years on stage

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Drawing by Alison Chitty of a playreading at the NT Studio
1
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE
NATIONAL THEATRE
1848 2013

1848 The rst proposal for a National Theatre is made by
Efngham Wilson, a London publisher. It is supported by leading
gures of the day, including Charles Dickens, critic and poet Matthew
Arnold, and actors Charles Kemble and Sir Henry Irving.

1903 Actor-director-author Harley Granville Barker and critic
William Archer publish the rst 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 group
planning a memorial to Shakespeare, to form the Shakespeare
Memorial National Theatre. The Committee includes Bernard Shaw,
Arthur Wing Pinero, Beerbohm Tree, Johnston Forbes-Robertson,
and Granville Barker; plus leading social and political gures like
Viscount Esher and the Hon Mrs Alfred 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 rst substantial donation to the
appeal: 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 to
design 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 World War delays the building of the theatre.
1940 The Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts
is 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 the
Kensington 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, and
passed 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 HM
The Queen (later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother) on a site next
to the Festival Hall.
1952 The LCC offer a better site, 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 rst Director,
Laurence Olivier, then launching the rst 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 rst season also consists
of Chekhovs Uncle Vanya and Shaws Saint Joan, which had
opened at Chichester, Farquhars The Recruiting Ofcer, Ibsens
The Master Builder, Harold Brighouses Hobsons Choice, Becketts
Play with Sophocles Philoctetes, Max Frischs Andorra, and
Shakespeares Othello.
A ticket in the stalls for the rst
season costs 27s 6d (1.28) and
in the gallery 3s (15p). The Arts
Council grant for the rst season
is 130,000. Despite House
Full signs every night, the rst
season ends with a decit 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 the
Sun by Peter Shaffer is the NTs
rst world premiere.
1965 The National Theatre Company visits Russia and East
Germany with Othello, Hobsons Choice and Love for Love.
1966 The National at the Old Vic goes 250,000 into the red. Arts
Minister Jennie Lee announces an increase in government subsidy
to cover the decit. Jacques Charon, from the Comdie Franaise,
directs an acclaimed production of Feydeaus A Flea In Her Ear
adapted by John Mortimer.
1967 The site for the new theatre is shifted a few hundred yards
east its last move. The capital cost is now estimated at 7.5million.
The National stages As You Like It with an all-male cast, and its rst
new play by an untried author: Tom Stoppards Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern Are Dead.
1969 Work starts on the building; it is expected to be completed
by 1973.
1970 Money from recent surpluses is used to nance the Young
Vic, a hundred yards down The Cut from the Old Vic. The Young
Vic serves the NT as a studio theatre until 1973 when it becomes
a separate company. Olivier receives a life peerage, the rst ever
offered to an actor.
1971 The National is brought to a low point with a series of
unpopular productions at the Old Vic, and a season staged at the
New Theatre (now the Nol Coward), unsuccessful apart from Long
Days 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 Millers
production of The School for Scandal and Michael Blakemores of
The Front Page.
1973 Olivier gives his last stage performance in Trevor Grifths
The 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 Opening, 1976. Photo by Nobby Clark
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1974 The opening of the new building is delayed further by
construction difculties; 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 building
as soon as one auditorium is ready. NT staff leave the huts in
Aquinas Street which have served as their temporary ofces
throughout the companys years at the Old Vic, and move into the
still unnished 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 Ralph
Richardson and John Gielgud, directed by Peter Hall.
1976 The rst productions in the Lyttelton Theatre (named after
Oliver Lyttelton, Lord Chandos), are transfers from the Old Vic, and
on 8 March a week of previews of ve plays begins with Becketts
Happy Days. Peggy Ashcroft plays Winnie.
16 March: The Lyttelton Theatre ofcially opens with Albert Finney as
Hamlet, directed by Peter Hall.
The work at rst known as NT Extras starts, under Associate
Director Michael Kustow. The rst 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 and
jazz to folk, given by professional groups each day in the foyer before
performances. The rst 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 ofcially opens the National Theatre,
although the building is still unnished. 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 rst of the plays commissioned for the new building to
have 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 nally 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 of
the rst plays to open in the Cottesloe. Eventually, with the addition
of The Nativity and Doomsday this becomes The Mysteries, staged
several times until 1999, sometimes with all-day performances.
The theatre is closed for ve nights by an unofcial strike over the
dismissal of a plumber. The decit on the rst 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 years
causes cancelled performances and huge costs.
An Arts Council inquiry into the costs of running the National
recommends a once-for-all grant to clear the accumulated decit.
1979 Warren Mitchell wins three best actor awards as Willy
Loman 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 in
the 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 nally dropped in 1982).
The National celebrates Oliviers 80th Birthday: Max Rayne, Laurence Olivier,
Peter Hall and Richard Eyre meet at the Stage Door. Photo Nobby Clark
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1981 Peter Halls production of Tony Harrisons version of The
Oresteia of Aeschylus is staged in the Olivier, and later visits the
ancient theatre at Epidaurus, the rst foreign company to play there.
1982 Richard Eyres production of Guys and Dolls is an enormous
hit 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 of
The Rivals, the premieres of Christopher Hamptons Tales from
Hollywood, directed by Peter Gill, and David Mamets Glengarry Glen
Ross directed by Bill Bryden.
1984 Wild Honey, Michael
Frayns version of Chekhovs
Platonov play, wins nine awards for
its director, Christopher Morahan,
designer, John Gunter, and lead
actor 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 conference
called to announce cuts in the NTs
activities, including the closure of
the Cottesloe, Peter Hall attacks
government cut-backs in spending
on the arts. Government advice
to theatres is to seek private
sponsorship.
A series of hit productions includes
David Hare and Howard Brentons
Pravda and Alan Ayckbourns A
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 Orwells Animal Farm, which
opened in the Cottesloe in 1984, becomes the rst production to
play 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 an
International Theatre Festival, produced by Thelma Holt. The rst
visitors are from West Germany (Peter Steins production of ONeills
The Hairy Ape), Sweden (Ingmar Bergmans productions of Hamlet
and Miss Julie), Japan (Ninagawas Macbeth and 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 Olivier, 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 rst 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 rst time by William
Dudleys award-winning set.
To mark the companys 25th birthday 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 rst Lloyds Bank
Theatre 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 rst
Director, dies.
1990 New work this year includes
David Hares Racing Demon which
opens 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 III and King Lear with 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 Richard
Eyres 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 for
the 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 designer
Nick Ormerod stage Millennium Approaches, the rst part of Tony
Kushners gay fantasia on national themes, Angels in America. Part
two, Perestroika, follows in 1993.
Stephen Daldrys rst production for the National, J B Priestleys An
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 rst-ever visit to Lithuania by a British 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; he
died suddenly during the rehearsal
period.
1993 During 1992-93, the
National undertakes more touring
than ever before. Over 34 weeks,
its work is seen, outside London, by
more than 200,000 people.
1994 Jeremy Sams translation
of Cocteaus Les Parents Terribles
goes to Broadway as Indiscretions,
and Stoppards Arcadia to the West
End. First visit of the National to
South Africa: the Market Theatre,
Johannesburg hosts a Studio
residency: 32 practitioners in
workshops, classes, seminars and
performances.
1995 Patrick Marbers rst 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 Skylight wins the Olivier Award for Best Play, transfers
to the West End and Broadway, and in 1997, re-cast, tours the UK
and returns to the West End.
The rst phase of BT National Connections, 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
Acklands Absolute Hell in the Lyttelton and for Sondheims A Little
Night Music in 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 the
artist Stanley Spencer, opens in the Cottesloe and transfers to New
York. Mary Stuart and The Designated Mourner bring French actress
Isabelle Huppert and American Mike Nichols to the English stage
for the rst time; and Paul Scoeld 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 rst for the National.
The Arts Council Lottery Fund announces an award of 31.5 million
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 world
tour which includes rst visits by the
National to Korea, New Zealand, and
mainland China.
October: Trevor Nunn succeeds
Richard Eyre as Director.
1998 Trevor Nunns production
of 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 Hares Amys View and Patrick
Marbers Closer transfer to the West
End.
1999 More of the Nationals
work than ever before is seen in
the West End (Tom Stoppards
The Invention of Love, Michael
Frayns Copenhagen, Rodgers and
Hammersteins Oklahoma!, as well
as Priestleys An Inspector Calls
still running), and on Broadway (Not
About Nightingales, Closer, and
Amys View).
Trevor Nunn launches a new
Ensemble of actors with Shakespeares Troilus and Cressida. Over
the next year they will appear in ve more, widely differing plays, from
Gorkys Summerfolk to the musical Honk! The Ugly Duckling.
The 100 most signicant plays of the century are celebrated in
NT2000 Platforms.
Bill Brydens production of The Mysteries returns to the Cottesloe to
celebrate a new millennium.
2000 John Cairds production of Hamlet, with Simon Russell
Beale, 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, House and 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 hit
Blue/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 Transformation presents 13 world
premieres 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 Close
in Tennessee Williams A Streetcar
Named Desire; Tom Stoppards epic
trilogy The Coast of Utopia; and
Cole Porters Anything Goes.
2002 Trevor Nunns last
production as Director of the NT is
Shakespeares Loves Labours Lost,
using largely the same company as
for Anything Goes.
2003 April: Nicholas Hytner takes
over as Director, with Nick Starr as
Executive Director, and announces
a 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 Opera by 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 by
Nicholas Wright of Philip Pullmans trilogy, is staged in the Olivier.
2004 The second Travelex 10 Season includes Simon
McBurneys production of Measure for Measure in a collaboration
with Complicite, and David Hares examination of the lead-up to the
Iraq War, Stuff Happens.
Alan Bennetts The History Boys opens 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 lm.
2005 Director Mike Leighs rst play for the National, Two
Thousand Years opens 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, or
Change and David Eldridges Market Boy each bring audiences
including 32% of rst-time bookers to the National. The Travelex 10
Season continues to draw large audiences with classics like The
Alchemist and 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 Gearings
Burn 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 Michael
Morpurgos novel War Horse opens
in the Olivier in a collaboration with
Handspring Puppet Company: actors,
working with magnicent life-sized
horse puppets, conjure up the rst
world war; it is revived the following
year 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
Days with 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 Joan with Anne-Marie
Duff.
The NT Studio re-opens in November, after a 6 million
refurbishment. It now houses the NT Archive alongside the John
Lyon education studio as well as two large spaces for rehearsal,
workshops and development work.
2008 After years of negotiation, the National introduces Sunday
performances. Peter Handkes wordless play The Hour We Knew
Nothing of Each Other is 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 Painters to the NT; it is
subsequently revived at the NT, tours the UK and Ireland, and
transfers to the West End. Rebecca Lenkiewiczs Her Naked Skin is
the rst original play by a female playwright in the Olivier.
Trevor Nunn in rehearsal. Photo by Gautier Deblonde
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2009 A pilot season of National Theatre Live starts broadcasting
live performances from the NT to cinema screens around the world.
Over 50,000 people see the nal performance of Racines Phdre
with Helen Mirren in the name part. War Horse transfers 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 nancial crisis, and Alan Bennetts The Habit of Art
looks at the creative process behind the craft of theatre.
2010 Katie Mitchells adaptation
of Dr Seuss The Cat in the Hat is
the NTs rst show for 3-6-year-
olds; Howard Davies production
of Bulgakovs The White Guard
continues his partnership with writer
Andrew Upton and their 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 Ofcer.
2011 War Horse opens at Lincoln
Center and wins ve 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 Corks London Road opens, directed by
Rufus Norris. Its examination of the lives of residents of Ipswich
following the murder of ve 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 popular
demand, 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 Frankenstein with Benedict Cumberbatch and
Jonny Lee Miller alternating the roles of Creature and Doctor.
2012 The National achieves its highest ever income, over double
that of ten years earlier. National Theatre Live now plays to 260
screens in the UK and a further 350 in 25 other countries.
The National Theatre Inside Out festival sees activities spilling 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 Horses Joey on top
of the Olivier y tower. Travelex Tickets (now 12) celebrate their
tenth season with productions including Timon of Athens with 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-Time opens in the Cottesloe.
2013 Curious Incident joins War Horse and One Man, Two
Guvnors in the West End, and, with the addition of Alan Bennetts
Hymn and Cocktail 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 subsidy
in the West End and beyond.
Over the nancial 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
rmly at the heart of its mission.
The Shed, a temporary venue in front
of the National, provides a third stage
during the Cottesloes closure for the
NT Future redevelopment; celebrating
new theatre that is original, ambitious
and unexpected.
Adrian Lester plays the title role in
Othello with 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
8
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 archive@nationaltheatre.org.uk
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8
9
DAVID RYALL
Whilst preparing for a tour across Canada
during Expo 1967, it was decided that Sir
Laurence was unable to take Othello due to
ill health but, as he was needed to appear
personally at all the locations from Vancouver
to Toronto, he should take over a small part
in A Flea in Her Ear directed 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 rst 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, petried. However, the
moment came and there was nothing for it
but 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 rst day with the
Company) and later, when going on as
Raymondes understudy in A 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 RHYMES
Old 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
Othello performances 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 Oedipus with actors
strapped to the auditorium pillars, all remain
vividly in my memory after half a century.
RICHARD HAMPTON
That rst night of Hamlet at the Old Vic, the
opening production of the National Theatre.
As Bernardo, I spoke the rst line, Whos
there? an extraordinary thing to say as
on that night everybody was there! That rst
scene also had its dangers as, with Dan
Meaden, playing Francisco, I stood on what
Harold Hobson, critic of the Sunday Times,
described as the mounting curves of Sean
Top left: Rehearsing for A Flea in her Ear, 1966: Laurence Olivier and David Ryall. Photo Chris Arthur
Top right: Ernie Davis, stage door-keeper at the Old Vic in the 1960s. Photo Chris Arthur
Above: Kenneth Mackintosh, Constance Cummings, Laurence Olivier, 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 Night began, John Dexter had
given me a useful tip about how to handle Olivier. When he makes his rst 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 rst 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 nd 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 side 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, fteen
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 Court
Scenes, 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.
10
Louise Purnell, Michael Byrne, Derek 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, died
during 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 ofce, 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 fty
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 the
National Theatre at Chichester, seated
behind the largest and seemingly sternest
middle-aged man and watching him
becoming slowly absolutely crazed with
laughter, nally 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 changed
all 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 rst
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-invigoration
and re-invention.
It is, I suppose inevitably an institution
usually death to theatre but, under
its successive directors, it has resisted
institutionalisation.
MERVYN WILLIS
A 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 souf 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 ne 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 Lady was 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 Scoeld and several actors
from the NT company, it was a curtain call
line-up I will never forget.
10
11
Top: Laurence Olivier 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 Death again. It turned out
to be the hundredth performance and Id much admired the rst 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 rst night of Guys and
Dolls in 1982 and the hundreds of joyous
performances 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 Vanya on their rst 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 return
train 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 Sun with Robert
Stephens, Much Ado About Nothing with
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.
12
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 entirely lled
with a giant mahogany table! Id prepared
a amboyant 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 huts in Aquinas Street where the NTs admin ofces were housed 1963 75. Photo Chris Arthur
Above left: Aquinas Street rehearsal room. Photo John Haynes
Above right: Aquinas Street cat. Photo John Haynes
13
RICHARD MANGAN
A hot, dusty day in early June, 1967 in the
rehearsal room at Aquinas Street. As a
newly arrived ASM I am on my hands and
knees helping my stage manager, John
Rothenberg, mark out the set for Three
Sisters, my rst 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 x me. Welcome, dear boy
dont get up.
I dont think I could have done.
JASON BARNES
NT 1971 2009
As a student in Chichester in 1963 and
1964, I saw Saint Joan, Uncle Vanya, Royal
Hunt of the Sun, Dutch Courtesan and 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 Scoeld
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 ofces 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, rst-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 ling 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 Stride and Edward Petherbridge in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, 1967. Photo Anthony Crickmay
Above: Rose and Nellie, who ran the canteen at Aquinas Street. Photo John Haynes
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 beckoned
over 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
ofce 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 Dead at 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 Candide in the West End, singing his heart out as Martin in the nale 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 lent
an edge to the proceedings. Arthur Lowe, Cyril Cusack, Denis Quilley all beautiful actors.
Gielgud was uffy, unnerved by Oliviers presence.
Then there was us the new breed of wild children from the sixties perhaps typied 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?
13
14
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 of A View from the
Bridge and watching my two boys, then
aged 8 and 12, misbehaving themselves on
stage with Ian McKellen, as supernumeraries
in Trevor Nunns production of An Enemy of
the People.
Low moments include: as sound operator on
Amadeus, playing in the wrong track for Paul
Scoeld 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 Dolls and, as a
duty manager, watching from the back of the
Olivier stalls the Hallelujah Chorus at the end
of Coram Boy.
ANDRE PTASZYNSKI
NT 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 PILBROW
Theatre Design Consultant
In 1962, Sir Laurence called to ask me to x
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
15
nally all was nished. 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 rst performance of my production of Edmond nearly
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 nd
our way around corridors that led nowhere, no signs, and no canteen!
There were enormous problems and delays, early performances
of Tamburlaine happened 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 greets 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 Great outside on the riverside, 1976: Peter Hall, Barbara Jefford,
Denis Quilley, Albert Finney and Susan Fleetwood. Photo Nobby Clark
16
JUNE WATSON
During rehearsals for Lark Rise (Cottesloe
1978), all the cast, one by one, complained
to director Bill Bryden that, at the very
beginning 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 rst performance, with the
brilliant set and lighting by William Dudley
and the music of the Albion Band ooding
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 Hardys
The Dynasts to 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
Dynasts didnt happen and Mr Hoffman
played Willy Loman on Broadway instead.
ALISON RAE
who 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 ve minutes of Act 1 of One Man, Two
Guvnors (love the line well just go and ll
out some Health and Safety forms now...)
The end of Coram Boy.
And any part of The Mysteries when you
could join in the dancing and singing.
Actors dance with the audience after promenade performance of The Passion
17
IAIN MACKINTOSH
In October 1973 I sketched the rst designs for the Nationals third
theatre: a series of options for a central free space surrounded on
three sides by xed galleries. Models were made and approved
by John Bury and Peter Hall then passed to the Lasdun ofce to
become contract documents. The cost of the t-up was around
200,000. Named the Cottesloe, the theatre opened in 1977.
Earlier this year architects Haworth Tompkins showed in the Olivier
foyers their digital impression of the current refurbishment. They
chose the shallow rake end stage version, sketched in 1973 but
rendered unrealizable by the installation in the 1980s of an inexible
steep rake of seating. Both steep and shallow rake had always been
envisaged but there had been no money for the enabling mechanical
devices now being installed, thanks to the generosity of the donor
after whom the Cottesloe will be renamed.

EDNA DOR
I would like to thank the National Theatre for several years of
exciting work not only as an actor but perfecting other skills such
as Spinning for Mrs Noah, Pillow Lace in Lark Rise, Abseiling in
Midsummer Nights Dream, Vietnamese in Dispatches, Flying as
Fairy Godmother, Magic Tricks and Morris Dancing in The Mysteries
all of which have proved invaluable to me in my latter years.
Also Id like to thank Health and Safety for not allowing the Director
of The Hunchback of Notre Dame to have me swinging out over the
audience whilst suspended from the ceiling in a cage playing The
Last Rose of Summer on the violin.
MICHAEL MAYHEW
In 1975, just prior to the move to the new National Theatre on the
South Bank, I was asked to come in to the graphics department
(housed in a pre-fab behind the Old Vic) for one weeks work. I
stayed 35 years as graphic designer, then art director, and my
bosses were Peter Hall, Richard Eyre, Trevor Nunn, and Nick Hytner.
My rst assignment was to design a poster for The Playboy of
the Western World, directed by Bill Bryden. I loved the work, the
ambience, and the people, and consequently, fell in love with the
National and never wanted to work anywhere else. The icing on the
cake, I met my wife Brenda Blethyn in the Green Room of the NT.
DERMOT CROWLEY
The last night party for Peter Woods hugely successful production
of The Double Dealer in the Olivier. Black Velvet owed in the Green
Room. For 18 months shed coiffed my wig, and sculpted my false
nose for the part of Careless. Do you like Woody Allen? she said.
I love Woody Allen I replied. Manhattans just opened she said,
do you fancy it? Thirty-four years on, weve just been to see Blue
Jasmine. How time ies by, so beautifully.
PATRICK MARBER
In my teens in the late 1970s I fell in love with the National Theatre. I
loved the building, the plays, the cafes and the bookshop. It seemed
to me the most glamorous and civilized place on earth. It became
my hang-out. The place I went to read, watch, listen, write, learn
and dream. When I wrote my rst play at the NT Studio in 1993 and
then directed it in the Cottesloe in 1995 I felt I had gone to heaven.
I am as thrilled as ever to be able to enter via the Stage Door. I met
my wife Debra fty yards from that door. When our rst child became
of play-going age we took him, of course, to the NT. My gratitude
and devotion to the institution, the building and the people within it
remains undimmed. Thank you NT for the life you have given me.
Left: Edna Dor as Mrs Noah and JG Devlin as Noah in rehearsal for
The Mysteries in the Cottesloe. Photo Michael Mayhew
Right: Ralph Richardson in The Double Dealer, 1978. Photo John Haynes
18
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 mythical place until 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 wife Anna and I entered the Lyttelton
Theatre for the opening night of my rst
production at the NT, State of Revolution by
Robert Bolt, I was approached by one of the
Top: Patrick Marber, Matt Bardock, Nigel Lindsay and Steve Coogan in rehearsal 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 ries? I asked, This
play is about a revolution. What can we
do without ries 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 rst night
audience eager for action, and I dreading
a asco. The rst 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,
ries! 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
lmed the sailors doing in the Battleship
Potemkin. A Soviet moment on Londons
South Bank!
19
About tonight
There are at least fty different versions of this show. We have two hours to
put fty years on stage, two hours to conjure up an impression of what the
National Theatre has achieved. Although weve tried to cover as much as
possible by seeking out short scenes from as many plays as possible, Im
horried by how much weve had to leave out. So it may be easiest to start
by saying what this evening is not.
19
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. And
in 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 inuential 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
nd 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 true of Lucy
Prebbles The Effect, and even the shortest
story from Martin McDonaghs amazing play
The Pillowman is 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 ll an entire evening with
scenes by our most prolic 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 a
historical narrative Adam Low and Martin
Rosenbaums documentary Arena: The
National Theatre, shown over the last couple
of weeks on BBC4, will soon be available on
DVD. Its terric. I recommend it.
And although tonights staggering 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 ow 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 reect 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 rst 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 your
disbelief.) But all the actors in the show have
been members of the National Theatre at
some point in the last fty 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 rst 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 Health in the same role he created
45 years ago, and Sir Michael Gambon
and Sir Derek Jacobi will take the roles in
No Mans Land originally played by their
great predecessors Sir Ralph Richardson
and Sir John Gielgud. I couldnt be happier
or prouder that they are here and that fty
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
rst 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
20
Hamlet
by William Shakespeare, Old Vic 1963
Francisco Matthew Barker
Barnardo Stanley Townsend
Horatio Anna Maxwell Martin
Marcellus Adrian Lester
Ghost Derek Jacobi

A short lm about Laurence Olivier
Saint Joan
by Bernard Shaw, Old Vic 1963
Original Director John Dexter
Joan Plowright, lmed at the Old Vic,
11 October 2013
Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern Are Dead
by Tom Stoppard, Old Vic 1967
Original Director Derek Goldby
Rosencrantz Benedict Cumberbatch
Guildenstern Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
Hay Fever
by Nol Coward, Old Vic 1964
Director Nol Coward
Myra Arundel Maggie Smith
David 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 Findlay
Sister Maggie Service
Lake Akiya Henry
Sweet Olivia Vinall
Barnet Matt Cross
Mackie James Hayes
Ash Anthony ODonnell
Flagg Tim McMullan
Loach Charles Kay
Foster Gawn Grainger
Dr 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 Prevost
Delia Penelope Wilton
Amadeus
by Peter Shaffer, Olivier 1979
Director Peter Hall
Designer John Bury
Antonio Salieri Paul Scoeld
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 Choreographer David Toguri
Original Designer John Gunter
Nicely-Nicely Clive Rowe
Arvide Abernathy Nicholas Lumley
General Cartwright Sharon D Clarke
Martha Nicola Sloane
Agatha Maggie Service
Sarah Brown Sophie Bould
Mission Girl Alexis Owen-Hobbs
Big Jule Stanley Townsend
Nathan 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 Fiennes
Michael Quince, MP Charles Edwards
Eaton Sylvester Jamie Parker
DPP Payne Andrew Knott
Journalists Martin Chamberlain
Nicholas Lumley
Colin Haigh
Cliveden Whicker-Baskett
Richard Henders
Mac Whipper Wellington Iain Mitchell
A short lm about Peter Hall
Antony and Cleopatra
by William Shakespeare, Olivier 1987
Original Director Peter Hall
Cleopatra Judi Dench
Dolabella Rory Kinnear
20
Angels in America
by Tony Kushner, Cottesloe 1992
Original Director Declan Donnellan
Original Designer Nick Ormerod
Prior Walter Andrew Scott
Louis 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 Sampson
George Jones MP Christopher Eccleston
Andrew Buchan Paul Thornley
Gwenda Aaron Maggie Service
Trevor Avery Aaron Neil
Mary Housego Lyndsey Marshal
Lindsay Fontaine Linzi Hateley
Oliver Dix Malcolm Sinclair
Linus Franks PA Judith Coke
The Madness of George III
by Alan Bennett, Lyttelton 1991
Director Nicholas Hytner
Designer Mark Thompson
George III Nigel Hawthorne
Queen Charlotte Selina Cadell
Arcadia
by Tom Stoppard, Lyttelton 1993
Original Director Trevor Nunn
Original Designer Mark Thompson
Bernard Nightingale Rory Kinnear
Valentine Coverly Jonathan Bailey
Hannah Jarvis Anna Maxwell Martin
Chloe Coverly Olivia Vinall
King Lear
by William Shakespeare, Cottesloe 1997
Director Richard Eyre
Designer Bob Crowley
Lear Ian Holm
Lears Fool Michael Bryant
Richard II
by William Shakespeare, Cottesloe 1995
Director Deborah Warner
Designer Hildegard Bechtler
Richard Fiona Shaw
50 YEARS ON STAGE
21 21
A Little Night Music
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler, Olivier 1995
Original Director Sean Mathias
Dsire Armfeldt Judi Dench
Fredrik 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 Neil
Wise 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 Morpurgo
adapted 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 Wilton
hind Michael Brett
National Theatre Live
Including The Cherry Orchard
by Anton Chekhov, in a version by Andrew Upton
Director Howard Davies
Designer Bunny Christie
Ranevskaya Zo Wanamaker
Tromov Mark Bonnar
One Man, Two Guvnors
by Richard Bean
based on Goldonis The Servant of
Two Masters with songs by Grant Olding,
Lyttelton 2011
Original Director Nicholas Hytner
Original Designer Mark Thompson
Francis Henshall James Corden
London Road
Book and lyrics by Alecky Blythe
Music and lyrics by Adam Cork,
Cottesloe 2011
Original Director Rufus Norris
Original Designer Katrina Lindsay
Julie Kate Fleetwood
Ale 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
22 22
Director Nicholas Hytner
Designer Mark Thompson
Lighting Designer Mark Henderson
Music for short lms George Fenton
Sound Paul Arditti
Music Director Gareth Valentine
Associate Director Adam Penford
Executive Producer David Sabel
Producer Robin Hawkes
Director Mourning Becomes Electra
Howard Davies
Director London Road Rufus Norris
Associate Choreographer Guys and
Dolls Cristina Avery
Associate Choreographer My Fair Lady
Fergus Logan
Associate Director War Horse
Alex Sims
Associate Puppetry Director War Horse
Finn Caldwell
Music Director London 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 Someren
Head of Events, BBC Phil Dolling
Executive Producer, BBC
Elaine Paterson
Technical Producer
Christopher C Bretnall
Production Manager Paul Handley
Company Manager Eric Lumsden
Stage Manager David Marsland
Deputy Stage Manager Anna Hill
Stage Management Fiona Bardsley,
Ian Farmery, Polly Rowe, Julia Wickham
Costume Supervisor Irene Bohan
Assisted by Hannah Trickett
Prop Supervisor Kirsten Shiell
Deputy Production Manager Marius Rnning
Project Draughting Nick Murray &
Emma Morris
Digital Art Dan Radley-Bennett &
Lawrence Rowell
Casting Wendy Spon, Charlotte Sutton,
Juliet Horsley, Charlotte Bevan
Photographer Catherine Ashmore
Assistant Producer Julia Nelson
Broadcast Sound Supervisor Conrad Fletcher
Broadcast Lighting Director Bernie Davies
Broadcast Production Manager Harry Guthrie
Producer National Theatre Live Emma Keith

Short lms
Cameraman and Editor Mike Marriage
Editor Jan Cholawo
Associate Producer James Norton
Musicians
Keyboards 1 Andrew Vinter
Keyboards 2 Peter McCarthy
Guitar Steve Smith
Double bass/bass guitar Don Richardson
Drums Allan Cox
Percussion Martin Briggs
Piccolo/ute/alto sax Andy Findon
Flute/clarinet/alto sax Howard McGill
Clarinet/bass clarinet/baritone sax
Jay Craig
Trumpet/ugelhorn John Barclay
Trumpet/ugelhorn Andy Crowley
Trumpet/ugelhorn Toby Coles
Trombone Gordon Campbell
Horn Matt Gunner
Harp Helen Tunstall
Singers
Melanie Marshall
Stuart Matthew Price
Verity Quade
Ross Sharkey
Caroline Sheen
Michael Xavier
Orchestral Arrangements Christopher Egan
Special thanks to the
National Theatre Archive
archive@nationaltheatre.org.uk
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
Arcadia table & 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
23
Top left: Sara Kestelman and Michael Bryant in State of Revolution, 1977. Photo Zo Dominic
Top right: Nigel Hawthorne 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 Dealer was due to re-open, with some
cast changes, in the Olivier on March 22nd 1979.
However, the set for Galsworthys Strife was 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
Rendered which had been playing in the Lyttelton.
The set was an exterior lawn outside the manor house. The Double Dealer is 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 ELLIOTT
Former Administrator of the NT
I was just a month into my new post when
80 stagehands walked out on unofcial
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.
24
Top left: Tony Haygarths favourite NT memory: The Queen meeting members of the cast of
The Tempest, 1988; Haygarth was Caliban, Michael Bryant Prospero. Photo Nobby Clark
Top right: Bob Hoskins and Ian Charleson in Guys and Dolls, 1982. Photo John Haynes
GIUSEPPE FORTIS
Restaurants 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 hearing her singing Sit
down, youre rocking the boat.
The Queen resting in the Chairmans ofce,
taking her shoes off and putting her lipstick
on and asking me how I can be in two
places at the same time? I replied Magic,
maam, magic.
Stevie Wonder impromptu concert in the
foyer.
Harold Pinter introducing me to Sam
Mendes as the Director of the future.
Helping organize the Ian Charleson Awards
and watching all the new up-and-coming
actors and actresses.
And friendships I shared with all the
Directors and Chairmen during my time.
FRANCES CAMPBELL
I was on guard in my ushers uniform,
Lyttelton stalls, on a discreet mission: to
open the door for Prince Charles, who was
on a low-prole visit to see The Madness of
George III.
I looked into the auditorium to make sure his
seat was ready and waiting. Oh no! a man
was already sitting in it, with his back to me.
Tactfully I leaned forward along the row and
called softly, Excuse me, Sir, but could you
check your ticket number to see whether
you are in the correct seat? He turned
round, smiled and said, I beg your pardon?
It was the Prince himself, already in place!
ROGER LOBB
former NT Box Ofce Manager
The very best night I ever spent in any
theatre was the rst preview of Guys and
Dolls in 1982.
As it was sold out, I was on my way home
and stood at the back of the stalls to watch
the overture. Richard Eyre came over to
me and said, You do know we have never
rehearsed the whole show from beginning to
end, dont you?
I decided to stay on in case it came to a
halt. From the rst bars of the overture, the
excitement in the theatre was electifying.
After the tap-dancing nale it was clear
that the audience adored it and the critics
opinion was irrelevant.
JULIA McKENZIE
Playing Adelaide in Guys and Dolls, I used
to throw out a garter to the audience every
night, during the number Take back your
mink.
On my very last performance as I threw out
the garter I received a urry of garters
back from the regulars in the front stalls all
with names and addresses taped inside! A
unique experience!
GRAHAM BARKER
NT Development Council
Guys and Dolls was my rst show
In Nineteen Eighty Two
I had to stand but even so
That day Ill never rue
The best of many sights and sounds
In memory now entrenched
Has to be Send in the Clowns
Sung by Judi Dench
Ten pounds I paid it is a fact
For Hytners Henry Five:
When Adrian Lesters brilliant act
Brought this play alive
For theatre of every kind
now truly international
A better place well never nd
Than our dear old National.
SUE BLANE
Designer: Guys and Dolls (costume), The
Good Person of Sichuan, The Relapse
My memorable moment, during the break
of the charity revival performance of Guys
and Dolls (1990) on the terrace of the Olivier,
seeing the most fabulous reworks over the
city. Such a spectacular view.
The actual building, that I didnt at rst
appreciate, has warmed and weathered, and
houses the fabulous company that is the
focal point of the South Bank.
ROS HAIGH
We were at the opening night of Guys and
Dolls in March 1982 our abiding memory
is of sheer joy spreading through the Olivier
as a great (perhaps the greatest) musical
was brought to life by an amazing cast.
We remember so clearly their faces as they
realised what a huge hit they had on their
hands, as David Healy led that very rst
encore of Sit Down Youre Rockin the
Boat. The National Theatre at its very best.
We saw the show six times.
Ros and Alan Haigh (Board member/Patrons)
25
LOIS SIEFF
I have had so many Great Moments at the
NT that its hard to make a choice.
First of all the glorious Guys and Dolls,
directed by Richard Eyre; Barrie Rutter
belting out Ive got the horse right here
and the delightful Julia McKenzie as Miss
Adelaide. And then the entire audience
falling in love with Ian Charleson.
Antony and Cleopatra with Judi Dench and
Anthony Hopkins. Did I see her falling from
a considerable height and being caught in
the arms of Hopkins? Gasp! Thats what I
remember.
Ian Holm who gave a heart-breaking
performance as King Lear, wonderfully
staged in the Cottesloe.
I cannot leave out Simon Russell Beale in
Hamlet in the Lyttelton, which I also saw at
Elsinore on a dark cold night, covered in a
blanket and with a welcome nip of Brandy.
It was complete magic played with
intelligence, humour and great dignity.
KEVIN WILLIAMS
Original Guys and Dolls cast Rusty Charlie
and Hot Box Waiter
To have been a part of Richard Eyres
groundbreaking production of Guys and
Dolls, and other subsequent productions,
was a very special moment. One that
has, Im sure, stayed in the memory of all
involved.
One fantastic recollection is how, almost a
decade later, the original cast of Guys and
Dolls reunited to give a reprise of the show
in memory of the late Ian Charleson. After
only a few days rehearsal, the production
came ooding back, and it was as though
we had performed it yesterday, proving how
imprinted in our lives and memory the show
had been.
We also made some life-long friends,
showing how life and art are so closely
linked. So, may life and art continue to thrive
and supply more wonderful memories.
Julia McKenzie in Guys and Dolls, 1982. Photo John Haynes
25
26
HOWARD BRENTON
At the nal dress rehearsal of Pravda in the Olivier in 1985, people
from the theatre were dotted around the auditorium. And no one
was laughing. At all. Not one laugh, from anyone. David Hare and I
looked at each other: oh God, what if its NOT FUNNY? Then at the
rst preview great waves of laughter from the audience crashed onto
the stage to the bewilderment of the actors, who were like surfers
trying to hang on to their surfboards. It was a great night, though I
remember being almost shocked.
CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON
I was an usher at the NT between 1984 and 1986.
The performance I will never forget is Anthony Hopkins as Lambert
Le Roux in Pravda in the Olivier.
Hopkins seemed to charge at the part, the play and the audience.
It was not polite.
It was animalistic, explosive, unpredictable and mesmeric.
The Olivier is huge but he made it intimate, tiny.
And then within the space of a line he would remind you that yes, it
was huge, and it belonged to him.
He seemed superhuman to me.
Then Id see him in the queue in the staff canteen having done his job.
ALAN BENNETT
I remember coming off after a performance of Down Cemetery
Road in the Cottesloe and en route for my dressing room meeting
Judi Dench and her attendants bound for the Olivier stage. Not
many laughs to-night, I said. None at all with us she replied but
since she was appearing in Antony and Cleopatra this was hardly
surprising. There was one unscheduled laugh one night, though,
as it was while she was appearing as Cleopatra that she was
made a Dame. On the evening in question Michael Bryant, playing
Enobarbus, turned upstage and muttered en passant, Well, I
suppose a fucks quite out of the question now, an extra-textual
remark, such was his never other than immaculate diction, that was
heard by the rst ten rows.
Left: Anthony Hopkins in Pravda, 1985. Photo Nobby Clark
Right: Anthony Hopkins and Judi Dench in Antony and Cleopatra, 1987. Photo John Haynes
27
SIMON FRAULO
Lighting Operations Manager
February 1991. After three days and
overnight calls, we opened Richard Eyres
production of Richard III to a packed house
at the National Theatre of Romania; the
dictator Ceausescu had recently been
deposed.
The technical staff for the show were using
Ceausescus state box as a control area,
including myself, the lighting operator, front
left; Jerry Skelton on follow-spot directly
behind me; and Richard Eyre, on a stool, at
the back.
At the end of Act I, Ian McKellen delivered
a speech lit only by a follow-spot from a
high platform which would descend, with
the spot following him downstage as the
nal lines were delivered. However, on this
occasion Jerry informs me over the intercom
that he is fainting, and I can see he is
passing out through exhaustion. I grab the
front of the spot and continue to follow our
actor, who is oblivious. Now Im caught in
a dilemma: the follow-spot has to snap out
on cue, via a switch well beyond my reach. I
am also having to operate the main lighting
control. I click my ngers to attract Richards
attention. As soon as he sees the situation
Top: Ian McKellen in Richard III, 1990. Photo John Haynes
Bottom left: Michael Gambon and Simon Russell Beale in Volpone, 1995. Photo Ivan Kyncl
Bottom right: Nick Holder in Sweeney Todd, 1993. Photo John Haynes
he leaps off his stool and over the body of
our colleague to take hold of the follow-
spot, asking, When do I do it? I thought
to myself Hang on, youre the director, this
is the perfect opportunity to get it exactly
as you want it! Richard of course knew the
moment and did it perfectly.
But the memory that will never leave me
from that night is the emotion at the end
of the performance. Although Richard III
was written 394 years earlier, as far as the
Romanian audience were concerned it
was a replay of their lives barely 14 months
before. It was incredibly moving to witness
their reaction.
LINDA TOLHURST
Stage Door Supervisor
Ian McKellen came to see a Sunday matinee
of People, and before going in, left a suit
at the Stage Door and said hed come
back after the performance. As on previous
occasions, I checked for a dressing room
that he could use afterwards. When he did
come back he said he didnt need a room
and proceeded to change at the Stage Door,
just behind me (what a picture that would
have made on Facebook). After hed gone,
the chap on Security asked Who was that
man? I said Ian McKellen. He said, whats
he done? I told him some of the things Ian
had done but just kept getting blank looks.
I then said Have you seen Lord of the
Rings? As soon as I said Gandalf he got
very excited and said, Im telling the wife
that Gandalf stripped off at the Stage Door.

LORNE CUTHBERT
I served in Finance under four Directors at
the National Theatre, starting with wonderful,
kind Peter Hall. I also sang in choirs. In
1995 during the tenure of Richard Eyre, I
was invited to form a quartet of singers to
perform in the Matthew Warchus Volpone
and in the Matthew Francis Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern Are Dead. Gary Yershon
and Mia Soteriou wrote wonderful music for
us Gary a Venetian Requiem and Mia a
Danish divertissement, both delicious and
atmospheric, adding to the superb acting by
Michael Gambon and Simon Russell Beale.
ADRIAN SCARBOROUGH
On Wind in the Willows Nick Holder would
frequently stand naked (except for his
hedgehog wig) on the heaters at the 3rd
oor window of the dressing-room block
and do the climax of Nessun Dorma. It was
hilarious and horric at the same time. But I
swear his nal Vincero rivalled Pavarottis.
27
28
RICHARD BEAN
My strongest memory of the National is
also my rst memory, which was a st ght
between actors in the backstage Green
Room after a performance of Cinderella.
Way back in 1983.
EILEEN DISS
Im looking at the NT posters over my desk
(one of the many nice things about working
at the NT was the gift of a poster on press
night) and feeling very nostalgic.
In 1976 I remember going with Harold Pinter,
who was directing Blithe Spirit, to look at the
Lyttelton stage, still unnished.
I designed ten plays in the seventies and
eighties, often with Harold directing, always
grateful for the tremendous support from
workshops and props and wonderful people
like Rodger Hulley, who steered me through
it all.
The NT is still a great place to spend a
whole day, which I do quite often.
JAMES HAYES
The Oresteia 1981. All-male cast in masks.
After 25 weeks rehearsal, the tech. Orestes
From top, clockwise: Derek Newark and Robert Stephens in Cinderella, 1983. Photo Nobby Clark.
The Schaubhne Company from West Berlin in The Hairy Ape, visiting the Lyttelton, 1987.
Fiona Shaw in Machinal, 1993. Photo Ivan Kyncl.
Harold Pinter, Richard Johnson and Maria Aitken rehearsing Blithe Spirit, 1977 Photo John Haynes
(Greg Hicks) is about to enter the palace
to kill his mother. He walks up the steps
to the high, double doors. He enters. The
Chorus, downstage, wail disaster. A pause.
One of the giant doors opens and instead
of screams, carnage, out comes Orestes
old wet nurse (yours truly in a mask, looking
like Sybil Thorndike). She delivers a funny
speech, remembering Orestes as a baby.
Obviously, well tech this entrance a number
of times. As I am about to re-enter, I come
across two items in the wings. I open the
door, step out, place the items on the
step and go back in. The items two milk
bottles. Couldnt resist it.
ALAN DAVEY
Chief Executive of Arts Council England
From the Tony Harrison versions of Greek
plays to more recent triumphs like Hytners
Timon of Athens (the rst act was a bit like
my working life) and Marianne Elliotts The
Curious Incident the National Theatre
has been a part of me since my early
20s. But the thing that changed me most
was an international theatre season in the
80s including Steins The Hairy Ape and
Bergmans Hamlet which I saw twice and
which opened my eyes to a new form of
discipline and rigour in theatre that rather
turned my head. Thank you for that, and for
much else since.

THELMA HOLT
When Peter Hall invited me to produce
International 87 at the National Theatre, he
quite simply changed my life. What he didnt
tell me, of course, was that I had to raise
all the money! The project regenerated our
interest in great theatre from overseas: our
island race was no longer an island race. It
could not have happened anywhere else in
the UK except at the NT. The staff rose to
every challenge that was thrown at them,
and I owe them the Olivier Award that I
received on their behalf.
RORY KINNEAR
It was a set of stairs for me. Selina Cadell,
in The Real Inspector Hound in 1985, fell
down the stairs smashing the banister
to pieces as she went. If Id only seen it
once I might have thought it had been an
accident. But I saw it twice. My seven-year-
old mind whirred. She broke them EVERY
NIGHT. They had to rebuild that banister
EVERY NIGHT. That was it. Strange that
29
the magic of theatre should be unlocked
by a staircase, but there you are. Never
underestimate the transformative power of
carpentry. Just look at War Horse...
CHARLES EDWARDS
During the closing moments of All My
Sons in the Cottesloe, those of us who
werent on stage were peering through the
curtains at Arthur Miller, who was watching
his play, rapt, mouthing the nal words
as they were spoken, 50-odd years after
he had written them. In the Green Room
afterwards we gathered round him to soak
up whatever wisdom he could impart. In
time he nished his drink and got up to leave
with his wife, and we all one by one started
to produce posters, copies of Timebends
and programmes for him to sign, like the
starstruck kids we were.
GENISTA McINTOSH
Twelve years at the National what a
privilege. So many enduring friendships and
such a rich stock of memories. Invidious
to pick and choose, but these are two
that stand out: rstly, Sophie Treadwells
Machinal and the gut-wrenching terror in
Fiona Shaws nal few words as she faced
execution. A truly great performance in a
truly ground-breaking production. Secondly,
the sheer joy of standing in the Lyttelton
Foyer and hearing the orchestra strike up
the Carousel Waltz. Magic.
SAMUEL WEST
A memory: of rehearsals for Arcadia, and
Tom Stoppard looking for a line. It needed
to say that Thomasina couldnt have known
about chaos theory because she didnt have
a computer. Id described chaos as a door
that had cracked open ve or six times since
we got up on our hind legs. The line was
there, but underwater, waiting to rise.
One day Tom came in, beaming. Ive got it,
he said.
You cant open a door till theres a house.
Thats it, I said. Thats what I wanted to
say. And I got to, for the very rst time.
SEAN MATHIAS
Working at the National was one of the
great highlights of my professional life. I was
fortunate to direct several productions under
the guidance of the brilliant Richard Eyre.
It is a haven where you can experiment,
Top, clockwise: Roy Kinnear, Edward Petherbridge and Selina Cadell in The Real Inspector Hound, 1985. Photo
John Haynes. Samuel West and Felicity Kendal in Arcadia, 1993. Photo Richard Mildenhall.
Charles Edwards in rehearsal for All My Sons, 2000. Photo Ivan Kyncl
Bottom right: Jude Law in rehearsal for Les Parents Terribles, 1994. Photo Ivan Kyncl
feel genuinely artistic and often reach an
enormous and hugely enthusiastic audience.
Amonst the myriad of joyous memories I
feel proud to have brought the relatively
unknown Jude Law to a wider public in Les
Parents Terribles, and privileged to have
directed Judi Dench in A Little Night Music.

30
The Chorus of Women in The Oresteia, 1981. Photo Nobby Clark
30
31 31
32
IAIN MITCHELL
Late afternoon, Rehearsal Room 1,
rehearsing His Dark Materials Outside,
the Casting Department are waiting for
me. Crisis. An actor in Democracy in the
Cottesloe has pneumonia, cant perform.
Last four performances, sold out, no
understudies, show has to be cancelled at
great expense and huge disappointment
unless Will I go on with the script and
save the day? Yes I say.
No chance to rehearse I am told. Oh well
I reply. What am I doing? I think. Two
hours on. Standing ovation. Got away with
it. Thanks NT. Thanks Nick. Good to give
something back.
DEBORAH FINDLAY
Mother Claps Molly House was a wonderful
project to be part of. Starting with a
workshop at the NT Studio in March 2001,
the play and production developed over the
year and nally opened on 4 September a
week before the world changed. So much
energy, laughter and zz, new scenes, new
shifts of plot coming in every day.
I remember seeing the men coming back
rather excited from trying on their gorgeous
molly frocks dresses of silk and satin and
taffeta, gleaming and colourful. Quite a novel
experience for them as men dont often get
to dress up in the beautiful materials and
designs that the National has to offer.
Monday 20 August, we arrived for beginning
of tech week, all raring to go, only to nd
the National closed. There had been a re
in the basement due to an electrical fault
and all the power had gone. Very frustrating,
but Nick had a great idea to keep company
spirits up. We had a song and dance
rehearsal at the Studio, then over to Joe
Allens for a long lunch and nally a turn on
the recently opened London Eye. We looked
down on the dark, deserted theatre all
wanting to be in there, trying out lights and
costume and set. Two days later power was
restored and we could start the last part of
getting this extraordinary play ready for its
rst audience.
PATERSON JOSEPH
I rst came across the National Theatre
when I was a drama student. I met a friend
there who just loved to sit in the foyer and
read. I will always remember that exciting
rst encounter with the building; the mix of
academia and art was intoxicating for me
and I remain besotted by this theatre to this
day. My rst job there was in a childrens
show in the Lyttelton called Whale. Being
part of the whole NT village was thrilling
for me. Favourite spot is the Green Room/
Canteen where, uniquely in my theatre
experience, you can rub shoulders with
every department of the building.
Happy Birthday, Nash!
DESMOND BARRIT
It was during rehearsals for Stuff Happens.
Alex Jennings was playing the President
of the United States and I was playing
Dick Cheney. We were in the middle of
the technical rehearsals and Alex and I
were on stage. The rehearsals stopped
and we started messing about doing Carol
Channing impersonations to each other
we had just seen her in Hello Dolly in NYC.
Suddenly there was huge laughter from
Nick Hytner and David Hare in the stalls.
We had forgotten that someone might be
looking and listening. Then Nick said I
never thought Id see the President and Vice
President of America doing Carol Channing
impersonations. How embarrassed we
were.
ISLA BLAIR
The NT is the place where I enjoy working
most. I remember my rst production. An
actress became ill during the run of What
The Butler Saw and I took over the role.
I had played it before so the one weeks
rehearsal wasnt too daunting.
On my rst performance, to a packed
house the recording of Lulus Shout rang
through the auditorium as a lift containing
the actors ascended to the ies. I looked
out at the audience and said to myself, Im
here, Im at the National Theatre! The thrill
of that moment remains.
SUSAN CHINN
Nick Hytner gave me my rst big break he
cast me as the librarian in his lm of The
History Boys! I was all set for Hollywood
but no one called!!
TARQUIN OLIVIER
From his speech at the unveiling of the
statue of Laurence Olivier as Hamlet
Larry was true, he was magnetic, gloriously
funny, he is still a part of what makes life
worth living, as is his creation the National
Theatre. It took much more than a century
for this to happen. The third time Queen
Elizabeth the Queen Mother laid the
foundation stone, in yet another place, she
said You really ought to put wheels on
this thing. It took his leadership to bring it
From top to bottom: Conleth Hill and Roger Allam in Democracy, 2003. Photo Conrad Blakemore. The Company in rehearsal for Stuff Happens, 2004.
Photo Ivan Kyncl. George Harris and Paterson Joseph in Elminas Kitchen, 2003. Photo Ivan Kyncl. Danielle Tilley, Daniel Redmond, Tom McKay and
Iain Pearson in Mother Claps Molly House, 2001. Photo Mark Douet. Unveiling of the statue of Laurence Olivier outside the NT, 23 September 2007.
Photo Catherine Ashmore. Frances de la Tour and Stephen Campbell Moore in The History Boys, 2004. Photo Ivan Kyncl
33
to fruition. Harold Wilson implored him to
accept a life peerage but he refused until the
entire cash commitment for the National was
signed and sealed, the heroine in Cabinet
being Jenny Lee, Minister for the Arts.
Together with the generosity of the many
more than 200 contributors we have brought
about the creation of an iconic, romantic
and most exciting image which is recognized
around the world: Hamlet, holding his sword
before him like a crucix as he climbs the
steps to meet the ghost of his fathers spirit
I chose the image of Hamlet because it
was one of the few great roles where Larry
actually used his own face. No wig, no false
nose. Of Hamlet he said it was set apart
from any other play; it is unique, because
with Hamlet you cannot cheat. You have to
give your complete self, as your own self
and no-one elses, no role playing there, no
defence: the difference between being a
lover and a husband.
Adrian Lester in Henry V, 2003. Photo Ivan Kyncl
ADRIAN LESTER
Henry V in the Olivier 2003.
Jeeps were used in the production. Old, Army issue Jeeps. Not designed for comfort. As
Henry, I had to drive through the open dock doors at the very back of the Theatre, make
a sharp left onto the stage and bring the Jeep to a dead stop, centre stage in the position
needed for me to deliver the St Crispins Day speech. I had to do it as safely and as quickly
as possible. (There were other actors on stage and my entrance was meant to interrupt a
conversation.) The whole action took about four seconds.
One night, I get myself ready. Im in the Jeep, I rev the engine and quickly drive the vehicle on
to the stage. I near my stop point and press the brake... Nothing happens. I hit it harder, still
nothing. I look up and see the actors try to shift out of my way, time seems to slow down. Im
on the Olivier stage driving a Jeep toward a group of actors who are looking ever so slightly
scared. If I cant stop, Ill hit them and then take the Jeep off the stage and into the rst three
rows of the audience.
I grab the hand brake and yank it as hard as I can. The Jeep makes a slight skid and comes
to a stop. Now I breathe. A couple of the actors are looking at me wide eyed. I cant see the
stage in front of me any more, just the front rows of the audience as I look over the bonnet.
That night, the St Crispins Day speech had quite a different energy to it.
33
34
JOHN ROGAN
My memories of the Nat are happy ones.
Except those rehearsal days when I feel
I cant play a particular part and Ill be
sacked. Bumping into fellow actors in the
canteen at lunchtime and catching up on
the gossip. Playing in Richard II, Cripple
of Inishmaan, Buried Child etc. I see
almost every show there and am seldom
disappointed, laughing thru One Man, Two
Guvnors and a fair amount of sobbing thru
Nicks denitive Carousel.
So happy anniversary
MATTHEW MARSH
The National is a large organisation in a big
building but as an actor working there I have
always felt part of a small friendly company
and that is mainly due to the superb stage
management teams.
MALCOLM SINCLAIR
I saw Olivier and his incomparable company
when I was at school. They were/are
the gold standard. Ive done Ayckbourn,
Bennett, and Hare with the authors in
attendance, than which nothing is better.
A highlight was playing to two different
audiences in the Olivier and Lyttelton on
the same night in Ayckbourns House/
Garden, a unique experience, added to
which my character was the vilest man Ive
ever been asked to play. Bliss. I should add
the important and essential fact that the
National has the best Stage Management
teams ever.
MICHAEL PENNINGTON
It was a dream for a century, and the
realitys better; even the building makes
people argue, let alone the plays. With the
foundation stone down, government still
didnt want it. Now, three theatres full almost
every night; the best theatre bookshop
Top left: John Rogan in rehearsal for Richard II, 1995. Photo Neil Libbert. Top middle: Stage Management team for
After the Dance, 2010 (Natasha Jenkins, Jo Nield, Nik Haffenden and Alison Rankin). Photo Johan Persson.
Top right: NT Stage Door Supervisor Linda Tolhurst. Photo Philip Carter. Above right: John Lithgow in The
Magistrate, 2012. Photo Johan Persson
in London; the Ian Charleson Award,
Platforms, Travelex, NT Live, the Studio, NT
Future, Connections, Watch This Space.
If youve ever worked there, you have a
welcome for life from the best stage door
team in London, eccentric dressing rooms,
work you could die for and a canteen that
could have been built for gossip.
JOHN LITHGOW
In the Spring of 2009, on a one-day layover in London, I called Nick Hytner to say hello. He
immediately told me to come by his ofce for tea. It was the rst time Id seen Nick since hed
taken over the National, so there was a lot to catch up on. I sat in his ofce, idly describing a
recent project of mine, a one-man show featuring the writings of P.G. Wodehouse and Ring
Lardner. He suddenly leaped to his feet with the same urgency you might see in a man being
attacked by an escaped tiger. You have to do it here! he cried. This was the moment that I
saw rst-hand the brilliant, impulsive creativity that has characterized Nicks entire tenure at
the National. Newly instituted Sunday matinees had freed up Monday nights for idiosyncratic
special events, and an idea had hit him like a thunderbolt: my show would t the bill.
And so it was that on Monday, October 19, of the following fall I had my National debut on
the stage of the Lyttelton. I greeted a full house, puffed up by the momentous occasion. I
informed the crowd that it happened to be my 64th birthday, and I spontaneously led them
in a full-throated sing-along of When Im Sixty-Four. When we nished, I addressed them
again: Now if youll excuse me, Im going back into the wings and die of happiness.
In the last 50 years, there have been thousands of great moments on the stages of the Old
Vic, Olivier, Cottesloe, and Lyttelton. Ive been in the audience for scores of them, and up
on stage last year for a few more during the run of The Magistrate. But for me, nothing will
match the night I turned 64 at the National. That memory is my pride and joy, and its all mine.
35
Left: Nurses and Patients in A Matter of Life and Death, 2007. Photo Steve Tanner
Right: Billie Piper and Jonjo ONeill in The Effect, 2012. Photo Ellie Kurttz
CELIA WIJETUNGA
From 1982-2008, my involvement was in
developing an in-house Medical Unit, which
at rst was little more than a rst aid post in
a dressing room!
Establishing such a department was unique
and no one was sure how it would t in with
the workings of a prestigious theatre. With
the support of actors and staff we became
an essential addition.
Its been a privilege to be associated, in
a small way, with many aspects of the
Nationals work to help keep the show
going. It makes me proud and happy I once
was part of this vibrant establishment. Long
may she ourish.
LUCY PREBBLE
The night that His Girl Friday opened on the Olivier stage, John Guare and Jack OBrien
roamed the corridors like truants trying not to get caught. Hell only write better bad reviews
himself OBrien explained as Guare paced. I was an assistants assistant at the time. I
arranged hotels and dinner reservations and took letters for luminaries like these, and briey
they took refuge on my oor. Youre going to have a play on! Guare cried as he discovered
my dirty secret.
Just Upstairs. At the Court.
Just Upstairs!
And he sat, where he could nally be useful, and asked me not told me asked me about
writing.
Months later he returned to London and took the time to see that secretarys play. Back
at my desk, he pulled up his chair and told me how hed liked it. He didnt patronise. He
spoke to me as a writer. What would have happened, he leaned back, What would have
happened, if where youd ended, youd begun? And one degree from the great John Guare,
on the fourth oor of the theatre Id return to, thats what I did.
36
Watch This Space Festival 2012. Photo Steve Stills
Age 3: waiting for dad outside the Old Vic Stage Door
Age 4: watching one minute of Laurence Olivier as Shylock
from the back of the stalls
Age 12: watching mum go on as understudy for Emma in
Betrayal in the Lyttelton
Age 14: doing my homework in the Green Room
Age 17: tearing tickets in the Cottesloe
Age 19: ending my rst relationship in the Lyttelton foyer
Age 21: getting birthday bumps during the ushers brieng
Age 22: being promoted to Duty House Manager
Age 24: getting part-time job in Platforms Department
Age 30: having birthday drinks in the Green Room
Age 31: taking over as Manager of Platforms
Age 34: creating NT2000, the NT millennium project
Age 36: scattering dads ashes into the Thames outside the
Stage Door
Age 37: receiving the Rayne Award for services to the National
Age 39: getting extremely drunk with Lauren Bacall in the
Green Room
Age 40: programming the Watch This Space Festival for the
rst time
Age 41: co-directing with Nick H the celebration of Laurence
Oliviers centenary
Age 45: having my Civil Partnership ceremony on the roof of
the National
Age 47: working on the NTs 50th celebrations.
ANGUS MacKECHNIE
37
Top left: Michael Bryant in Racing Demon, 1993. Photo John Haynes
Bottom right: The company of the 1994 Racing Demon tour to LA, taken by Adrian
Scarboroughs wife who was ve months pregnant with their rst child.
JUDITH COKE
There cant be many people for whom the canteen at the National
Theatre is the most romantic place on earth, but it is for me, because
it was there that I met my husband, the great and irreplaceable
Michael Bryant. We performed in nearly 30 plays at the NT during
our 25 years together, and our whole marriage took place within
its walls. He may be dead, but as he requested a portion of his
ashes rests in each of the three theatres, and so he still presides over
the great company that he led with such distinction for half its life. He
is a benign ghost, and I am so proud, both of him and of the NT.
TIM McMULLAN
In 1990 I was rehearsing The Wind in the Willows, and the wonderful
Jane Gibson was movement director. We all had homework to do
with the animals we were playing, and once spent a short while with
a ferret handler. The ferret shot straight up
inside the leg of my trousers, which was
faintly disturbing, but seemed to be a good
sign as I was playing Chief Weasel. A day
or two later, I was standing next to Jane
during the morning tea break, beside the
huge hot water urn that hissed and steamed
all day, as she asked Michael Bryant who
was playing Badger, if he had watched the
badger video she had got for him, and if
hed had any movement tips from it. Yes,
he replied, I discovered that Badgers walk
just like I do!
DAVID BAMBER
I shall always remember my excitement
at meeting Michael Bryant for the rst
time, in rehearsal for Bartholomew Fair in
which I played John Littlewit. I had grown
up watching him on TV, particularly in
John Hopkins Talking to a Stranger with
Judi Dench. I went on to work with him in
Hamlet, Racing Demon and Wind in the
Willows and every outing was a masterclass
to a young(ish) actor. Michael taught me that
once your character was up and running
you really had to let the audience do their
share of the work whereas I was inclined
to attempt a triple back summersault every
time I appeared, just to remind them who I
was... to be on stage with Michael and hear
the delighted audience response is a deeply
treasured memory.
ADRIAN SCARBOROUGH
There was a hot dog stand outside the
Dolittle Theatre on the corner of Hollywood
and Vine, where Michael Bryant could be
found each evening before the show, with a
Chilli Cheese Dog in his hand.
37
38
KATE MOSSE
Board Member
In the Theatre at Night.
In the silent concrete corners and walkways,
hang the echoes. Words and music and
movement. The air is still, hushed, yet
holds within it a lifetime of voices heard,
footsteps caught, the crack of paper and
shoe-leather and coin. Seamed into the
fabric of the building is the imprint of every
actor, every technician and designer lights,
sounds, shapes every director, dresser,
stage manager, prompt. The glasses of
wine, the twist of each sweet-wrapper, the
programmes passed from hand to hand.
Over time, memories fade and distort, they
sharpen and shift, lose their power. But all
those who have passed this way have left
their mark. Have helped create this national
theatre, a breathing, always-changing,
space brought to vivid life by the people in
it. And which now, at fty years, stands as
testament to who we are and who we
might be.
TIM CLARK
Board Member
Throughout its existence, the name of
the National Theatre has described its
activities. It is the leading UK theatre. With
three theatres on the South Bank and
the broadest of repertoires, it could, with
that domestic position, also claim a wider
reputation. Now with productions, tours
and NT Live on most continents and more
than half of its audience outside its South
Bank home it is indisputably the leading
theatre in the world with an audience to
match. It is a joy to be a part of this vibrant
and inclusive leader of world culture.
Huge congratulations on this momentous
anniversary to the leadership, the staff and
the performers on its stages.
The NT at Night. Photo Paul Greenleaf
NICK STARR
Executive Director
I was a schoolboy in south east London
when the NT was being built on the South
Bank. I got infected by the scale of the
ambition: not one theatre but three, and
everything under the same roof. What a
thrilling and ambitious conception for how
the theatre could be. My friends and I used
it as our place to meet in London. We
interviewed actors for our school magazine,
queued for day seats, stood at the back for
No Mans Land, watched Illuminatus for a
whole day. My particular frustration was that
I couldnt see into the workings: I jumped
up to see into the workshops through those
slit windows at the back. My apprenticeship
was a long one: rst the press ofce, then
the directors ofce, then returning to run it
with Nick. Theres a genius to the place, by
which of course I mean the people. It will be
a terrible wrench to leave next year. Some
institutions are objects of respect, some of
love. The NT is, quite self-evidently, both.
39
Top left: The rst Travelex season: Alex Jennings, Nicholas Hytner, Adrian Lester,
Zo Wanamaker, Lloyd Dorfman, Frances Barber and Kenneth Branagh.
Bottom right: Exterior of the National Theatre. Photo Paul Greenleaf
LLOYD DORFMAN
My involvement with the National began with a dinner party conversation in 2003, which
resulted in the Travelex Cheap Tickets. But, it very nearly did not happen.
I had stopped the discussion when the Iraq War loomed ominously. Six weeks later, however,
on a Friday afternoon, Nick rang to say he still had no sponsor but, with the War ending,
might I change my mind? He also said he needed to print the tickets and programmes next
week, and I was his last call. Monday, we agreed the deal and, on Tuesday, I saw him at the
National. We were both delighted. I said to him it just goes to show that those last minute
Friday afternoon phone calls, with nothing to lose, can sometimes be worth making!
CHRISTOPHER HOGG
Former Chairman of the NT Board
To Chair the NT and with three of the ve
great Directors it has had so far was one
of the most rewarding experiences of my
whole working life. The NT is inspirational
and the immense range of talent it has
been able to command has brought about
great deeds of all kinds. In its 50 years the
NT has achieved world class standards. To
maintain these with continuing momentum
will be an enormous challenge; but I believe
it can achieve another wonderful 50 years
and more, given the depth and vigour of the
roots it has established.
JOHN MAKINSON
Chairman of the NT Board
The National Theatre is a delicious liqueur
chocolate, hard on the outside but irresistible
in the middle. All the creative triumphs of the
past fty years have been achieved despite
that impressive but forbidding Lasdun
exterior. Now we need to make the building,
and its welcome, consistent with the quality
and accessibility of what appears on its
stages. A year from now I hope well have
done just that, giving audiences what Nick
likes to call The Big Hello, and equipping us
for the next great 50 years.
MARIA MILLER
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and
Sport, Minister for Women and Equalities
The National Theatre, as we all know it, has
been part of the countrys cultural heart for
all my life. Its fantastic reputation around the
world for excellence and innovation is fully
justied. Its hard to pick out just one special
memory; I will always remember my rst visit
to the National as a student to see Guys and
Dolls in 1982 and the rst time I took my
daughter in 2004 to see His Dark Materials.
The National is a very special place.
KAREN HILL
Quite simply I love the National Theatre.
What we see on the stages is the result of
an extraordinarily creative, innovative and
intelligent group of people working as a team.
I always come away from meetings at the
National feeling much the same as I do when
I have watched one of the NT productions
uplifted and energised and above all, hugely
proud that we have such an institution in this
country.
PETER BAZALGETTE
Chair of the Arts Council
I could write about the extraordinary run of
Shakespeare productions, of the denitive
collaborations between Hytner and Russell
Beale or Hytner and Bennett. But let me take
just one production that encapsulates how
the NT inspires us. The Curious Incident of
the Dog in the Night-Time at the Cottesloe
was extraordinarily original and deeply
touching. And then I caught it in the cinema
as part of NT Live a different but equally
valid experience which brought the work to
tens of thousands more of us. Great art for
everyone, as we say at the Arts Council.
40
Support the next 50 years
of world-class theatre
As we celebrate 50 years of the NT, we know its equally
important to look forward to the next 50 years. NT Future
is an 80 million project that is set to transform your
National Theatre.
NT Future will allow us to offer a much warmer welcome to
our audiences, nurture new generations of theatre-makers
and enhance our digital facilities, helping us bring more of
our work to people across the world.
Our plans include refurbished foyer spaces, increased
seating, an additional riverside caf and public access to
view our new backstage craft workshops from the Sherling
High-Level Walkway. The refurbishment of the Cottesloe
Theatre is already underway and it will reopen as the Dorfman
Theatre in 2014 along with the Clore Learning Centre, which
will allow us to produce a full and exciting programme of
workshops and courses for all ages.
The transformation is happening now, but we still need to
raise an additional 8.5 million to complete the project.
If you would like to support your theatre,
please visit our website and nd out more:
nationaltheatre.org.uk/ntfuture
020 7452 3916
ntfuture@nationaltheatre.org.uk
South Bank
London SE1 9PX
nationaltheatre.org.uk
Chairman of the NT Board John Makinson
Director Nicholas Hytner
Executive Director Nick Starr
Chief Operating Ofcer Lisa Burger
Registered charity no: 224223
Programme compiled and edited by Lyn Haill
Programme designed by Mark Fisher
Printed and donated by Cantate Communications