston
Churchill.
1989 The first Lloyds BankTheatre Challenge a scheme
administered by the Nationals
Education Department, which
encourages young peoples theatre
companies from all over Britain
culminates in three Showcase
nights in the Olivier.
Laurence Olivier, the Nationals first
Director, dies.
1990 New work this year includes
David Hares Racing Demonwhichopens in the Cottesloe, transfers to
the Olivier, and later to the Lyttelton,
before touring the UK. With the
addition of his later plays, Murmuring
Judges and The Absence of War,
the Hare Trilogy in 1993 examines
the institutions of Church, Law and
Government.
The most ambitious tour ever staged
by the National begins: of Richard IIIand King Learwith Ian McKellen
and Brian Cox in the respective title roles, leading a company of 23
actors all over the world.
November: the National stages two special performances of Guys
and Dolls in memory of Ian Charleson, Sky Masterson in RichardEyres 1982 production. He had died of an Aids-related illness earlier
in the year, shortly after taking over as Hamlet in Eyres production.
The Christmas production is Alan Bennetts version of Kenneth
Grahames The Wind in the Willows, directed by Nicholas Hytner. It
proves enormously popular with all ages and is revived in 1991 and
1993.
1991 A programme of sign language interpreted performances forthe deaf begins, and classes in sign language are given to members
of staff. Later, audio-described performances are also offered
regularly for blind and partially sighted people.
New work this year includes Alan Bennetts The Madness of George
III. It is revived the following year and tours to America.
Peter Hall. Photo by Zo Dominic
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1992 In the Cottesloe, director Declan Donnellan and designerNick Ormerod stage Millennium Approaches, the first part of Tony
Kushners gay fantasia on national themes,Angels in America . Part
two, Perestroika, follows in 1993.
Stephen Daldrys first production for the National, J B PriestleysAn
Inspector Calls, opens in the Lyttelton; the following year, it moves
to the Olivier and then also transfers to the Aldwych. For the next 20
years it plays in various West End theatres, and tours the UK and all
over the world.
The Studio makes the first-ever visit to Lithuania by a Br itish theatre
company: actors, designers, directors and theatre practitioners hold
classes, discussion groups and an open public forum.
Rodgers and Hammersteins
Carousel, directed by Nicholas
Hytner and choreographed by
Kenneth MacMillan, plays in the
Lyttelton, transferring the following
year to the West End. This was
to be MacMillans last work; hedied suddenly during the rehearsal
period.
1993 During 1992-93, theNational undertakes more touring
than ever before. Over 34 weeks,
its work is seen, outside London, by
more than 200,000 people.
1994 Jeremy Sams translationof Cocteaus Les Parents Terribles
goes to Broadway as Indiscretions,
and StoppardsArcadiato the West
End. First visit of the National toSouth Africa: the Market Theatre,
Johannesburg hosts a Studio
residency: 32 practitioners in
workshops, classes, seminars and
performances.
1995 Patrick Marbers first play,Dealers Choice, developed in the
Studio, opens in the Cottesloe, wins
the Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy, and transfers to the
West End. It will later tour all over the UK, to Ireland, Australia, and
the States, opening the 1996 Cultural Olympiad in Atlanta, Georgia.
David Hares Skylightwins the Olivier Award for Best Play, transfers
to the West End and Broadway, and in 1997, re-cast, tours the UKand returns to the West End.
The first phase of BT Nat ional Connect ions, a partnership between
BT, the National, regional theatres, numerous playwrights, and
hundreds of young theatre companies, ends with showcases at the
National. The scheme continues to grow over the years.
Judi Dench wins both best actress Olivier awards for Rodney
AcklandsAbsolute Hellin the Lyttelton and for Sondheims A Litt le
Night Musicin the Olivier.
Mary Soames ends her Chairmanship of the Board, and is
succeeded by Sir Christopher Hogg.
1996 Pam Gems new play, Stanley, with Antony Sher as theartist Stanley Spencer, opens in the Cottesloe and transfers to New
York. Mary Stuartand The Designated Mournerbring French actress
Isabelle Huppert and American Mike Nichols to the English stage
for the first time; and Paul Scofield returns to the NT in John Gabriel
Borkman. Peter Hall also returns, to direct Sophocles Oedipus
Plays, which open in the ancient theatre of Epidaurus.
A visit by Robert Lepage with The Seven Streams of the River Ota
has some all day performances on Sundays a first for the National.
The Arts Council Lottery Fund announces an award of 31.5 mil lion
to develop and renovate the Nationals building. A campaign is
launched to raise the 10.5 million needed to match this.
1997 Othello, directed by Sam Mendes, embarks on a worldtour which includes first visits by the
National to Korea, New Zealand, and
mainland China.
October: Trevor Nunn succeeds
Richard Eyre as Director.
1998 Trevor Nunns productionof a previously unperformed play
by Tennessee Williams, Not About
Nightingales, is a success in the
Cottesloe, in a co-production with
Moving Theatre and in association
with the Alley Theatre, Houston. It
later plays in Texas and transfers to
the Circle in the Square, New York.
David HaresAmys Viewand Patrick
Marbers Closertransfer to the West
End.
1999 More of the Nationals
work than ever before is seen inthe West End (Tom Stoppards
The Invention of Love, Michael
Frayns Copenhagen, Rodgers and
Hammersteins Oklahoma!, as well
as PriestleysAn Inspector Calls
still running), and on Broadway (Not
About Nightingales , Closer, and
Amys View).
Trevor Nunn launches a new
Ensemble of actors with Shakespeares Troilusand Cressida. Over
the next year they will appear in five more, widely differing plays, from
Gorkys Summerfolkto the musical Honk! The Ugly Duckling.
The 100 most significant plays of the century are celebrated in
NT2000 Platforms.Bill Brydens production of The Mysteriesreturns to the Cottesloe to
celebrate a new millennium.
2000 John Cairds production of Hamlet, with Simon RussellBeale, visits Elsinore and later Belgrade as part of a major tour which
ends in New York before returning to the NT.
Two linked plays by Alan Ayckbourn, Houseand Garden, take
place in the Olivier and Lyttelton simultaneously, the cast hurrying
backstage for successive scenes. The fun continues in the foyers
after the performance with a village fete each evening.
2001 Roger Michells production of Joe Penhalls Cottesloe hitBlue/Orange transfers to the West End. Three other new plays
Richard Eyre in rehearsal. Photo by John Haynes
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premiered at the National Charlotte Jones Humble Boy, Mark
Ravenhills Mother Claps Molly House, and Gregory Burkes Gagarin
Way (a co-production between the Traverse, Edinburgh and the
NT Studio) all transfer to the West End, as does Trevor Nunns
production of Lerner and Loewes My Fair Lady.
Lisa Burger joins the Executive as Finance Director.
The National celebrates its 25th anniversary on the South Bank with
a series of Platforms, an exhibition, and a new book,In Rehearsal at
the National.
2002 A season named Transformat ion presents 13 worldpremieres in the Lyttelton (temporarily transformed by a single sweep
of seats from circle to stage) and
the Loft, a new 100-seat theatre
created in the circle foyer. From
April to September, new audiences
are introduced to new work at new
prices.
Trevor Nunn directs Glenn Closein Tennessee WilliamsA Streetcar
Named Desire; Tom Stoppards epic
trilogy The Coast of Utopia; and
Cole PortersAnything Goes.
2002 Trevor Nunns lastproduction as Director of the NT is
Shakespeares Loves Labours Lost,
using largely the same company as
forAnything Goes.
2003 April: Nicholas Hytner takesover as Director, with Nick Starr as
Executive Director, and announcesa season of new work. First to open
are Owen McCaffertys Scenes from
the Big Picture, directed by Peter
Gill, in the Cottesloe;Jerry Springer
The Operaby Richard Thomas
and Stewart Lee in the Lyttelton;
and Henry V, directed by Hytner,
with Adrian Lester in the title role, in
the Olivier. The latter is part of the
Travelex 10 Season four plays presented over six months in the
Olivier, for which two thirds of the tickets are 10. New work in the
Cottesloe includes Kwame Kwei-Armahs Elminas Kitchen, Martin
McDonaghs The Pillowman, and Michael Frayns Democracy.
The epic production of His Dark Materials, a two-play adaptation byNicholas Wright of Philip Pullmans trilogy, is staged in the Olivier.
2004 The second Travelex 10 Season includes SimonMcBurneys production of Measure for Measurein a collaboration
with Complicite, and David Hares examination of the lead-up to the
Iraq War, Stuff Happens.
Alan Bennetts The History Boysopens in the Lyttelton. It goes on
to tour all over the UK, to Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia and
Broadway, and to play in the West End in two separate runs, winning
many awards in London and New York, and is made into a film.
2005 Director Mike Leighs first play for the National, TwoThousand Yearsopens in the Cottesloe and later transfers to the
Lyttelton. The Studio moves to temporary premises at the Oval
while waiting for the major refurbishment of its building on The Cut,
which will also provide a home for the NT Archive and a space for
NT Education. Christopher Hogg is succeeded as Chairman of the
Board by Sir Hayden Phillips.
2006 Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesoris musical, Caroline, orChangeand David Eldridges Market Boyeach bring audiences
including 32% of first-time bookers to the National. The Travelex 10
Season continues to draw large audiences with classics like The
Alchemistand The Life of Galileo.
Up to 60% of NT bookings are now
taken on-line.
Three of the plays from 2005s
Connections series Mark
Ravenhills Citizenship, Enda Walshs
Chatroom, and Deborah GearingsBurn are given professional
productions in the Cottesloe.
Katie Mitchell and her companys
groundbreaking version of Virginia
Woolfs novel The Waves, uses live
video and sound recording.
2007 An adaptation of MichaelMorpurgos novel War Horseopens
in the Olivier in a collaboration with
Handspring Puppet Company: actors,
working with magnificent life-sized
horse puppets, conjure up the first
world war; it is revived the followingyear and will go on to become the
Nationals biggest ever success.
The NT tours for 25 weeks with
Rafta, Rafta, The History Boys,
and Chatroom & Citizenship. Happy
Dayswith Fiona Shaw visits Paris,
Madrid, Washington, New York,
and Epidaurus, where its opening
performance is seen by 6,000
people, probably the largest audience ever to see Beckett in one
evening. The Travelex season includes Saint Joanwith Anne-Marie
Duff.
The NT Studio re-opens in November, after a 6 million
refurbishment. It now houses the NT Archive alongside the JohnLyon education studio as well as two large spaces for rehearsal,
workshops and development work.
2008 After years of negotiation, the National introduces Sundayperformances. Peter Handkes wordless play The Hour We Knew
Nothing of Each Otheris staged in the Lyttelton it has a cast
of 25 playing 450 characters. A co-production with Live Theatre,
Newcastle, brings Lee Halls The Pitmen Paintersto the NT; it is
subsequently revived at the NT, tours the UK and Ireland, and
transfers to the West End. Rebecca Lenkiewiczs Her Naked Skinis
the first original play by a female playwright in the Olivier.
Trevor Nunn in rehearsal. Photo by Gautier De blonde
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2009 A pilot season of National Theatre Live starts broadcast inglive performances from the NT to cinema screens around the world.
Over 50,000 people see the final performance of Racines Phdre
with Helen Mirren in the name part. War Horsetransfers to the New
London Theatre, where it remains in 2013. According to the Society
of London Theatres, the NT is now responsible for about a third of
the entire play-going public in London.
Watch This Space, the summer festival in Theatre Square, celebrates
its tenth anniversary with its biggest programme yet. The National
sells its millionth Travelex 10 ticket. David Hares The Power of Yes
analyses the financial crisis, and Alan Bennetts The Habit of Art
looks at the creative process behind the craft of theatre.
2010 Katie Mitchells adaptationof Dr Seuss The Cat in the Hatis
the NTs first show for 3-6-year-
olds; Howard Davies production
of Bulgakovs The White Guard
continues his partnership with writerAndrew Upton and thei r examination
of Russian classics. When London
Assurance is shown as part of NT
Live, a screen displays it free to
audiences in Theatre Square, and
the company come outside to take
a curtain-call at the end. Nicholas
Hytners production of Hamlet, with
Rory Kinnear in the lead, opens as
part of the Travelex 10 season
and subsequently transfers to the
Lyttelton and tours the UK.
John Makinson succeeds Hayden
Phillips as Chairman of the Board.Lisa Burger becomes Chief
Operating Officer.
2011 War Horseopens at LincolnCenter and wins five Tony Awards.
Peter Hall directs Twelfth Night
in the Cottesloe to mark his 80th
birthday, with his daugher Rebecca
Hall as Viola.
Alecky Blythe and Adam Cork s London Roadopens, directed by
Rufus Norris. Its examination of the lives of residents of Ipswich
following the murder of five women is told in a unique style, the
music following the recorded speech patterns of Alecky Blythes
interviewees. Its original run in the Cottesloe is extended by populardemand, leading to four short plays by writers new to the NT being
presented instead in a specially constructed temporary performance
space in the Paintframe as Double Feature.
Richard Beans One Man, Two Guvnors, from Goldoni, proves the
smash-hit of the year and later tours the UK and internationally,
transfers to the Adelphi, to Broadway, and then to Theatre Royal
Haymarket, where it will play until March 2014.
Danny Boyle directs Frankensteinwith Benedict Cumberbatch and
Jonny Lee Miller alternating the roles of Creature and Doctor.
2012 The National achieves its highest ever income, over doublethat of ten years earlier. National Theatre Live now plays to 260
screens in the UK and a further 350 in 25 other countries.
The Nationa l Theatre Inside Out festival sees activities spil ling out
onto the riverbank to celebrate the Olympic and Jubilee summer.
Passing along the river during her Diamond Jubilee River Pageant,
The Queen is delighted by a salute from War HorsesJoey on top
of the Olivier fly tower. Travelex Tickets (now 12) celebrate their
tenth season with productions including Timon of Athenswith Simon
Russell Beale and a transfer to the Olivier of London Road. Simon
Stephens adaptation of Mark Haddons The Curious Incident of the
Dog in the Night-Timeopens in the Cottesloe.
2013 Curious Incidentjoins War Horseand One Man, TwoGuvnorsin the West End, and, with the addition of Alan Bennetts
Hymn andCocktail Sticks(under
the title Untold Stories) in spring
2013, there are four NT productions
playing there. All four are presented
by the new company, NT
Productions, set up to extend the life
of NT productions without subsidyin the West End and beyond.
Over the financial year 2012-13,
NT productions play to a global
audience of 3.6million.
Construction work begins for National
Theatre Future, an 80million
redevelopment programme which will
transform the facilities the National
offers audiences and artists, enhance
its relationship with the South Bank
environment and place education
firmly at the heart of its mission.
The Shed, a temporary venue in front
of the National, provides a third stageduring the Cottesloes closure for the
NT Future redevelopment; celebrating
new theatre that is original, ambitious
and unexpected.
Adrian Lester plays the tit le role in
Othellowith Rory Kinnear as Iago.
15 October:Rufus Norris is
announced as the next Director of the
National, to take over in 2015.
22 October: The Queen pays a backstage visit to the National to
mark its 50th anniversary. The celebrations also include television
and radio documentaries, special Platforms and exhibitions and the
once-in-a-lifetime performance 50 Years on Stage.
The National Theatre can never
be what the public wants if it isnt
allowed sometimes to be what the
public doesnt want.Laurence Olivier
Nicholas Hytner in rehearsal. Photo Ivan Kyncl
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50 YEARS ON STAGE
Members of the audience and company for the performance on
2 November 2013 were asked to contribute a favourite memory to be
printed in this souvenir programme.
Most photographs are from the NT Archive [email protected]
Backgro
und:TheOldVic.
PhotoChrisArthur
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DAVID RYALL
Whilst preparing for a tour across Canada
during Expo 1967, it was decided that Sir
Laurence was unable to take Othello due toill health but, as he was needed to appear
personally at all the locations from Vancouver
to Toronto, he should take over a small part
inA Flea in Her Eardirected by Jacques
Charon. I was cast as Herr Schwartz, an
insane little German who repeatedly bursts
into the hotel foyer asking if a beautiful
Mdchen has called for him. On the day
Sir Laurence arrived for the first time to
rehearse, dressed in suit and tie as usual,
I had to rush from the side of the rehearsal
room, seize him by the lapels and throw him
to the ground. The scene began and I was
sitting at the side, petrified. However, the
moment came and there was nothing for itbut to rush on and attack. As I grabbed his
jacket and started yelling, he started back
a couple of paces and said Ah! Oh, ho ho!
Hes got hold of the hairs on my chest!
This caused me much embarrassment and
naturally a huge laugh from the company.
SHEILA REID
Seven inspirational years. Working with
brilliant directors Ingmar Bergman,
Jacques Charon, Tyrone Guthrie, Dexter,
Gaskill, Dunlop, and Sir Laurence of course.
His electrifying performance at the read-
through of Othello(my first day with the
Company) and later, when going on as
Raymondes understudy inA Flea in Her
Ear, his coming in especially to watch, and
feeding me champagne and gossip in the
interval (This is what we do in the star
dressing-room!)
Actors, designers, wigs, wardrobe, crew,
admin: all part of the family. How blessed to
have been in at the beginning of this glorious
and ever-expanding institution.
RUPERT RHYMESOld Vic Theatre Manager
The early days of the National at the Old Vic
hold wonderful memories of productions,
experiences and challenges for those of us
involved. The scrabble to transform the Vic
for the October 22 low-key opening in 1963,
then the seemingly non-stop demand for
tickets, particularly the nightmare of sold-out
Othelloperformances and the steps we took
to devise new booking arrangements (in that
non-computer age), the procession of anyone
who was anyone attending shows, through
to the controversial Oedipuswith actors
strapped to the auditorium pillars, all remain
vividly in my memory after half a century.
RICHARD HAMPTON
That first night of Hamletat the Old Vic, the
opening production of the National Theatre.
As Bernardo, I spoke the first line, Whosthere? an extraordinary thing to say as
on that night everybody was there! That first
scene also had its dangers as, with Dan
Meaden, playing Francisco, I stood on what
Harold Hobson, critic of theSunday Times,
described as the mounting curves of Sean
Top left: Rehearsing forA Flea in her Ear, 1966: Laurence Olivier and David Ryall. Photo Chris Arthur
Top right: E rnie Davis, stage door-keeper a t the Old Vic in the 1960s. Photo Chris A rthur
Above: Kenneth Mackintosh, Constance Cummings, Lauren ce Oliv ier, Michael Blakemore and Ronald Pickup
rehearsing Long Days Journey into Night, 1971. Photo Zo Dominic
MICHAEL BLAKEMORE
A few days before rehearsals for Long Days Journey Into Nightbegan, John Dexter had
given me a useful tip about how to handle Olivier. When he makes his first entrance, he
explained, hes a bit like an animal released into a new cage. He wants to sniff out the
available space. Let him go for a bit of a roam. He likes to show the audience both sides
of his face. I thanked John for this interesting tip and didnt disbelieve him, but when
the moment came to put it into practice my nerve failed. Larry and Connie [Constance
Cummings] had exchanged their first few speeches in a loose embrace; now they were to
sit down. The fathers rocker was barely a yard from where Larry stood. It seemed absurd
to suggest that he go wandering around the room for no reason. I asked him to sit down
and he did so. However, some days later when we returned to the scene, he asked politely
whether there could be a copy of the daily paper on the desk across the room. The stage
management scuttled around to find the appropriate prop. During the next page of dialogue
he crossed to the desk, picked up the paper, came downstage facing the audience, thumbed
his way absently through its pages looking to left and right, crossed downstage the way hed
just come, deposited the paper on the window seat on the opposite s ide of the stage, then
came to the table and sat in the rocker. I cursed myself for my earlier timidity, but I was also
reassured that he had set about getting his way over this small matter with the utmost courtesy.
Kennys dangerous rocks, twelve, fifteen
feet above the front of the stage with a
sheer drop to the audience beneath
The dangerous rocks, when reversed on
the revolve, formed the scenery for the CourtScenes, but the revolve kept on breaking
down and many a time during the run, as
the lights cross-faded for a scene change,
the cry of Push! would ring out as actors
shouldered the scenery round.
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Louise Purnell, Michael Byrne, De rek Jacobi, Maggie Smith, Albert Finney,
and Paul Curran in Peter Shaffers Black Comedy. Photo Zo Dominic
DAVID BRADLEY
Peter James Mobile production of Twelfth
Night. After one performance, sadly the
actor playing Toby Belch, David Bauer, diedduring the night. It was a touring production
and we had no understudies. Because Sir
Laurence had played the part some years
before, someone had the bright idea of
asking him if he would reprise the role.
For some reason Michael Blakemore was
given this onerous task and, because I was
playing Andrew Aguecheek, the outcome
of this was of great interest and indeed
excitement to me. I waited a few yards
down the corridor at the Aquinas Street
headquarters. Twenty minutes later, Michael
emerged from Sir Laurences office, looking
even paler than he normally did, and with a
rabbit-caught-in-headlights look on his face.I rushed up to him and said Is he doing it?
He said, No. I am. Apparently Sir Laurence
had discovered that Michael had also played
the part some years before and turned the
tables on him. And so, I went on tour with
Michael and, he being of a similar slim build
to me, we must have looked like a double-
act from LS Lowry.
GAWN GRAINGER
I remember walking through that stage door
on the Waterloo Road in 1972. A small door,
but on the other side the land of Giants.
The Giants of the theatrical world. To be
embraced by them was to be taken into
a fold of magic. The National Theatre, the
pinnacle of the theatrical world. To touch
hands with the greats. Actors, directors,
designers. How lucky I was. How lucky I
am. I salute you and raise my glass to fifty
glorious years.
BERNARD GALLAGHER
My four years with the National at the Old
Vic were exhilarating and formative one
theatre led by the most prodigious actor of
the day, covering a huge array of work that
demanded teamwork at its best and gave us
challenges and variety that were invaluable.
PETER SHAFFER
At a performance of Black Comedy:
I truly think that the most wonderful moment
I have ever experienced is being in theNational Theatre at Chichester, seated
behind the largest and seemingly sternest
middle-aged man and watching him
becoming slowly absolutely crazed with
laughter, finally watching him fall completely
out of his seat into the aisle and in a very
weak voice calling up to the actors Please!
Oh Please stop it. Please...stop it. I cant
take any more!
As a playwright I must admit I cant
remember a more delightful thing happening
to me inside a theatre.
ANTONY SHER
As soon as I arrived in London from South
Africa in 1968, I started going to shows
at the National, then at the Old Vic, under
Olivier. To come from Cape Town, a cultural
backwater in those days, and to suddenly
see world-class theatre, was like a shock to
the system, a beautiful shock. It changedall my youthful notions about acting, about
drama, about what the Arts could do. It
changed my life.
JONATHAN KENT
Within days of coming to Britain for the first
time, I saw Oliviers Three Sisters designed
by Svoboda at the National at the Old Vic.
Everything about it the acting, design,
sense of company was, I thought, exciting
and astonishing. Now, all these years later,
and having worked there very happily
several times, it still astonishes me that it
has retained its capacity for re-invigorationand re-invention.
It is, I suppose inevitably an institution
usually death to theatre but, under
its successive directors, it has resisted
institutionalisation.
MERVYN WILLISA player in Hamlet (1963) and Love for Love
(1965) and Deputy Stage Manager.
Noel Coward in rehearsals of Hay Fever:
Giving comedy to Tony [Anthony Nicholls] is
like giving a souffl to a horse.
Accommodating Soviet Foreign Minister
Andrei Gromyko at the height of the Cold
War and the Queen Mother at the same
performance of Othello. Answer: seat Andrei
Gromyko in the stalls, the QM in the dress
circle and leave her to solve the dilemma.
Detente! QM invites Gromyko up for G & Ts
in the Interval what Cold War?
Being on stage as a singer in Love for Love
with Leonard Whiting, and experiencing the
vocal power of Laurence Oliviers genius as
he brought tittle-tattle to a fine art in the role
of Tattle. A truly magical period!
URSULA GAYLER
1974. When the National Theatre was about
to leave the Old Vic, it was Lilian Baylis
Centenary Year and a gala evening called
Tribute to the Ladywas performed on May
6th. As one of the dressers there, I was
lucky enough to be asked to look after
the ladies. And what ladies: Dames Peggy
Ashcroft, Sybil Thorndike, Edith Evans,
Ninette de Valois, Wendy Hiller and Flora
Robson. Along with four knights, Marius
Goring, Paul Scofield and several actors
from the NT company, it was a curtain call
line-up I will never forget.
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Top: Laurence Oli vier in The Dance of Death, 1967. Photo Zo Dominic
Bottom: Sheila Reid and Maggie Smith in The Beaux Stratagem, 1970. Photo Chris Arthur
CHARLES KAY
It was after rehearsal one day that I decided to see The Dance of Deathagain. It turned out
to be the hundredth performance and Id much admired the first night. But on this particular
evening I experienced something quite new to me. It wasnt that it was just the best; it was
something totally different in kind. And watching Laurence Olivier I felt sad for all those
professional critics, chroniclers of the age, who would never have caught it. But what luck for
me who could now boast that Id seen at least one example of great acting.The next day at
rehearsals of Loves Labours Lost, which he was directing, I was hopelessly tongue-tied. I
said not a word about it to him. But I will never forget it.
BILL PATERSON
So many memories since being on stage
on that extraordinary first night of Guys and
Dollsin 1982 and the hundreds of joyousperformances that have followed over the
years, but as a memento of the NT Ive
chosen a handwritten letter from nearly 20
years earlier that I carried in my wallet till it
disintegrated.
One evening in 1964 I travelled from
Glasgow to The Kings Theatre in Edinburgh
to see the NTs legendary production of
Uncle Vanyaon their first ever national tour.
I was enthralled by Redgrave, Plowright and
Olivier and wrote a letter to Sir Laurence
thanking him and cheekily requesting that
next time they visited Scotland he would
include Glasgow in the tour and save
me seven shillings and sixpence returntrain fare. Two weeks later I received that
hand-written reply from the man himself,
promising to do just that. I was stunned at
his generosity and in his phrase Im mindful
of your 7/6d. I could hear the cadence of
that thrilling voice.
No wonder the National Theatre started so
well.
FRANCES DE LA TOUR
When the National Theatre opened 50
years ago at the Old Vic, I was 18 years
old, and I remember watching almost every
production. The ones that have made the
most lasting impression remind me of why I
came into the theatre:
The major four for me back then were;
Joan Plowrights outstanding Saint Joan,
The Royal Hunt of the Sunwith Robert
Stephens, Much Ado About Nothingwith
Maggie Smith and Oliviers riveting Othello,
also with Maggie. Maggie remains one of the
reasons I wanted to become an actress.
Some of the funniest moments in my mind
were watching Olivier (with my then-to-be
husband Tom Kempinski, though I didnt
know it at the time!) in Love for Love, and in
one particular scene, witnessing Olivier richly
clad in Restoration gear (after leaping from a
balcony to impress his sweetheart) having to
adjust the padding to his calf!
We all hated the concrete when the NT
opened on the South Bank. For a thousand
reasons to do with Plays we all love it now.
No more so than being a member of the
audience at an NT Platform performance
listening to Peter Brook painstakingly explain
to us what acting is. And therein lay what it
means to him to be a director.
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OLIVER COTTON
My audition for Olivier. Aquinas Street.
March 1966. There were apologies the
rehearsal room was taken. Would I mind
doing my audition in the boardroom? Heart
pounding I followed down the Nissen hut
corridor. They opened the door. Oh God!
The tiny room was almost ent irely fil led
with a giant mahogany table! Id prepared
a flamboyant selection, which required
physicality! This was disaster! Suddenly a
voice. I turned. There he stood, looking like
Harry Worth. What are you going to do for
me baby? I had no choice. In one bound
I was up, up on the table Olivier inches
away, gazing in myopic bemusement at
my adrenalized festival of fear but to my
astonishment I got in! I think he admired
my cheek. I still have the telegram.
Top: The hu ts in Aquinas Street where the NT s admin of fices we re housed 1963 75 . Photo Chri s Arthu r
Above l eft: Aquinas Street rehearsal room. Photo John Haynes
Above r ight: Aquinas Street cat. Photo John Haynes
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RICHARD MANGAN
A hot, dusty day in ear ly June, 1967 in the
rehearsal room at Aquinas Street. As a
newly arrived ASM I am on my hands andknees helping my stage manager, John
Rothenberg, mark out the set for Three
Sisters, my first new production. The door
opens and the caretaker, I think, comes in,
a burly man, sweaty, in collarless shirt and
braces. Ignoring him, I carry on marking out
until Rothenberg says Richard, I dont think
youve met Sir Laurence.
The grey eyes fix me. Welcome, dear boy
dont get up.
I dont think I could have done.
JASON BARNESNT 1971 2009
As a student in Chichester in 1963 and
1964, I saw Saint Joan, Uncle Vanya, Royal
Hunt of the Sun, Dutch Courtesanand of
course Oliviers Othello.
My dream of working at the National came
as DSM to Richard Mangan in 1971 at the
New Theatre; Joan Plowright, Paul Scofield
in Rules of the Game; Olivier and Constance
Cummings in Long Days Journey. By
1977 I opened the Cottesloe as Production
Manager and racked up some 200
productions there.
Favourite shows? Lark Rise, The Mysteries,
Sweeney Todd, Beggars Opera. Most
frequent designers? Bill Dudley (18 shows)
and my cousin Alison Chitty 29!
LYN HAILL
While the new NT was being built, the
administrative offices were housed in huts
off Aquinas Street, SE1. Under and around
the huts lived a huge family of feral cats,
against whom Harry Henderson caretaker,
handyman, first-night commissionaire and
all-round amazing factotum waged a
constant battle. One of the cats, sensing an
opportunity in show business, put himself
up for adoption by regularly coming through
the back window and seating himself in
Sue Higginsons filing tray. She took him
home and he lived a long and happy life as
Thomas Aquinas.
KEITH SKINNER
Summer 1973 and I had recently joined
the National Theatre. One morning I arrived
for rehearsal and went into the canteen,
where the only other person present was Sir
Laurence. Panic. Should I sit at the same
table? Sir Laurence was studying a script.
My presence would surely be an unwelcome
Top: John St ride and Edwa rd Petherbridge in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, 1967. Photo Anthony Crickmay
Above: Rose and Ne llie, who ran the canteen at Aquinas Street. Photo John Ha ynes
intrusion. I feebly stood there, an actor
without a move. The dilemma was resolved
when a more seasoned member of the
company came breezing in, immediately sat
at Sir Laurences table and I was beckonedover to join them with my tea and toast.
TOM STOPPARD
One day Laurence Olivier sat in on a
rehearsal of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
Are Dead(1967). He made one or two useful
suggestions and got up to go back to his
office down the corridor in the Aquinas
Street huts. At the door he turned and
smiled. Just the odd pearl, he said, and left.
JOHN CAIRD
Five memories plucked from hundreds. As a student, watching Petherbridge and Stride
in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Deadat the Old Vic in 1967. Simon Russell Beale
playing Hamlet in a packed-to-the-rafters National Theatre in Belgrade, just after the end of
the Kosovo war. Tony Sher turning himself, little by little, into Stanley Spencer. Tim Hatleys
gorgeous grass and beehive set for Humble Boy. Denis Quilley, forty years after playing the
title role of Candidein the West End, singing his heart out as Martin in the finale of the last
performance at the Olivier, tears streaming down his face.
MICHAEL FEAST
I walked into the Nissen hut that served as the Nationals rehearsal rooms and canteen early
in 1972 for the read through of The Tempest. I was to play Ariel directed by Peter Hall with
John Gielgud as Prospero. The assembled old guard was formidable. Olivier was there, the
outgoing genius of the NT, with a degree of bad feeling between him and Hall which lentan edge to the proceedings. Arthur Lowe, Cyril Cusack, Denis Quilley all beautiful actors.
Gielgud was fluffy, unnerved by Oliviers presence.
Then there was us the new breed of wild children from the sixties perhaps typified by
Gryphon, the psychedelic folk rock band who wrote the gorgeous melodies for Ariels songs.
It was an historical collision of two worlds. Who could have known then that the seeds of
cross-pollination of age, class, ethnicity and explicit sexual orientation that now blooms so
abundantly on the Nationals stages were being sown that day?
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IAN WILLIAMS
As a student in the early seventies I would
often pass the Old Vic and the building
works on the South Bank and say to myself
One day Im going to work there, never
thinking I would. However, one of those days
Lady Luck may have heard my thoughts
and made that dream come true. If truth be
told, it was [former Head of Lighting] Lenny
Tucker who made that dream happen.
I look back over the years and am still in
awe of all the amazing and challenging
shows I had the privilege and pleasure to
have been involved with.
ROB BARNARD
Earliest NT memory walking across
Waterloo Bridge as a drama student in
the early 70s and gazing down at the
foundations of the National emerging from
the mud little did I know then I would
spend 35 years of my working life at the
National.
Highlights include working on Alan
Ayckbourns production ofA View from the
Bridgeand watching my two boys, then
aged 8 and 12, misbehaving themselves on
stage with Ian McKellen, as supernumeraries
in Trevor Nunns production ofAn Enemy of
the People.
Low moments include: as sound operator on
Amadeus, playing in the wrong track for Paul
Scofield to mime playing the piano to and
doing it at two consecutive performances.
Moments of bliss include watching Sit
Down Youre Rocking the Boat nightly as
sound operator on Guys and Dollsand, as a
duty manager, watching from the back of the
Olivier stalls the Hallelujah Chorus at the end
of Coram Boy.
ANDRE PTASZYNSKINT Board member 2001 to 2010
It was 1969 and wed come up from Suffolk
as a party of sixth-formers to see a matinee
at the Old Vic. Afterwards, two friends and I
wandered over to Waterloo Bridge to see the
site of Lasduns new National Theatre. It was
mud and more mud broken by two dozen
concrete and iron pilings and an earthmover.
I had no real idea. Our history master, Mr.
Pegg, approached us and on returning to
school I was suspended for smoking a
cigarette on Waterloo Bridge. But perhaps I
was imagining the hundreds of joyous nights
in front of me, borne on that mud.
RICHARD PILBROWTheatre Design Consultant
In 1962, Sir Laurence called to ask me to fix
the terrible lighting he found in Chichester.
Unfortunately he asked the day before
opening night, and there was no time to
make the needed changes. He was very
disappointed. To me, it was the end of my
career!
Next January he rang: Dickie, dear boy. Its
January. We open in June. Does that give
you enough fucking time!
I became his lighting director. With my
Theatre Projects team, we lit most of the
NT productions for many years. I joined the
Building Committee for the new building,
and then became the theatre consultant.
We designed the stages and equipment
of the Olivier and Lyttelton Theatres. We
helped the architect plan the building and
we designed the Cottesloe Theatre.
Through construction delays, much of the
technology was incomplete in 1976, but
Top: The NT under construction , 1973
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finally all was finished. The NT became the most advanced drama
theatre in the world, which began my work as an international theatre
designer.
EDWARD HALL
I remember standing on the new carpet on the opening night of the
building in 1976, the smell of fresh paint and glue thick in the air. It
was perhaps the proudest moment of my life when I sat in the Olivier
watching the first performance of my production of Edmondnearly
thirty years later. Working at the National has always felt to me like
coming home, like being part of an enormous inclusive community of
artists exploring the world in which we live through live performance.
It gives theatre in this country a centre and a constituency that is vital
and unique.
ROSEMARY BEATTIE
In 1974, as a new Stage Manager, I found myself at the Old Vic,
rehearsing and running productions which should have been
performing on the South Bank. Each day we visited the exciting, rather
terrifying new building, where we tried to make things work and find
our way around corridors that led nowhere, no signs, and no canteen!
There were enormous prob lems and delays, early performances
of Tamburlainehappened outside instead of inside the Olivier, but
eventually the big day came.
Our feelings of exhaustion were overtaken by pride and the thrill of
being part of this great family achievement.
Top right: Peter Hall gre ets The Queen, Royal opening of the National Theatre, 25 October 1976;
Laurence Olivier is next in line. Photo Nobby Clark
Above right: Rehearsing Tamburlaine The Greatoutside on the riverside, 1976: Peter Hall, Barbara Jefford,
Denis Quilley, Albert Finney and Susan Fleetwood. Photo Nobby Clark
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JUNE WATSON
During rehearsals for Lark Rise(Cottesloe
1978), all the cast, one by one, complained
to director Bill Bryden that, at the verybeginning of the show, the audience
couldnt possibly accept us all standing
there for ages as in a village photograph,
while the sun rose behind us, without a
single word of dialogue. How wrong we
were! At the first performance, with the
brilliant set and lighting by William Dudley
and the music of the Albion Band flooding
the auditoriium, it was theatrical magic and
not a moment too long.
And the promenade tickets were only 1.50!
TREVOR RAY
Commissioned to carve Thomas HardysThe Dynaststo a theatrical evening, my
proposed text, with John Tams music
replacing The Furies, was to run more than
three hours, with a cast of 47 parts shared
among Bill Brydens Cottesloe group. Dustin
Hoffman, wanting to return to the stage, Bill
persuaded him to play Napoleon. An initial
production conversation went thus;
Bryden: Its about Napoleon wanting to
found a Dynasty?
Adapter: Begins with the Battle of Trafalgar,
ends with the Battle of Waterloo
Bryden: Just because Bill Dudley landed a
helicopter in the Cottesloe
Remember the problems of the penny-
farthing Rosinante and Sancho Panzas
tricycle?
Adapter: OK, OKso, agreedno horses!
Despite successful workshopping, The
Dynastsdidnt happen and Mr Hoffman
played Willy Loman on Broadway instead.
ALISON RAEwho has worked in Catering, Music, and
House Management
What privileged access Ive had as a
member of staff to be able pop in at any
time during the show and not only re-live for
myself but to see the audience enjoy:
Any part of Guys and Dolls.
The start of Frankenstein as the audience
came in from 7.15.
Last five minutes of Act 1 of One Man, Two
Guvnors(love the line well just go and fill
out some Health and Safety forms now...)
The end of Coram Boy.
And any par t of The Mysterieswhen you
could join in the dancing and singing.
Actors dance with the aud ience after promenade pe rformance o f The Passion
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ANASTASIA HILLE
Grabbing digestive biscuits off the props
table backstage at the Cottesloe for
sustenance (and to stave off chundering)
at seven months pregnant, while playing
Clytemnestra during Ted Hughes wonderful
version of The Oresteia, with my husband,
the father of the baby, playing Orestes and
later stabbing me horribly to death before
dragging me off stage. This was quite a
challenge for him, given my proportions by
then. A real family affair. Not surprisingly,
our son Kasper still cant stand accordions,
which featured in the show. Fortunately,
despite these harsh beginnings, hes as
smitten by the theatre as we are.
PAUL HILTON
Growing up in Oldham I thought the National
Theatre was a mythica l place unt il I saw it
on a school trip in all its grey concrete glory.
With my regional accent and background
it may be a struggle but I wanted to be a
serious actor and serious actors play at
the National! 25 years on Ive spent more
time in the Nationals rehearsal rooms and
corridors and on its stages than any other
theatre. The whole building reeks of precious
memories, stories and serious actors!
CHRISTOPHER MORAHAN
As my wi fe Anna and I entered the Lyttel ton
Theatre for the opening night of my first
production at the NT, State of Revolutionby
Robert Bolt, I was approached by one of the
Top: Patrick Marber, Matt Bardock, Nigel L indsay and Steve Coogan in rehe arsal for
Blue Remembered Hills, 1996. Photo Hugo Glendinning
Left: Anastasia Hille in The Oresteia, 1999. Photo Ivan Kyncl
Stage Management team who whispered to
me The Props staff have gone on strike.
What about the rifles? I asked, This
play is about a revolution. What can we
do without rifles and blanks? Go pop and
pretend?
They are locked in the prop cupboard was
the answer Theres nothing we can do.
The ASM returned backstage and we went
to our seats, surrounded by a first night
audience eager for action, and I dreading
a fiasco. The first scene set in Italy passed
without mishap, but in the next scene Lenin
arrives in St Petersburg and is greeted by
the Red Army I whispered to Anna, Look,
rifles! Bang! Bang! Bang! A salute! We were
saved!
I found out afterwards what had happened
backstage. We had quite a tough cast and
they had attacked the prop cupboard
kicking in the door with their heavy boots
and seizing the guns, just as Eisenstein had
filmed the sailors doing in the Battleship
Potemkin.A Soviet moment on Londons
South Bank!
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About tonight
There are at least fifty different versions of this show. We have two hours toput fifty years on stage, two hours to conjure up an impression of what theNational Theatre has achieved. Although weve tried to cover as much aspossible by seeking out short scenes from as many plays as possible, Imhorrified by how much weve had to leave out. So it may be easiest to startby saying what this evening is not.
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Its not a compendium of the best things the
National has done over the last 50 years.
Best is best left to the arts pages. Andin any event, many of our most famous
productions of the classical repertoire were
celebrated for performances by actors who
are no longer with us. So our classical work
is inevitably less present than it should be.
Nor have we tried to represent only the
most influential or important plays to have
started life on our stages. Many of them
defy any attempt to lift out a short scene
that is enjoyable, or comprehensible, out of
context, and weve made the assumption
that tonights television audience shouldnt
have to know anything about the plays
from which the show is put together. So
it seemed impossible, for instance, to
find a 4- or 5-minute scene from Patrick
Marbers Closer, which is devastating in its
entirety. And the same problem ruled out
Michael Frayns Democracy, Pam Gems
Stanley, David Mamets Glengarry Glen
Ross, Christopher Hamptons Tales From
Hollywood, Nicholas Wrights Vincent In
Brixton. The shortest extract that does
justice to Harold Pinters Betrayal(a play
that attracts any number of superlatives)
lasts 12 minutes; the same is t rue of Lucy
Prebbles The Effect, and even the shortest
story from Martin McDonaghs amazing play
The Pillowmanis surprisingly long though
none of them felt like it in performance.
Peter Shaffers The Royal Hunt of the Sun
has a cumulative power that would be
diminished by the presentation of a bleeding
chunk. You could fill an entire evening with
scenes by our most prolific writers Pinter,
Shaffer, David Hare, Tom Stoppard (the
only playwright to have given us a new play
in each decade of our half century), Alan
Ayckbourn, Howard Brenton, Alan Bennett .
All of them have written major plays which
arent represented tonight.
Although the structure of tonights show
is loosely chronological, it isnt trying to
tell the full story of the National Theatre.
We have collaborated with the BBC on ahistorical narrative Adam Low and Martin
Rosenbaums documentaryArena: The
National Theatre, shown over the last couple
of weeks on BBC4, will soon be available on
DVD. Its terrific. I recommend it.
And although tonights stagger ing cast
list is testament to how deep-rooted is
the affection for the National amongst the
acting profession, we cant do full justice
to even the most luminous performances
that have graced our stages. A precarious
idea brought into life by Sir Laurence Olivier,
the twentieth centurys greatest actor,
has at some point embraced almost all of
the great actors that have followed in his
wake. But even the most powerful of stage
performances survive only in the memory of
those who saw them. For those who were
there, tonights re-creations are maybe best
seen as theatrical madeleines enough to
prompt a shiver of recollection. For those
who werent, maybe they can give an idea of
what the fuss was about.
That there has been too much to choose
from is the fault of Laurence Olivier and his
successors Peter Hall, Richard Eyre and
Trevor Nunn. The flow of memorable work
has never stopped. But I hope the scenes
weve chosen give some idea of the range of
our work, of the way weve always sought to
play the past and the present against each
other, of our determination to reflect the
nation on our stages, and of our appetite for
new ideas and new forms. And I hope the
evening is a reminder of the pre-eminence of
our actors, writers, directors and designers
and that its scale and complexity (both
considerable) demonstrate that they are
supported by stage and technical teams
second to none.
Though a few minutes of the show come
from the video archive (from televised
studio adaptations of NT productions, from
publicity material, from footage shot for
awards ceremonies), most of it is live. The
more recent the production, the easier its
been to get together the original cast
most of the second half of tonights show
is played by the actors who first played
their parts, sometimes it has to be said
when they arent any longer entirely age
appropriate. (Eight history boys in their mid
thirties may require the suspension of yourdisbelief.) But all the actors in the show have
been members of the National Theatre at
some point in the last fifty years, and youll
see decade by decade how astonishing
is their collective distinction. I want to single
out only the small band who were part of Sir
Laurence Oliviers National Theatre company
when it first took up residence at the Old Vic
50 years ago. Dame Joan Plowright went
last week to the Old Vic itself to record a
speech from Saint Joan, which she played
there in 1963; Dame Maggie Smith will
give a speech from The Beaux Stratagem;
Charles Kay will appear in a scene from The
National Healthin the same role he created
45 years ago, and Sir Michael Gambon
and Sir Derek Jacobi will take the roles in
No Mans Landoriginally played by their
great predecessors Sir Ralph Richardson
and Sir John Gielgud. I couldnt be happier
or prouder that they are here and that fifty
years on, they are still carrying the torch.
My grateful thanks are due to the
playwrights who have allowed us to hack
small chunks out of their work. We have
tried to root tonights show in the way it
was staged by the directors and designers
who took care of its many different scenes
first time around. I am grateful to them, and
sorry that we shall sometimes inevitably
fall short of what they achieved. The
National Theatres physical surroundings
have changed since it took up residence
at the Old Vic in 1963, but its identity has
never been bound up in bricks and mortar
(or concrete). It has always been about who
works here. Tonights cast, and tonights
audience, are a small part only of who weve
been; and when the next celebration comes
round, in 2063, I have no doubt that there
will be as much to choose from as there has
been tonight.
Nicholas Hytner
50 YEARS ON STAGE
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Hamlet
by William Shakespeare, Old Vic 1963
Francisco Matthew BarkerBarnardo Stanley TownsendHoratio Anna Maxwell Martin
Marcellus Adrian LesterGhost Derek Jacobi
A short film about Laurence Olivier
Saint Joan
by Bernard Shaw, Old Vic 1963
Original Director John Dexter
Joan Plowright, filmed at the Old Vic,11 October 2013
Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern Are Dead
by Tom Stoppard, Old Vic 1967
Original Director Derek Goldby
Rosencrantz Benedict CumberbatchGuildenstern Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
Hay Fever
by Nol Coward, Old Vic 1964Director Nol Coward
Myra Arundel Maggie SmithDavid Bliss Anthony Nicholls
The Beaux Stratagem
by George Farquhar, Old Vic 1970
Original Director William Gaskill
Mrs Sullen Maggie Smith
The National Health
by Peter Nichols, Old Vic 1969
Original Director Michael Blakemore
Original Designer Patrick Robertson
Matron Deborah FindlaySister Maggie Service
Lake Akiya Henry
Sweet Olivia VinallBarnet Matt CrossMackie James Hayes
Ash Anthony ODonnellFlagg Tim McMullanLoach Charles Kay
Foster Gawn GraingerDr Bird Michelle Terry
No Mans Land
by Harold Pinter, Old Vic 1975
Original Director Peter Hall
Original Designer John Bury
Spooner Derek Jacobi
Hirst Michael Gambon
Bedroom Farce
by Alan Ayckbourn, Lyttelton 1977
Original Directors Alan Ayckbourn
and Peter Hall
Original Designers Timothy OBrien &
Tazeena Firth
Ernest Nicholas le PrevostDelia Penelope Wilton
Amadeus
by Peter Shaffer, Olivier 1979
Director Peter Hall
Designer John Bury
Antonio Salieri Paul Scofield
Guys and Dolls
based on a story and characters of
Damon Runyon, music & lyrics by Frank Loesser
book by Jo Swerling & Abe Burrows, Olivier 1982
Original Director Richard Eyre
Original Choreographe r David Toguri
Original Designer John Gunter
Nicely-Nicely Clive RoweArvide Abernathy Nicholas LumleyGeneral Cartwright Sharon D Clarke
Martha Nicola SloaneAgatha Maggie Service
Sarah Brown Sophie BouldMission Girl Alexis Owen-Hobbs
Big Jule Stanley TownsendNathan Detroit Matt Cross
With
Edward Baruwa, Kevin Brewis,
James Doherty, Kate Fleetwood,Jonathan Glew, Richard Henders,
Nick Holder,Alastair Parker,Paul Thornley, Howard Ward,
Russell Wilcox, Duncan Wisbey
Pravda
by Howard Brenton & David Hare,
Olivier 1985
Original Director David Hare
Lambert Le Roux Ralph FiennesMichael Quince, MP Charles Edwards
Eaton Sylvester Jamie ParkerDPP Payne Andrew Knott
Journalists Martin ChamberlainNicholas Lumley
Colin HaighCliveden Whicker-Baskett
Richard HendersMac Whipper Wellington Iain Mitchell
A short film about Peter Hal l
Antony and Cleopatra
by William Shakespeare, Olivier 1987
Original Director Peter Hall
Cleopatra Judi DenchDolabella Rory Kinnear
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Angels in America
by Tony Kushner, Cottesloe 1992
Original Director Declan Donnellan
Original Designer Nick Ormerod
Prior Walter Andrew ScottLouis Ironson Dominic Cooper
Richard III
by William Shakespeare, Lyttelton 1990
Director Richard Eyre
Designer Bob Crowley
Richard Ian McKellen
The Absence of War
by David Hare, Olivier 1993
Original Director Richard Eyre
Original Designer Bob Crowley
Linus Frank Nick SampsonGeorge Jones MP Christopher Eccleston
Andrew Buchan Paul ThornleyGwenda Aaron Maggie Service
Trevor Avery Aaron NeilMary Housego Lyndsey MarshalLindsay Fontaine Linzi Hateley
Oliver Dix Malcolm SinclairLinus Franks PA Judith Coke
The Madness of George III
by Alan Bennett, Lyttelton 1991
Director Nicholas Hytner
Designer Mark Thompson
George III Nigel HawthorneQueen Charlotte Selina Cadell
Arcadia
by Tom Stoppard, Lyttelton 1993
Original Director Trevor Nunn
Original Designer Mark Thompson
Bernard Nightingale Rory KinnearValentine Cover ly Jonathan Bailey
Hannah Jarvis Anna Maxwell MartinChloe Coverly Olivia Vinall
King Lear
by William Shakespeare, Cottesloe 1997
Director Richard Eyre
Designer Bob Crowley
Lear Ian HolmLears Fool Michael Bryant
Richard II
by William Shakespeare, Cottesloe 1995
Director Deborah Warner
Designer Hildegard Bechtler
Richard Fiona Shaw
50 YEARS ON STAGE
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A Litt le Night Music
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler, Olivier 1995
Original Director Sean Mathias
Dsire Armfeldt Judi DenchFredrik Egerman Oliver Cotton
The Mysteries
medieval mystery plays in a version by
Tony Harrison, Cottesloe 1985, revived 1999
Original Director Bill Bryden
Original Designer William Dudley
Joseph Edward Baruwa
Mary Lyndsey Marshal
Shepherd 1 Anthony ODonnell
Shepherd 2 Richard Ridings
Shepherd 3 Michelle Terry
Wise Man 1 Lucian Msamati
Wise Man 2 Aaron NeilWise Man 3 Junix Inocian
Hamlet
by William Shakespeare, Lyttelton 2000
Original Director John Caird
Hamlet Simon Russell Beale
Copenhagen
by Michael Frayn, Cottesloe 1998
Original Director Michael Blakemore
Heisenberg Roger Allam
My Fair Lady
Book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
Music by Frederick Loewe, Lyttelton 2001
Original Director Trevor Nunn
Original Designer Anthony Ward
Original Choreographer Matthew Bourne
Eliza Doolittle Rosalie Craig
Henry Higgins Alex Jennings
Colonel Pickering Malcolm Sinclair
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
by Tennessee Williams, Lyttelton 1988
Director Howard Davies
Designer William Dudley
Brick Ian Charleson
Maggie Lindsay Duncan
Mourning Becomes Electra
by Eugene ONeill, Lyttelton 2003
Original Director Howard Davies
Original Designer Bob Crowley
Ezra Mannon Tim Pigott-Smith
Christine Helen Mirren
Elminas Kitchen
by Kwame Kwei-Armah, Cottesloe 2003
Director Angus Jackson
Deli Paterson Joseph
Ashley Emmanuel Idowu
Jerry Springer The Opera
Music by Richard Thomas
Book & Lyrics by Stewart Lee &
Richard Thomas, Lyttelton 2003
Original Director Stewart Lee
Original Set Designer Julian Crouch
Original Costume Designer Leah Archer
Jerry Michael Brandon
Shawntel Alison Jiear
Chucky Nick Holder
Dwight Richard Henders
Peaches Lor Lixenberg
Audience Chorus
Edward Baruwa, Sophie Bould,
Kevin Brewis, Sharon D Clarke,
Matt Cross, James Doherty,
Kate Fleetwood, Jonathan Glew,
Tiffany Graves, Linzi Hateley,
Akiya Henry,Alexis Owen Hobbs,
Alastair Parker, Maggie Service,
Nicola Sloane, Paul Thornley,
Howard Ward, Russell Wilcox,
Duncan Wisbey
Stuff Happens
by David Hare, Olivier 2004
Original Director Nicholas Hytner
George Bush Alex Jennings
Tony Blair Lloyd Owen
The History Boys
by Alan Bennett, Lyttelton 2004
Director Nicholas Hytner
Original Designer Bob Crowley
Rudge Philip Correia
Scripps Jamie Parker
Dakin Dominic Cooper
Posner Sacha Dhawan
Akthar Marc Elliott
Timms James Corden
Crowther Samuel Anderson
Lockwood Andrew Knott
Headmaster Clive Merrison
Irwin Stephen Campbell Moore
War Horse
based on the novel by Michael Morpurgoadapted by Nick Stafford
in association with Handspring Puppet Company,
Olivier 2007
Songmaker John Tams
Original Directors Marianne Elliott
and Tom Morris
Original Designer Rae Smith
Song Man Tim van Eyken
Albert Jack Holden
Joey as a foal
head Laura Cubitt
heart Kate Colebrook
hind Louise Kempton
Joey
head Toby Oli
heart Thomas Wiltonhind Michael Brett
National Theatre Live
IncludingThe Cherry Orchard
by Anton Chekhov, in a version by Andrew Upton
Director Howard Davies
Designer Bunny Christie
Ranevskaya Zo Wanamaker
Trofimov Mark Bonnar
One Man, Two Guvnors
by Richard Bean
based on Goldonis The Servant of
Two Masterswith songs by Grant Olding,
Lyttelton 2011
Original Director Nicholas Hytner
Original Designer Mark Thompson
Francis Henshall James Corden
London RoadBook and lyrics by Alecky Blythe
Music and lyrics by Adam Cork,
Cottesloe 2011
Original Director Rufus Norris
Original Designer Katrina Lindsay
Julie Kate Fleetwood
Alfie James Doherty
Dodge Paul Thornley
Jane Linzi Hateley
Terry Howard Ward
Helen Rosalie Craig
Gordon Duncan Wisbey
Rosemary Nicola Sloane
June Claire Moore
Ron Nick Holder
Tim Hal Fowler
Othello
by William Shakespeare, Olivier 2013,
Old Vic 1964
Othello Adrian Lester
Iago Rory Kinnear
Epilogue: The Habit of Art
by Alan Bennett, Lyttelton 2009
Kay Frances de la Tour
ASM Samuel Anderson
Director Nicholas Hytner
50 YEARS ON STAGE
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Director Nicholas HytnerDesigner Mark Thompson
Lighting Designer Mark HendersonMusic for short films George Fenton
Sound Paul ArdittiMusic Director Gareth Valentine
Associate Director Adam Penford
Executive Producer David Sabel
Producer Robin Hawkes
Director Mourning Becomes Electra
Howard DaviesDirector London Road Rufus NorrisAssociate Choreographer Guys and
Dolls Cristina AveryAssociate Choreographer My Fair Lady
Fergus LoganAssociate Director War Horse
Alex SimsAssociate Puppetry Director War Horse
Finn CaldwellMusic DirectorLondon Road
David Shrubsole
Compiled by Nicholas Hytner,Lyn Haill, Tom Lyons,
David Sabel, Nicholas Wright,with John Heffernan, Alex Jennings,
Lesley Manville,
Simon Russell Beale
Broadcast
Director for Television
Tim Van SomerenHead of Events, BBC Phil Dolling
Executive Producer, BBC
Elaine PatersonTechnical Producer
Christopher C Bretnall
Production Manager Paul HandleyCompany Manager Eric LumsdenStage Manager David MarslandDeputy Stage Manager Anna Hi ll
Stage Management Fiona Bardsley,Ian Farmery, Polly Rowe, Julia Wickham
Costume Supervisor Irene BohanAssisted by Hannah TrickettProp Supervisor Kirsten Shiell
Deputy Production Manager Marius RnningProject Draughting Nick Murray&
Emma MorrisDigital Art Dan Radley-Bennett&
Lawrence RowellCasting Wendy Spon, Charlotte Sutton,
Juliet Horsley, Charlotte BevanPhotographer Catherine Ashmore
Assistant Producer Julia NelsonBroadcast Sound Supervisor Conrad Fletcher
Broadcast Lighting Director Bernie DaviesBroadcast Production Manager Harry GuthrieProducer National Theatre Live Emma Keith
Short films
Cameraman and Editor Mike MarriageEditor Jan Cholawo
Associate Producer James Norton
Musicians
Keyboards 1 Andrew VinterKeyboards 2 Peter McCarthy
Guitar Steve SmithDouble bass/bass guitar Don Richardson
Drums Allan CoxPercussion Martin Briggs
Piccolo/flute/alto sax Andy FindonFlute/clarinet/alto sax Howard McGill
Clarinet/bass clarinet/baritone sax
Jay Craig
Trumpet/flugelhorn John BarclayTrumpet/flugelhorn Andy Crowley
Trumpet/flugelhorn Toby ColesTrombone Gordon Campbell
Horn Matt GunnerHarp Helen Tunstall
Singers
Melanie MarshallStuart Matthew Price
Verity QuadeRoss Sharkey
Caroline SheenMichael Xavier
Orchestral Arrangements Christopher Egan
Special thanks to the
National Theatre Archive
BBC Arena: The National Theatre
Producer Martin Rosenbaum
Director Adam Low
Olivier Theatre 1 & 2 November 2013
Length: about 2 hours. There is no interval
Production credits
Arcadiatable & chairs built by Heron & Driver.
Extra show lighting generously donated by Richard Martin Lighting
DETAILS OF THIS EVENINGS EVENT ARE CORRECT AT TIME OF GOING TO PRESS BUT SOME CHANGES MAY BECOME NECESSARY
Make up by
50 YEARS ON STAGE
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Top left: Sara Ke stelman and Michael Brya nt in State of Revolution, 1977. Photo Zo Dominic
Top right: Nigel H awthorne in The Madness of George III, 1991. Photo Donald Cooper
Bottom left: David Hare (right) and Stephen Moore in rehearsal for Plenty, 1977. Photo Jennifer Rima Beeston
SARA KESTELMAN
Peter Woods production of Congreves The Double Dealerwas due to re-open, with some
cast changes, in the Olivier on March 22nd 1979.
However, the set for Galsworthys Strifewas still in the Olivier following the onset of the stage
hands strike started on March 16th.
Instead, it was decided to use the 3rd act set of Somerset Maughams For Services
Renderedwhich had been playing in the Lyttelton.
The set was an exterior lawn outside the manor house. The Double Dealeris all interior. Peter
Wood brilliantly re-staged the entire production reversing interiors to exteriors, playing the
crucial interior bedroom scene just inside the house behind the windows. And it worked!
DAVID HARE
I used to love the IRA alerts in the mid-70s.
When we moved into the South Bank, after
the intimacy of the Old Vic, it was so huge
that when we were all evacuated onto Upper
Ground by bomb warnings, I would run
into friends I hadnt seen for years, but who
turned out to be working somewhere in the
building.
We would all stand on the pavement, talking
companionably, sometimes for an hour, until
security let us back in.
MICHAEL ELLIOTTFormer Administrator of the NT
I was just a month into my new post when
80 stagehands walked out on unofficial
strike. By the weekend there was an
aggressive and threatening picket line
which closed the theatre. On the Sunday
BBC Newsnight arrived to do a story on
the strike, interviewing myself and Sir Ralph
Richardson.
I was sitting in the Olivier stalls and saw Sir
Ralph, who I had never met. I introduced
myself and he shook my hand and said,
Michael Elliott. I have been thinking of you.
His sympathy made me well up, and it was
only the intervention of the BBC producer
that stopped me from dissolving into tears in
front of Sir Ralph.
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Top left: Tony Ha ygarths favourite NT memory: The Queen meeting members of t he cast of
The Tempest, 1988; Haygarth was Caliban, Mich ael Bryant Prospero. Photo Nobby Clark
Top right: Bob Hoskins and Ian Charleson in Guys and Dolls, 1982. Photo John Haynes
GIUSEPPE FORTISRestaurants Manager 1978 2011
I have met the most fantastic and amazing
people spanning the world of celebrity to
royalty. Some of my most memorable:
Lord Olivier celebrating his 80th birthday.
Sir John Gielgud lunching with Superman,
Christopher Reeves.
Sir Ralph Richardson coming into the
restaurant during the strike of stagehands
and stating that the show must go on.
The Queen Mother hear ing her singing Sit
down, youre rocking the boat.
The Queen resting in the Cha irmans office,