Royal National Theatre

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Royal National Theatre
Image:Nattheatrelondon.700px.jpg
The Royal National Theatre from Waterloo Bridge
Address
South Bank
City
Lambeth, London
Designation Grade II*
Architect Denys Lasdun
Capacity Olivier Theatre 1,160 seats
Lyttelton Theatre 890 seats
Cottesloe Theatre 400 seats
Type National theatre
Opened 1976
Production Repertory
www.nationaltheatre.org.uk
Coordinates: 51°30′26″N 0°06′51″W / 51.507111, -0.114139

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

The honorific "Royal" was added to the name in 1988, after a campaign by Max Rayne, retiring chairman of the NT board, to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the company’s inauguration (and Rayne’s own departure from office). The change was opposed by the theatre’s director, Richard Eyre, who feared that productions would become too “worthy” as a result. The addition was quietly dropped (but never officially rescinded) when Rayne retired.[1][2] Most British theatre-goers still refer to both the company and venue as The National Theatre, frequently abbreviated to "The National" or "The Nash".

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

Contents

[edit] The building

The National Theatre building houses three separate auditoria:

  • The Olivier Theatre (named after the theatre's first artistic director, Lord Laurence Olivier), the largest space, is the main auditorium, and was modelled on the ancient Greek theatre at Epidaurus; it has an open stage and a fan-shaped audience seating area for about 1,160 people. It houses the Drum Revolve; a unique piece of stage technology which goes 8 m under the stage. The Drum has two rim revolves and two platforms which can take 10 tonnes, facilitating dramatic and fluid scenery changes.
  • The Lyttelton Theatre (named after Oliver Lyttelton, the first chairman of the National Theatre Board) has a proscenium arch design and holds up to 890 people.
  • The Cottesloe Theatre (named after Lord Cottesloe, chairman of the South Bank Theatre Board) is a small adaptable studio space, designed by Ian Mackintosh, holding up to 400 people, depending on the seating configuration.
Image:SouthBankCentre02.jpg
Denys Lasdun's building for the National Theatre - an "urban landscape" of interlocking terraces responding to the site at King's Reach on the River Thames to exploit views of St Paul's Cathedral and Somerset House.

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

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

The style of the National Theatre building, described by Mark Girouard as "an aesthetic of broken forms" at the time of opening. Architectural opinion was split at the time of construction. Even enthusiastic advocates of the Modern Movement such as Sir Nikolaus Pevsner have found the Béton brut concrete both inside and out overbearing. Most notoriously, Prince Charles described the building in 1988 as "a clever way of building a nuclear power station in the middle of London without anyone objecting". Sir John Betjeman, however, a man not noted for his enthusiasm for brutalist architecture, was effuse in his praise and wrote to Lasdun stating that he "gasped with delight at the cube of your theatre in the pale blue sky and a glimpse of St. Paul's to the south of it. It is a lovely work and so good from so many angles...it has that inevitable and finished look that great work does."[3]

Despite the controversy, the theatre has been a Grade II* listed building since 1994[4]. Although the theatre is often cited as an archetype of Brutalist architecture in England, since Lasdun's death the building has been re-evaluated as having closer links to the work of Le Corbusier, rather than contemporary monumental 1960s buildings such as those of Paul Rudolph.[5] The carefully refined balance between horizontal and vertical elements in Lasdun's building has been contrasted favourably with the lumpiness of neighbouring buildings such as the Hayward Gallery and Queen Elizabeth Hall, and is now in the unusual situation of having appeared simultaneously in the top ten "most popular" and "most hated" London buildings in opinion surveys. A recent lighting scheme illuminating the exterior of the building, in particular the fly towers, has proved very popular, and is one of several positive artistic responses to the building.

[edit] Artistic directors

[edit] Notable productions

[edit] 1963-1973

[edit] 1973-1988

[edit] 1988-1997

[edit] 1997-2002

[edit] 2003-

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Eyre, Richard (2003): National Service. Bloomsbury, London. ISBN 0-7475-6589-9.
  2. ^ Ex-National boss regrets 'Royal' title. BBC Arts News. Retrieved on 2007-01-22.
  3. ^ http://www.hughpearman.com/articles2/lasdun2.html
  4. ^ English Heritage listing details accessed 28 Apr 2007
  5. ^ Sir Denys Lasdun obituary. The Independent. Retrieved on 2007-01-22.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Hall, Peter, (edited Goodwin, John) (1983): Peter Hall's Diaries: The Story of a Dramatic Battle (1972-79). Hamish Hamilton, London. ISBN 0-241-11047-5.
  • Goodwin, Tim (1988), Britain's Royal National Theatre: The First 25 Years. Nick Hern Books, London. ISBN 1-85459-070-7.

[edit] External links

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