NTLive 50th Programme

8/11/2019 NTLive 50th Programme

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years on stage

#NT50 @ntlive

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Internationalcinemas fromSat November 2


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Drawing by Alison Chitty of a playreading at the NT Studio


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A SHORT HISTORY OF THENATIONAL THEATRE

1848 2013

1848 The first proposal for a Nat ional Theatre is made byEffingham Wilson, a London publisher. It is supported by leading

figures of the day, including Charles Dickens, critic and poet Matthew

Arnold, and actors Charles Kemble and Sir Henry Irving.

1903 Actor-director-author Harley Granvi lle Barker and cr iticWilliam Archer publish the first detailed plans for a National Theatre,

and circulate their book privately. The estimated total cost of the

project is 300,000.

1908 Supporters of the campaign join forces with a groupplanning a memorial to Shakespeare, to form the Shakespeare

Memorial National Theatre. The Committee includes Bernard Shaw,

Arthur Wing Pinero, Beerbohm Tree, Johnston Forbes-Rober tson,and Granville Barker; plus leading social and political figures like

Viscount Esher and the Hon Mrs Alf red Lyttelton.

The Objects of the Shakespeare National Theatre are published

under the following headings:

1. To keep the plays of Shakespeare in its repertory

2. To revive whatever else is vital in English classical drama

3. To prevent recent plays of great merit from falling into oblivion

4. To produce new plays and to further the development of the

modern drama

5. To produce translations of representative works of foreign drama,

ancient and modern

6. To stimulate the art of acting through the varied opportunities

which it will offer to the members of the company.

1909 Mrs Lyttelton obtains the first substantial donation to theappeal: 70,000 from Carl Meyer, son of a Hamburg banker.

1913 42 Various sites are considered, acquired and rejected,architects appointed and plans submitted.

1930 In a revised edition of his book on the National Theatre,Granville Barker writes prophetically: The site facing the river,

between County Hall and the Surrey Approach to the new Charing

Cross Bridge, is about all that one can wish for; a National Theatre

could hardly be better placed.

1937 A site is purchased opposite the Victoria and Albert

Museum. Sir Edwin Lutyens and Cecil Masey are appointed todesign the building. A building committee begins to meet.

Lilian Baylis dies. Her work, as the legendary manager of the Old Vic

for 25 years, had laid the foundations for a national theatre.

1939 The Second Wor ld War delays the bu ilding of the theatre.

1940 The Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Artsis set up with direct grants from the Exchequer to fund the arts. In

1946 it is to become the Arts Council of Great Britain.

1942 The London County Council agrees to exchange theKensington site for a new one on the South Bank of the Thames.

Harley Granville Barker


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1949 The National Theatre Bill is brought before Parliament, andpassed without division, empowering the government of the day to

contribute up to 1 million for the theatres building and equipment.

1951 In Festival of Britain year, a foundation stone is laid by HMThe Queen ( later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother) on a site next

to the Festival Hall.

1952 The LCC of fer a bet ter si te, adjoining County Hall.

1962 The Chancellor appoints the National Theatre Board,chaired by Lord Chandos (the former Oliver Lyttelton), and the South

Bank Theatre and Opera House Board, chaired by Lord Cottesloe, to

supervise the building operation.The appointment is announced of the Nationals first Di rector,

Laurence Olivier, then launching the first season at Chichester

Festival Theatre of which he is Director. The Governors of the Old

Vic agree to offer their theatre as a temporary home for the National

Theatre.

1963 22 October: The Nationals inaugural production opens Shakespeares Hamlet, directed by Laurence Olivier, with Peter

OToole in the lead. The repertoire for the first season also consists

of Chekhovs Uncle Vanya and ShawsSaint Joan, which had

opened at Chichester, Farquhars The Recruiting Officer, Ibsens

The Master Builder, Harold Brighouses Hobsons Choice, Becketts

Playwith Sophocles Philoctetes, Max FrischsAndorra, and

Shakespeares Othello.

A ticket in the stalls for the first

season costs 27s 6d (1.28) and

in the gallery 3s (15p). The Arts

Council grant for the first season

is 130,000. Despite House

Full signs every night, the first

season ends with a deficit of

22,500.

Denys Lasdun is chosen as

architect of the new theatre

and opera house on the South

Bank. For two years he explores

the challenges with a building

committee.

1964 The Royal Hunt of theSunby Peter Shaffer is the NTs

first world premiere.

1965 The National Theatre Company v isits Russia and EastGermany with Othello, Hobsons Choiceand Love for Love.

1966 The National at the Old Vic goes 250,000 into the red. ArtsMinister Jennie Lee announces an increase in government subsidy

to cover the deficit. Jacques Charon, from the Comdie Franaise,

directs an acclaimed production of FeydeausA Flea In Her Ear

adapted by John Mortimer.

1967 The site for the new theatre is shif ted a few hundred yardseast its last move. The capital cost is now estimated at 7.5million.

The Nationa l stages As You Like Itwith an all-male cast, and its first

new play by an untried author: Tom Stoppards Rosencrantz andGuildenstern Are Dead.

1969 Work starts on the building; it is expected to be completedby 1973.

1970 Money from recent surpluses is used to finance the YoungVic, a hundred yards down The Cut from the Old Vic. The Young

Vic serves the NT as a studio theatre unti l 1973 when it becomes

a separate company. Olivier receives a life peerage, the first ever

offered to an actor.

1971 The National is brought to a low point with a series ofunpopular productions at the Old Vic, and a season staged at the

New Theatre (now the Nol Coward), unsuccessful apart from LongDays Journey Into Night, with Olivier as James Tyrone.

Sir Max Rayne (later to be Lord Rayne) succeeds Lord Chandos as

Chairman of the NT Board.

1972 The Nationals fortunes revive with Jonathan Millersproduction of The School for Scandaland Michael Blakemores of

The Front Page.

1973 Olivier gives his last stage performance in Trevor GriffithsThe Party.

Peter Hall, founder and former director of the Royal Shakespeare

Company, succeeds him as Director of the NT.

Left: Laurence Olivier. Photo by Zo Dominic

Right: Laurence Olivier at the Royal Ope ning, 1976. Photo by Nobby Clark


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1974 The opening of the new building is delayed further byconstruction difficulties; but the National Theatre Bill 1974 removes

the limit on government support for the building work.

1975 Peter Hall takes the decision to move into the new buildingas soon as one auditorium is ready. NT staff leave the huts in

Aquinas Street which have served as their temporary offices

throughout the companys years at the Old Vic, and move into the

still unfinished building to prepare to open it theatre-by-theatre.

Harold Pinters No Mans Land, one of several new plays written

for the opening of the National, opens at the Old Vic with RalphRichardson and John Gielgud, directed by Peter Hall.

1976 The first productions in the Lyttelton Theatre (named afterOliver Lyttelton, Lord Chandos), are transfers from the Old Vic, and

on 8 March a week of previews of five plays begins with Becketts

Happy Days. Peggy Ashcroft plays Winnie.

16 March:The Lyttelton Theatre officially opens with Albert Finney as

Hamlet, directed by Peter Hall.

The work at first known as NT Extras starts, under Associate

Director Michael Kustow. The first Platform performance is staged

Scenes from National Life. It begins a programme of short, early-

evening events plays, talks, readings, discussions in each of the

three theatres which has continued to the present day.

Foyer music begins free live concerts ranging from baroque andjazz to folk, given by professiona l groups each day in the foyer before

performances. The first free exhibitions go on view in the foyers,

which are described by Denys Lasdun as the fourth auditorium

all the public areas, foyers and terraces are in themselves a theatre

with the city as a backdrop.

The opening of the Olivier Theatre, due in July, is put back further

by contractors delays and industrial troubles within the theatre.

It eventually opens on 4 October with Marlowes Tamburlaine The

Great, directed by Peter Hall with Albert Finney in the lead. The

company had been in rehearsal since April, and had resorted to

performing sections of the play outside on the terraces.

25 October:The Queen officially opens the National Theatre,

although the building is still unfinished. Laurence Olivier, giving a

speech of welcome in the auditorium named after him, makes his

only appearance on one of the new NTs stages.

1977 The first of the plays commissioned for the new building tohave its premiere there is Howard Brentons Weapons of Happiness,

in the Lyttelton. Others are Robert Bolts State of Revolution and

Alan Ayckbourns Bedroom Farce, which later transfers to West End.

4 March:The Cottesloe finally opens with a visiting production from

the Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool, Ken Campbells eight-hour

epic Illuminatus!Bill Brydens promenade production of medieval

Mystery plays, The Passion, in a version by Tony Harrison is one ofthe first plays to open in the Cottesloe. Eventually, with the addition

of The Nativityand Doomsdaythis becomes The Mysteries, staged

several times until 1999, sometimes with all-day performances.

The theatre is closed for five nights by an unofficial strike over the

dismissal of a plumber. The deficit on the first years operation is

250,000, caused by the late opening of the Olivier and the high

costs of servicing the building. Much of the machinery, including the

Oliviers drum-revolve, still does not work.

1978 79 Further industrial action over the next two yearscauses cancelled performances and huge costs.

An Arts Council inquiry into the costs o f running the National

recommends a once-for-all grant to clear the accumulated deficit.

1979 Warren Mitchell wins three best actor awards as WillyLoman in Michael Rudmans production of Arthur Millers Death

of a Salesman. Peter Shaffers new play,Amadeus, directed by

Peter Hall, wins 13 awards, and later transfers to the West End and

Broadway.

1980 Brechts The Life of Galileo, with Michael Gambon inthe title part, directed by John Dexter in the Olivier, is the biggest

popular success a Brecht play has had in London.

The premiere of Howard Brentons The Romans in Britain, which

includes a scene depicting attempted homosexual rape, causes

an uproar. The director, Michael Bogdanov is prosecuted by Mary

Whitehouse (the case is finally dropped in 1982).

The Na tional celeb rates Oliviers 80th Birth day: Max Rayne, Laurence Olivi er,

Peter Hall and Richard Eyre meet a t the Stage Door. Photo Nobby Clark

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1981 Peter Halls production of Tony Harrisons version of TheOresteia of Aeschylus is staged in the Olivier, and later visits the

ancient theatre at Epidaurus, the first foreign company to play there.

1982 Richard Eyres production of Guys and Dollsis an enormoushit in the Olivier, eventually playing to nearly 400,000 people before

transferring to the West End, and enabling the National to withstand

the effect of cuts in real terms in the Arts Councils grant.

1983 The years hits include Peter Woods production ofThe Rivals, the premieres of Christopher Hamptons Tales from

Hollywood, directed by Peter Gill, and David Mamets Glengarry Glen

Rossdirected by Bill Bryden.

1984 Wild Honey, MichaelFrayns version of Chekhovs

Platonov play, wins nine awards for

its director, Christopher Morahan,

designer, John Gunter, and leadactor Ian McKellen.

Peter Gill founds the Nationals

Studio, an experimental workshop

for the company, which encourages

new writing. It is funded by private

sources, and housed in the Old Vic

annexe which Ed Mirvish, owner of

the Old Vic Theatre, leases to the NT

free of charge.

1985 At a press conferencecalled to announce cuts in the NTs

activities, including the closure of

the Cottesloe, Peter Hall attacksgovernment cut-backs in spending

on the arts. Government advice

to theatres is to seek private

sponsorship.

A series of hi t product ions includes

David Hare and Howard Brentons

Pravdaand Alan AyckbournsA

Chorus of Disapproval.

In the autumn, the Cottesloe re-

opens, thanks to a special grant from the GLC, which is soon to be

abolished. The Studio stages a festival of new work there.

1986 Peter Halls adaptation of OrwellsAnimal Farm, which

opened in the Cottesloe in 1984, becomes the first production toplay in all three NT theatres. It also tours to nine cities in Britain

and six more overseas. The company tours abroad more than ever

before, including visits to France, Austria, Switzerland, the USA and

Canada.

1987 Private sponsorship enables the National to present anInternational Theatre Festival, produced by Thelma Holt. The first

visitors are from West Germany (Peter Steins production of ONeills

The Hairy Ape), Sweden (Ingmar Bergmans productions of Hamlet

and Miss Julie), Japan (Ninagawas Macbethand Medea), and

Moscow (the Mayakovsky Theatres Tomorrow Was War).

1988 Peter Halls last year as Director of the National Theatre.He stages three late Shakespeare plays (The Tempest, The Winters

Tale, and Cymbeline) in the Cottesloe then in the Ol ivier, and leaves

to start his own company in the West End.

September: Richard Eyre takes over as Director of the National.

Alan Bennetts Single Spies, consisting of two short plays, contains

the first representation on the British stage of a living monarch. In

Howard Davies production of Dion Boucicaults The Shaughraun,

the Oliviers drum-revolve is put to full use for the first time by William

Dudleys award-winning set.

To mark the companys 25th bi rthday in October, The Queen

approves the title Royal for the National Theatre, and attends

an anniversary gala in the Olivier.

The funds raised are to set up a

National Theatre Endowment Fund.

Lord Rayne retires as Chairman

of the Board and is succeeded by

Lady Soames, daughter of Winston

Churchill.

1989 The first Lloyds BankTheatre Challenge a scheme

administered by the Nationals

Education Department, which

encourages young peoples theatre

companies from all over Britain

culminates in three Showcase

nights in the Olivier.

Laurence Olivier, the Nationals first

Director, dies.

1990 New work this year includes

David Hares Racing Demonwhichopens in the Cottesloe, transfers to

the Olivier, and later to the Lyttelton,

before touring the UK. With the

addition of his later plays, Murmuring

Judges and The Absence of War,

the Hare Trilogy in 1993 examines

the institutions of Church, Law and

Government.

The most ambitious tour ever staged

by the National begins: of Richard IIIand King Learwith Ian McKellen

and Brian Cox in the respective title roles, leading a company of 23

actors all over the world.

November: the National stages two special performances of Guys

and Dolls in memory of Ian Charleson, Sky Masterson in RichardEyres 1982 production. He had died of an Aids-related illness earlier

in the year, shortly after taking over as Hamlet in Eyres production.

The Christmas production is Alan Bennetts version of Kenneth

Grahames The Wind in the Willows, directed by Nicholas Hytner. It

proves enormously popular with all ages and is revived in 1991 and

1993.

1991 A programme of sign language interpreted performances forthe deaf begins, and classes in sign language are given to members

of staff. Later, audio-described performances are also offered

regularly for blind and partially sighted people.

New work this year includes Alan Bennetts The Madness of George

III. It is revived the following year and tours to America.

Peter Hall. Photo by Zo Dominic


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1992 In the Cottesloe, director Declan Donnellan and designerNick Ormerod stage Millennium Approaches, the first part of Tony

Kushners gay fantasia on national themes,Angels in America . Part

two, Perestroika, follows in 1993.

Stephen Daldrys first production for the National, J B PriestleysAn

Inspector Calls, opens in the Lyttelton; the following year, it moves

to the Olivier and then also transfers to the Aldwych. For the next 20

years it plays in various West End theatres, and tours the UK and all

over the world.

The Studio makes the first-ever visit to Lithuania by a Br itish theatre

company: actors, designers, directors and theatre practitioners hold

classes, discussion groups and an open public forum.

Rodgers and Hammersteins

Carousel, directed by Nicholas

Hytner and choreographed by

Kenneth MacMillan, plays in the

Lyttelton, transferring the following

year to the West End. This was

to be MacMillans last work; hedied suddenly during the rehearsal

period.

1993 During 1992-93, theNational undertakes more touring

than ever before. Over 34 weeks,

its work is seen, outside London, by

more than 200,000 people.

1994 Jeremy Sams translationof Cocteaus Les Parents Terribles

goes to Broadway as Indiscretions,

and StoppardsArcadiato the West

End. First visit of the National toSouth Africa: the Market Theatre,

Johannesburg hosts a Studio

residency: 32 practitioners in

workshops, classes, seminars and

performances.

1995 Patrick Marbers first play,Dealers Choice, developed in the

Studio, opens in the Cottesloe, wins

the Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy, and transfers to the

West End. It will later tour all over the UK, to Ireland, Australia, and

the States, opening the 1996 Cultural Olympiad in Atlanta, Georgia.

David Hares Skylightwins the Olivier Award for Best Play, transfers

to the West End and Broadway, and in 1997, re-cast, tours the UKand returns to the West End.

The first phase of BT Nat ional Connect ions, a partnership between

BT, the National, regional theatres, numerous playwrights, and

hundreds of young theatre companies, ends with showcases at the

National. The scheme continues to grow over the years.

Judi Dench wins both best actress Olivier awards for Rodney

AcklandsAbsolute Hellin the Lyttelton and for Sondheims A Litt le

Night Musicin the Olivier.

Mary Soames ends her Chairmanship of the Board, and is

succeeded by Sir Christopher Hogg.

1996 Pam Gems new play, Stanley, with Antony Sher as theartist Stanley Spencer, opens in the Cottesloe and transfers to New

York. Mary Stuartand The Designated Mournerbring French actress

Isabelle Huppert and American Mike Nichols to the English stage

for the first time; and Paul Scofield returns to the NT in John Gabriel

Borkman. Peter Hall also returns, to direct Sophocles Oedipus

Plays, which open in the ancient theatre of Epidaurus.

A visit by Robert Lepage with The Seven Streams of the River Ota

has some all day performances on Sundays a first for the National.

The Arts Council Lottery Fund announces an award of 31.5 mil lion

to develop and renovate the Nationals building. A campaign is

launched to raise the 10.5 million needed to match this.

1997 Othello, directed by Sam Mendes, embarks on a worldtour which includes first visits by the

National to Korea, New Zealand, and

mainland China.

October: Trevor Nunn succeeds

Richard Eyre as Director.

1998 Trevor Nunns productionof a previously unperformed play

by Tennessee Williams, Not About

Nightingales, is a success in the

Cottesloe, in a co-production with

Moving Theatre and in association

with the Alley Theatre, Houston. It

later plays in Texas and transfers to

the Circle in the Square, New York.

David HaresAmys Viewand Patrick

Marbers Closertransfer to the West

End.

1999 More of the Nationals

work than ever before is seen inthe West End (Tom Stoppards

The Invention of Love, Michael

Frayns Copenhagen, Rodgers and

Hammersteins Oklahoma!, as well

as PriestleysAn Inspector Calls

still running), and on Broadway (Not

About Nightingales , Closer, and

Amys View).

Trevor Nunn launches a new

Ensemble of actors with Shakespeares Troilusand Cressida. Over

the next year they will appear in five more, widely differing plays, from

Gorkys Summerfolkto the musical Honk! The Ugly Duckling.

The 100 most significant plays of the century are celebrated in

NT2000 Platforms.Bill Brydens production of The Mysteriesreturns to the Cottesloe to

celebrate a new millennium.

2000 John Cairds production of Hamlet, with Simon RussellBeale, visits Elsinore and later Belgrade as part of a major tour which

ends in New York before returning to the NT.

Two linked plays by Alan Ayckbourn, Houseand Garden, take

place in the Olivier and Lyttelton simultaneously, the cast hurrying

backstage for successive scenes. The fun continues in the foyers

after the performance with a village fete each evening.

2001 Roger Michells production of Joe Penhalls Cottesloe hitBlue/Orange transfers to the West End. Three other new plays

Richard Eyre in rehearsal. Photo by John Haynes


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premiered at the National Charlotte Jones Humble Boy, Mark

Ravenhills Mother Claps Molly House, and Gregory Burkes Gagarin

Way (a co-production between the Traverse, Edinburgh and the

NT Studio) all transfer to the West End, as does Trevor Nunns

production of Lerner and Loewes My Fair Lady.

Lisa Burger joins the Executive as Finance Director.

The National celebrates its 25th anniversary on the South Bank with

a series of Platforms, an exhibition, and a new book,In Rehearsal at

the National.

2002 A season named Transformat ion presents 13 worldpremieres in the Lyttelton (temporarily transformed by a single sweep

of seats from circle to stage) and

the Loft, a new 100-seat theatre

created in the circle foyer. From

April to September, new audiences

are introduced to new work at new

prices.

Trevor Nunn directs Glenn Closein Tennessee WilliamsA Streetcar

Named Desire; Tom Stoppards epic

trilogy The Coast of Utopia; and

Cole PortersAnything Goes.

2002 Trevor Nunns lastproduction as Director of the NT is

Shakespeares Loves Labours Lost,

using largely the same company as

forAnything Goes.

2003 April: Nicholas Hytner takesover as Director, with Nick Starr as

Executive Director, and announcesa season of new work. First to open

are Owen McCaffertys Scenes from

the Big Picture, directed by Peter

Gill, in the Cottesloe;Jerry Springer

The Operaby Richard Thomas

and Stewart Lee in the Lyttelton;

and Henry V, directed by Hytner,

with Adrian Lester in the title role, in

the Olivier. The latter is part of the

Travelex 10 Season four plays presented over six months in the

Olivier, for which two thirds of the tickets are 10. New work in the

Cottesloe includes Kwame Kwei-Armahs Elminas Kitchen, Martin

McDonaghs The Pillowman, and Michael Frayns Democracy.

The epic production of His Dark Materials, a two-play adaptation byNicholas Wright of Philip Pullmans trilogy, is staged in the Olivier.

2004 The second Travelex 10 Season includes SimonMcBurneys production of Measure for Measurein a collaboration

with Complicite, and David Hares examination of the lead-up to the

Iraq War, Stuff Happens.

Alan Bennetts The History Boysopens in the Lyttelton. It goes on

to tour all over the UK, to Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia and

Broadway, and to play in the West End in two separate runs, winning

many awards in London and New York, and is made into a film.

2005 Director Mike Leighs first play for the National, TwoThousand Yearsopens in the Cottesloe and later transfers to the

Lyttelton. The Studio moves to temporary premises at the Oval

while waiting for the major refurbishment of its building on The Cut,

which will also provide a home for the NT Archive and a space for

NT Education. Christopher Hogg is succeeded as Chairman of the

Board by Sir Hayden Phillips.

2006 Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesoris musical, Caroline, orChangeand David Eldridges Market Boyeach bring audiences

including 32% of first-time bookers to the National. The Travelex 10

Season continues to draw large audiences with classics like The

Alchemistand The Life of Galileo.

Up to 60% of NT bookings are now

taken on-line.

Three of the plays from 2005s

Connections series Mark

Ravenhills Citizenship, Enda Walshs

Chatroom, and Deborah GearingsBurn are given professional

productions in the Cottesloe.

Katie Mitchell and her companys

groundbreaking version of Virginia

Woolfs novel The Waves, uses live

video and sound recording.

2007 An adaptation of MichaelMorpurgos novel War Horseopens

in the Olivier in a collaboration with

Handspring Puppet Company: actors,

working with magnificent life-sized

horse puppets, conjure up the first

world war; it is revived the followingyear and will go on to become the

Nationals biggest ever success.

The NT tours for 25 weeks with

Rafta, Rafta, The History Boys,

and Chatroom & Citizenship. Happy

Dayswith Fiona Shaw visits Paris,

Madrid, Washington, New York,

and Epidaurus, where its opening

performance is seen by 6,000

people, probably the largest audience ever to see Beckett in one

evening. The Travelex season includes Saint Joanwith Anne-Marie

Duff.

The NT Studio re-opens in November, after a 6 million

refurbishment. It now houses the NT Archive alongside the JohnLyon education studio as well as two large spaces for rehearsal,

workshops and development work.

2008 After years of negotiation, the National introduces Sundayperformances. Peter Handkes wordless play The Hour We Knew

Nothing of Each Otheris staged in the Lyttelton it has a cast

of 25 playing 450 characters. A co-production with Live Theatre,

Newcastle, brings Lee Halls The Pitmen Paintersto the NT; it is

subsequently revived at the NT, tours the UK and Ireland, and

transfers to the West End. Rebecca Lenkiewiczs Her Naked Skinis

the first original play by a female playwright in the Olivier.

Trevor Nunn in rehearsal. Photo by Gautier De blonde

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2009 A pilot season of National Theatre Live starts broadcast inglive performances from the NT to cinema screens around the world.

Over 50,000 people see the final performance of Racines Phdre

with Helen Mirren in the name part. War Horsetransfers to the New

London Theatre, where it remains in 2013. According to the Society

of London Theatres, the NT is now responsible for about a third of

the entire play-going public in London.

Watch This Space, the summer festival in Theatre Square, celebrates

its tenth anniversary with its biggest programme yet. The National

sells its millionth Travelex 10 ticket. David Hares The Power of Yes

analyses the financial crisis, and Alan Bennetts The Habit of Art

looks at the creative process behind the craft of theatre.

2010 Katie Mitchells adaptationof Dr Seuss The Cat in the Hatis

the NTs first show for 3-6-year-

olds; Howard Davies production

of Bulgakovs The White Guard

continues his partnership with writerAndrew Upton and thei r examination

of Russian classics. When London

Assurance is shown as part of NT

Live, a screen displays it free to

audiences in Theatre Square, and

the company come outside to take

a curtain-call at the end. Nicholas

Hytners production of Hamlet, with

Rory Kinnear in the lead, opens as

part of the Travelex 10 season

and subsequently transfers to the

Lyttelton and tours the UK.

John Makinson succeeds Hayden

Phillips as Chairman of the Board.Lisa Burger becomes Chief

Operating Officer.

2011 War Horseopens at LincolnCenter and wins five Tony Awards.

Peter Hall directs Twelfth Night

in the Cottesloe to mark his 80th

birthday, with his daugher Rebecca

Hall as Viola.

Alecky Blythe and Adam Cork s London Roadopens, directed by

Rufus Norris. Its examination of the lives of residents of Ipswich

following the murder of five women is told in a unique style, the

music following the recorded speech patterns of Alecky Blythes

interviewees. Its original run in the Cottesloe is extended by populardemand, leading to four short plays by writers new to the NT being

presented instead in a specially constructed temporary performance

space in the Paintframe as Double Feature.

Richard Beans One Man, Two Guvnors, from Goldoni, proves the

smash-hit of the year and later tours the UK and internationally,

transfers to the Adelphi, to Broadway, and then to Theatre Royal

Haymarket, where it will play until March 2014.

Danny Boyle directs Frankensteinwith Benedict Cumberbatch and

Jonny Lee Miller alternating the roles of Creature and Doctor.

2012 The National achieves its highest ever income, over doublethat of ten years earlier. National Theatre Live now plays to 260

screens in the UK and a further 350 in 25 other countries.

The Nationa l Theatre Inside Out festival sees activities spil ling out

onto the riverbank to celebrate the Olympic and Jubilee summer.

Passing along the river during her Diamond Jubilee River Pageant,

The Queen is delighted by a salute from War HorsesJoey on top

of the Olivier fly tower. Travelex Tickets (now 12) celebrate their

tenth season with productions including Timon of Athenswith Simon

Russell Beale and a transfer to the Olivier of London Road. Simon

Stephens adaptation of Mark Haddons The Curious Incident of the

Dog in the Night-Timeopens in the Cottesloe.

2013 Curious Incidentjoins War Horseand One Man, TwoGuvnorsin the West End, and, with the addition of Alan Bennetts

Hymn andCocktail Sticks(under

the title Untold Stories) in spring

2013, there are four NT productions

playing there. All four are presented

by the new company, NT

Productions, set up to extend the life

of NT productions without subsidyin the West End and beyond.

Over the financial year 2012-13,

NT productions play to a global

audience of 3.6million.

Construction work begins for National

Theatre Future, an 80million

redevelopment programme which will

transform the facilities the National

offers audiences and artists, enhance

its relationship with the South Bank

environment and place education

firmly at the heart of its mission.

The Shed, a temporary venue in front

of the National, provides a third stageduring the Cottesloes closure for the

NT Future redevelopment; celebrating

new theatre that is original, ambitious

and unexpected.

Adrian Lester plays the tit le role in

Othellowith Rory Kinnear as Iago.

15 October:Rufus Norris is

announced as the next Director of the

National, to take over in 2015.

22 October: The Queen pays a backstage visit to the National to

mark its 50th anniversary. The celebrations also include television

and radio documentaries, special Platforms and exhibitions and the

once-in-a-lifetime performance 50 Years on Stage.

The National Theatre can never

be what the public wants if it isnt

allowed sometimes to be what the

public doesnt want.Laurence Olivier

Nicholas Hytner in rehearsal. Photo Ivan Kyncl


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50 YEARS ON STAGE

Members of the audience and company for the performance on

2 November 2013 were asked to contribute a favourite memory to be

printed in this souvenir programme.

Most photographs are from the NT Archive [email protected]

Backgro

und:TheOldVic.

PhotoChrisArthur

8


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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 toill health but, as he was needed to appear

personally at all the locations from Vancouver

to Toronto, he should take over a small part

inA Flea in Her Eardirected by Jacques

Charon. I was cast as Herr Schwartz, an

insane little German who repeatedly bursts

into the hotel foyer asking if a beautiful

Mdchen has called for him. On the day

Sir Laurence arrived for the first time to

rehearse, dressed in suit and tie as usual,

I had to rush from the side of the rehearsal

room, seize him by the lapels and throw him

to the ground. The scene began and I was

sitting at the side, petrified. However, the

moment came and there was nothing for itbut to rush on and attack. As I grabbed his

jacket and started yelling, he started back

a couple of paces and said Ah! Oh, ho ho!

Hes got hold of the hairs on my chest!

This caused me much embarrassment and

naturally a huge laugh from the company.

SHEILA REID

Seven inspirational years. Working with

brilliant directors Ingmar Bergman,

Jacques Charon, Tyrone Guthrie, Dexter,

Gaskill, Dunlop, and Sir Laurence of course.

His electrifying performance at the read-

through of Othello(my first day with the

Company) and later, when going on as

Raymondes understudy inA Flea in Her

Ear, his coming in especially to watch, and

feeding me champagne and gossip in the

interval (This is what we do in the star

dressing-room!)

Actors, designers, wigs, wardrobe, crew,

admin: all part of the family. How blessed to

have been in at the beginning of this glorious

and ever-expanding institution.

RUPERT RHYMESOld Vic Theatre Manager

The early days of the National at the Old Vic

hold wonderful memories of productions,

experiences and challenges for those of us

involved. The scrabble to transform the Vic

for the October 22 low-key opening in 1963,

then the seemingly non-stop demand for

tickets, particularly the nightmare of sold-out

Othelloperformances and the steps we took

to devise new booking arrangements (in that

non-computer age), the procession of anyone

who was anyone attending shows, through

to the controversial Oedipuswith actors

strapped to the auditorium pillars, all remain

vividly in my memory after half a century.

RICHARD HAMPTON

That first night of Hamletat the Old Vic, the

opening production of the National Theatre.

As Bernardo, I spoke the first line, Whosthere? an extraordinary thing to say as

on that night everybody was there! That first

scene also had its dangers as, with Dan

Meaden, playing Francisco, I stood on what

Harold Hobson, critic of theSunday Times,

described as the mounting curves of Sean

Top left: Rehearsing forA Flea in her Ear, 1966: Laurence Olivier and David Ryall. Photo Chris Arthur

Top right: E rnie Davis, stage door-keeper a t the Old Vic in the 1960s. Photo Chris A rthur

Above: Kenneth Mackintosh, Constance Cummings, Lauren ce Oliv ier, Michael Blakemore and Ronald Pickup

rehearsing Long Days Journey into Night, 1971. Photo Zo Dominic

MICHAEL BLAKEMORE

A few days before rehearsals for Long Days Journey Into Nightbegan, John Dexter had

given me a useful tip about how to handle Olivier. When he makes his first entrance, he

explained, hes a bit like an animal released into a new cage. He wants to sniff out the

available space. Let him go for a bit of a roam. He likes to show the audience both sides

of his face. I thanked John for this interesting tip and didnt disbelieve him, but when

the moment came to put it into practice my nerve failed. Larry and Connie [Constance

Cummings] had exchanged their first few speeches in a loose embrace; now they were to

sit down. The fathers rocker was barely a yard from where Larry stood. It seemed absurd

to suggest that he go wandering around the room for no reason. I asked him to sit down

and he did so. However, some days later when we returned to the scene, he asked politely

whether there could be a copy of the daily paper on the desk across the room. The stage

management scuttled around to find the appropriate prop. During the next page of dialogue

he crossed to the desk, picked up the paper, came downstage facing the audience, thumbed

his way absently through its pages looking to left and right, crossed downstage the way hed

just come, deposited the paper on the window seat on the opposite s ide of the stage, then

came to the table and sat in the rocker. I cursed myself for my earlier timidity, but I was also

reassured that he had set about getting his way over this small matter with the utmost courtesy.

Kennys dangerous rocks, twelve, fifteen

feet above the front of the stage with a

sheer drop to the audience beneath

The dangerous rocks, when reversed on

the revolve, formed the scenery for the CourtScenes, but the revolve kept on breaking

down and many a time during the run, as

the lights cross-faded for a scene change,

the cry of Push! would ring out as actors

shouldered the scenery round.


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Louise Purnell, Michael Byrne, De rek Jacobi, Maggie Smith, Albert Finney,

and Paul Curran in Peter Shaffers Black Comedy. Photo Zo Dominic

DAVID BRADLEY

Peter James Mobile production of Twelfth

Night. After one performance, sadly the

actor playing Toby Belch, David Bauer, diedduring the night. It was a touring production

and we had no understudies. Because Sir

Laurence had played the part some years

before, someone had the bright idea of

asking him if he would reprise the role.

For some reason Michael Blakemore was

given this onerous task and, because I was

playing Andrew Aguecheek, the outcome

of this was of great interest and indeed

excitement to me. I waited a few yards

down the corridor at the Aquinas Street

headquarters. Twenty minutes later, Michael

emerged from Sir Laurences office, looking

even paler than he normally did, and with a

rabbit-caught-in-headlights look on his face.I rushed up to him and said Is he doing it?

He said, No. I am. Apparently Sir Laurence

had discovered that Michael had also played

the part some years before and turned the

tables on him. And so, I went on tour with

Michael and, he being of a similar slim build

to me, we must have looked like a double-

act from LS Lowry.

GAWN GRAINGER

I remember walking through that stage door

on the Waterloo Road in 1972. A small door,

but on the other side the land of Giants.

The Giants of the theatrical world. To be

embraced by them was to be taken into

a fold of magic. The National Theatre, the

pinnacle of the theatrical world. To touch

hands with the greats. Actors, directors,

designers. How lucky I was. How lucky I

am. I salute you and raise my glass to fifty

glorious years.

BERNARD GALLAGHER

My four years with the National at the Old

Vic were exhilarating and formative one

theatre led by the most prodigious actor of

the day, covering a huge array of work that

demanded teamwork at its best and gave us

challenges and variety that were invaluable.

PETER SHAFFER

At a performance of Black Comedy:

I truly think that the most wonderful moment

I have ever experienced is being in theNational Theatre at Chichester, seated

behind the largest and seemingly sternest

middle-aged man and watching him

becoming slowly absolutely crazed with

laughter, finally watching him fall completely

out of his seat into the aisle and in a very

weak voice calling up to the actors Please!

Oh Please stop it. Please...stop it. I cant

take any more!

As a playwright I must admit I cant

remember a more delightful thing happening

to me inside a theatre.

ANTONY SHER

As soon as I arrived in London from South

Africa in 1968, I started going to shows

at the National, then at the Old Vic, under

Olivier. To come from Cape Town, a cultural

backwater in those days, and to suddenly

see world-class theatre, was like a shock to

the system, a beautiful shock. It changedall my youthful notions about acting, about

drama, about what the Arts could do. It

changed my life.

JONATHAN KENT

Within days of coming to Britain for the first

time, I saw Oliviers Three Sisters designed

by Svoboda at the National at the Old Vic.

Everything about it the acting, design,

sense of company was, I thought, exciting

and astonishing. Now, all these years later,

and having worked there very happily

several times, it still astonishes me that it

has retained its capacity for re-invigorationand re-invention.

It is, I suppose inevitably an institution

usually death to theatre but, under

its successive directors, it has resisted

institutionalisation.

MERVYN WILLISA player in Hamlet (1963) and Love for Love

(1965) and Deputy Stage Manager.

Noel Coward in rehearsals of Hay Fever:

Giving comedy to Tony [Anthony Nicholls] is

like giving a souffl to a horse.

Accommodating Soviet Foreign Minister

Andrei Gromyko at the height of the Cold

War and the Queen Mother at the same

performance of Othello. Answer: seat Andrei

Gromyko in the stalls, the QM in the dress

circle and leave her to solve the dilemma.

Detente! QM invites Gromyko up for G & Ts

in the Interval what Cold War?

Being on stage as a singer in Love for Love

with Leonard Whiting, and experiencing the

vocal power of Laurence Oliviers genius as

he brought tittle-tattle to a fine art in the role

of Tattle. A truly magical period!

URSULA GAYLER

1974. When the National Theatre was about

to leave the Old Vic, it was Lilian Baylis

Centenary Year and a gala evening called

Tribute to the Ladywas performed on May

6th. As one of the dressers there, I was

lucky enough to be asked to look after

the ladies. And what ladies: Dames Peggy

Ashcroft, Sybil Thorndike, Edith Evans,

Ninette de Valois, Wendy Hiller and Flora

Robson. Along with four knights, Marius

Goring, Paul Scofield and several actors

from the NT company, it was a curtain call

line-up I will never forget.

10


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Top: Laurence Oli vier in The Dance of Death, 1967. Photo Zo Dominic

Bottom: Sheila Reid and Maggie Smith in The Beaux Stratagem, 1970. Photo Chris Arthur

CHARLES KAY

It was after rehearsal one day that I decided to see The Dance of Deathagain. It turned out

to be the hundredth performance and Id much admired the first night. But on this particular

evening I experienced something quite new to me. It wasnt that it was just the best; it was

something totally different in kind. And watching Laurence Olivier I felt sad for all those

professional critics, chroniclers of the age, who would never have caught it. But what luck for

me who could now boast that Id seen at least one example of great acting.The next day at

rehearsals of Loves Labours Lost, which he was directing, I was hopelessly tongue-tied. I

said not a word about it to him. But I will never forget it.

BILL PATERSON

So many memories since being on stage

on that extraordinary first night of Guys and

Dollsin 1982 and the hundreds of joyousperformances that have followed over the

years, but as a memento of the NT Ive

chosen a handwritten letter from nearly 20

years earlier that I carried in my wallet till it

disintegrated.

One evening in 1964 I travelled from

Glasgow to The Kings Theatre in Edinburgh

to see the NTs legendary production of

Uncle Vanyaon their first ever national tour.

I was enthralled by Redgrave, Plowright and

Olivier and wrote a letter to Sir Laurence

thanking him and cheekily requesting that

next time they visited Scotland he would

include Glasgow in the tour and save

me seven shillings and sixpence returntrain fare. Two weeks later I received that

hand-written reply from the man himself,

promising to do just that. I was stunned at

his generosity and in his phrase Im mindful

of your 7/6d. I could hear the cadence of

that thrilling voice.

No wonder the National Theatre started so

well.

FRANCES DE LA TOUR

When the National Theatre opened 50

years ago at the Old Vic, I was 18 years

old, and I remember watching almost every

production. The ones that have made the

most lasting impression remind me of why I

came into the theatre:

The major four for me back then were;

Joan Plowrights outstanding Saint Joan,

The Royal Hunt of the Sunwith Robert

Stephens, Much Ado About Nothingwith

Maggie Smith and Oliviers riveting Othello,

also with Maggie. Maggie remains one of the

reasons I wanted to become an actress.

Some of the funniest moments in my mind

were watching Olivier (with my then-to-be

husband Tom Kempinski, though I didnt

know it at the time!) in Love for Love, and in

one particular scene, witnessing Olivier richly

clad in Restoration gear (after leaping from a

balcony to impress his sweetheart) having to

adjust the padding to his calf!

We all hated the concrete when the NT

opened on the South Bank. For a thousand

reasons to do with Plays we all love it now.

No more so than being a member of the

audience at an NT Platform performance

listening to Peter Brook painstakingly explain

to us what acting is. And therein lay what it

means to him to be a director.


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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 ent irely fil led

with a giant mahogany table! Id prepared

a flamboyant selection, which required

physicality! This was disaster! Suddenly a

voice. I turned. There he stood, looking like

Harry Worth. What are you going to do for

me baby? I had no choice. In one bound

I was up, up on the table Olivier inches

away, gazing in myopic bemusement at

my adrenalized festival of fear but to my

astonishment I got in! I think he admired

my cheek. I still have the telegram.

Top: The hu ts in Aquinas Street where the NT s admin of fices we re housed 1963 75 . Photo Chri s Arthu r

Above l eft: Aquinas Street rehearsal room. Photo John Haynes

Above r ight: Aquinas Street cat. Photo John Haynes


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RICHARD MANGAN

A hot, dusty day in ear ly June, 1967 in the

rehearsal room at Aquinas Street. As a

newly arrived ASM I am on my hands andknees helping my stage manager, John

Rothenberg, mark out the set for Three

Sisters, my first new production. The door

opens and the caretaker, I think, comes in,

a burly man, sweaty, in collarless shirt and

braces. Ignoring him, I carry on marking out

until Rothenberg says Richard, I dont think

youve met Sir Laurence.

The grey eyes fix me. Welcome, dear boy

dont get up.

I dont think I could have done.

JASON BARNESNT 1971 2009

As a student in Chichester in 1963 and

1964, I saw Saint Joan, Uncle Vanya, Royal

Hunt of the Sun, Dutch Courtesanand of

course Oliviers Othello.

My dream of working at the National came

as DSM to Richard Mangan in 1971 at the

New Theatre; Joan Plowright, Paul Scofield

in Rules of the Game; Olivier and Constance

Cummings in Long Days Journey. By

1977 I opened the Cottesloe as Production

Manager and racked up some 200

productions there.

Favourite shows? Lark Rise, The Mysteries,

Sweeney Todd, Beggars Opera. Most

frequent designers? Bill Dudley (18 shows)

and my cousin Alison Chitty 29!

LYN HAILL

While the new NT was being built, the

administrative offices were housed in huts

off Aquinas Street, SE1. Under and around

the huts lived a huge family of feral cats,

against whom Harry Henderson caretaker,

handyman, first-night commissionaire and

all-round amazing factotum waged a

constant battle. One of the cats, sensing an

opportunity in show business, put himself

up for adoption by regularly coming through

the back window and seating himself in

Sue Higginsons filing tray. She took him

home and he lived a long and happy life as

Thomas Aquinas.

KEITH SKINNER

Summer 1973 and I had recently joined

the National Theatre. One morning I arrived

for rehearsal and went into the canteen,

where the only other person present was Sir

Laurence. Panic. Should I sit at the same

table? Sir Laurence was studying a script.

My presence would surely be an unwelcome

Top: John St ride and Edwa rd Petherbridge in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, 1967. Photo Anthony Crickmay

Above: Rose and Ne llie, who ran the canteen at Aquinas Street. Photo John Ha ynes

intrusion. I feebly stood there, an actor

without a move. The dilemma was resolved

when a more seasoned member of the

company came breezing in, immediately sat

at Sir Laurences table and I was beckonedover to join them with my tea and toast.

TOM STOPPARD

One day Laurence Olivier sat in on a

rehearsal of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

Are Dead(1967). He made one or two useful

suggestions and got up to go back to his

office down the corridor in the Aquinas

Street huts. At the door he turned and

smiled. Just the odd pearl, he said, and left.

JOHN CAIRD

Five memories plucked from hundreds. As a student, watching Petherbridge and Stride

in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Deadat the Old Vic in 1967. Simon Russell Beale

playing Hamlet in a packed-to-the-rafters National Theatre in Belgrade, just after the end of

the Kosovo war. Tony Sher turning himself, little by little, into Stanley Spencer. Tim Hatleys

gorgeous grass and beehive set for Humble Boy. Denis Quilley, forty years after playing the

title role of Candidein the West End, singing his heart out as Martin in the finale of the last

performance at the Olivier, tears streaming down his face.

MICHAEL FEAST

I walked into the Nissen hut that served as the Nationals rehearsal rooms and canteen early

in 1972 for the read through of The Tempest. I was to play Ariel directed by Peter Hall with

John Gielgud as Prospero. The assembled old guard was formidable. Olivier was there, the

outgoing genius of the NT, with a degree of bad feeling between him and Hall which lentan edge to the proceedings. Arthur Lowe, Cyril Cusack, Denis Quilley all beautiful actors.

Gielgud was fluffy, unnerved by Oliviers presence.

Then there was us the new breed of wild children from the sixties perhaps typified by

Gryphon, the psychedelic folk rock band who wrote the gorgeous melodies for Ariels songs.

It was an historical collision of two worlds. Who could have known then that the seeds of

cross-pollination of age, class, ethnicity and explicit sexual orientation that now blooms so

abundantly on the Nationals stages were being sown that day?

13


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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 ofA View from the

Bridgeand watching my two boys, then

aged 8 and 12, misbehaving themselves on

stage with Ian McKellen, as supernumeraries

in Trevor Nunns production ofAn Enemy of

the People.

Low moments include: as sound operator on

Amadeus, playing in the wrong track for Paul

Scofield to mime playing the piano to and

doing it at two consecutive performances.

Moments of bliss include watching Sit

Down Youre Rocking the Boat nightly as

sound operator on Guys and Dollsand, as a

duty manager, watching from the back of the

Olivier stalls the Hallelujah Chorus at the end

of Coram Boy.

ANDRE PTASZYNSKINT Board member 2001 to 2010

It was 1969 and wed come up from Suffolk

as a party of sixth-formers to see a matinee

at the Old Vic. Afterwards, two friends and I

wandered over to Waterloo Bridge to see the

site of Lasduns new National Theatre. It was

mud and more mud broken by two dozen

concrete and iron pilings and an earthmover.

I had no real idea. Our history master, Mr.

Pegg, approached us and on returning to

school I was suspended for smoking a

cigarette on Waterloo Bridge. But perhaps I

was imagining the hundreds of joyous nights

in front of me, borne on that mud.

RICHARD PILBROWTheatre Design Consultant

In 1962, Sir Laurence called to ask me to fix

the terrible lighting he found in Chichester.

Unfortunately he asked the day before

opening night, and there was no time to

make the needed changes. He was very

disappointed. To me, it was the end of my

career!

Next January he rang: Dickie, dear boy. Its

January. We open in June. Does that give

you enough fucking time!

I became his lighting director. With my

Theatre Projects team, we lit most of the

NT productions for many years. I joined the

Building Committee for the new building,

and then became the theatre consultant.

We designed the stages and equipment

of the Olivier and Lyttelton Theatres. We

helped the architect plan the building and

we designed the Cottesloe Theatre.

Through construction delays, much of the

technology was incomplete in 1976, but

Top: The NT under construction , 1973


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15

finally all was finished. The NT became the most advanced drama

theatre in the world, which began my work as an international theatre

designer.

EDWARD HALL

I remember standing on the new carpet on the opening night of the

building in 1976, the smell of fresh paint and glue thick in the air. It

was perhaps the proudest moment of my life when I sat in the Olivier

watching the first performance of my production of Edmondnearly

thirty years later. Working at the National has always felt to me like

coming home, like being part of an enormous inclusive community of

artists exploring the world in which we live through live performance.

It gives theatre in this country a centre and a constituency that is vital

and unique.

ROSEMARY BEATTIE

In 1974, as a new Stage Manager, I found myself at the Old Vic,

rehearsing and running productions which should have been

performing on the South Bank. Each day we visited the exciting, rather

terrifying new building, where we tried to make things work and find

our way around corridors that led nowhere, no signs, and no canteen!

There were enormous prob lems and delays, early performances

of Tamburlainehappened outside instead of inside the Olivier, but

eventually the big day came.

Our feelings of exhaustion were overtaken by pride and the thrill of

being part of this great family achievement.

Top right: Peter Hall gre ets The Queen, Royal opening of the National Theatre, 25 October 1976;

Laurence Olivier is next in line. Photo Nobby Clark

Above right: Rehearsing Tamburlaine The Greatoutside on the riverside, 1976: Peter Hall, Barbara Jefford,

Denis Quilley, Albert Finney and Susan Fleetwood. Photo Nobby Clark


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16

JUNE WATSON

During rehearsals for Lark Rise(Cottesloe

1978), all the cast, one by one, complained

to director Bill Bryden that, at the verybeginning of the show, the audience

couldnt possibly accept us all standing

there for ages as in a village photograph,

while the sun rose behind us, without a

single word of dialogue. How wrong we

were! At the first performance, with the

brilliant set and lighting by William Dudley

and the music of the Albion Band flooding

the auditoriium, it was theatrical magic and

not a moment too long.

And the promenade tickets were only 1.50!

TREVOR RAY

Commissioned to carve Thomas HardysThe Dynaststo a theatrical evening, my

proposed text, with John Tams music

replacing The Furies, was to run more than

three hours, with a cast of 47 parts shared

among Bill Brydens Cottesloe group. Dustin

Hoffman, wanting to return to the stage, Bill

persuaded him to play Napoleon. An initial

production conversation went thus;

Bryden: Its about Napoleon wanting to

found a Dynasty?

Adapter: Begins with the Battle of Trafalgar,

ends with the Battle of Waterloo

Bryden: Just because Bill Dudley landed a

helicopter in the Cottesloe

Remember the problems of the penny-

farthing Rosinante and Sancho Panzas

tricycle?

Adapter: OK, OKso, agreedno horses!

Despite successful workshopping, The

Dynastsdidnt happen and Mr Hoffman

played Willy Loman on Broadway instead.

ALISON RAEwho has worked in Catering, Music, and

House Management

What privileged access Ive had as a

member of staff to be able pop in at any

time during the show and not only re-live for

myself but to see the audience enjoy:

Any part of Guys and Dolls.

The start of Frankenstein as the audience

came in from 7.15.

Last five minutes of Act 1 of One Man, Two

Guvnors(love the line well just go and fill

out some Health and Safety forms now...)

The end of Coram Boy.

And any par t of The Mysterieswhen you

could join in the dancing and singing.

Actors dance with the aud ience after promenade pe rformance o f The Passion


19/44


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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 mythica l place unt il I saw it

on a school trip in all its grey concrete glory.

With my regional accent and background

it may be a struggle but I wanted to be a

serious actor and serious actors play at

the National! 25 years on Ive spent more

time in the Nationals rehearsal rooms and

corridors and on its stages than any other

theatre. The whole building reeks of precious

memories, stories and serious actors!

CHRISTOPHER MORAHAN

As my wi fe Anna and I entered the Lyttel ton

Theatre for the opening night of my first

production at the NT, State of Revolutionby

Robert Bolt, I was approached by one of the

Top: Patrick Marber, Matt Bardock, Nigel L indsay and Steve Coogan in rehe arsal for

Blue Remembered Hills, 1996. Photo Hugo Glendinning

Left: Anastasia Hille in The Oresteia, 1999. Photo Ivan Kyncl

Stage Management team who whispered to

me The Props staff have gone on strike.

What about the rifles? I asked, This

play is about a revolution. What can we

do without rifles and blanks? Go pop and

pretend?

They are locked in the prop cupboard was

the answer Theres nothing we can do.

The ASM returned backstage and we went

to our seats, surrounded by a first night

audience eager for action, and I dreading

a fiasco. The first scene set in Italy passed

without mishap, but in the next scene Lenin

arrives in St Petersburg and is greeted by

the Red Army I whispered to Anna, Look,

rifles! Bang! Bang! Bang! A salute! We were

saved!

I found out afterwards what had happened

backstage. We had quite a tough cast and

they had attacked the prop cupboard

kicking in the door with their heavy boots

and seizing the guns, just as Eisenstein had

filmed the sailors doing in the Battleship

Potemkin.A Soviet moment on Londons

South Bank!


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19

About tonight

There are at least fifty different versions of this show. We have two hours toput fifty years on stage, two hours to conjure up an impression of what theNational Theatre has achieved. Although weve tried to cover as much aspossible by seeking out short scenes from as many plays as possible, Imhorrified by how much weve had to leave out. So it may be easiest to startby saying what this evening is not.

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. Andin any event, many of our most famous

productions of the classical repertoire were

celebrated for performances by actors who

are no longer with us. So our classical work

is inevitably less present than it should be.

Nor have we tried to represent only the

most influential or important plays to have

started life on our stages. Many of them

defy any attempt to lift out a short scene

that is enjoyable, or comprehensible, out of

context, and weve made the assumption

that tonights television audience shouldnt

have to know anything about the plays

from which the show is put together. So

it seemed impossible, for instance, to

find a 4- or 5-minute scene from Patrick

Marbers Closer, which is devastating in its

entirety. And the same problem ruled out

Michael Frayns Democracy, Pam Gems

Stanley, David Mamets Glengarry Glen

Ross, Christopher Hamptons Tales From

Hollywood, Nicholas Wrights Vincent In

Brixton. The shortest extract that does

justice to Harold Pinters Betrayal(a play

that attracts any number of superlatives)

lasts 12 minutes; the same is t rue of Lucy

Prebbles The Effect, and even the shortest

story from Martin McDonaghs amazing play

The Pillowmanis surprisingly long though

none of them felt like it in performance.

Peter Shaffers The Royal Hunt of the Sun

has a cumulative power that would be

diminished by the presentation of a bleeding

chunk. You could fill an entire evening with

scenes by our most prolific writers Pinter,

Shaffer, David Hare, Tom Stoppard (the

only playwright to have given us a new play

in each decade of our half century), Alan

Ayckbourn, Howard Brenton, Alan Bennett .

All of them have written major plays which

arent represented tonight.

Although the structure of tonights show

is loosely chronological, it isnt trying to

tell the full story of the National Theatre.

We have collaborated with the BBC on ahistorical narrative Adam Low and Martin

Rosenbaums documentaryArena: The

National Theatre, shown over the last couple

of weeks on BBC4, will soon be available on

DVD. Its terrific. I recommend it.

And although tonights stagger ing cast

list is testament to how deep-rooted is

the affection for the National amongst the

acting profession, we cant do full justice

to even the most luminous performances

that have graced our stages. A precarious

idea brought into life by Sir Laurence Olivier,

the twentieth centurys greatest actor,

has at some point embraced almost all of

the great actors that have followed in his

wake. But even the most powerful of stage

performances survive only in the memory of

those who saw them. For those who were

there, tonights re-creations are maybe best

seen as theatrical madeleines enough to

prompt a shiver of recollection. For those

who werent, maybe they can give an idea of

what the fuss was about.

That there has been too much to choose

from is the fault of Laurence Olivier and his

successors Peter Hall, Richard Eyre and

Trevor Nunn. The flow of memorable work

has never stopped. But I hope the scenes

weve chosen give some idea of the range of

our work, of the way weve always sought to

play the past and the present against each

other, of our determination to reflect the

nation on our stages, and of our appetite for

new ideas and new forms. And I hope the

evening is a reminder of the pre-eminence of

our actors, writers, directors and designers

and that its scale and complexity (both

considerable) demonstrate that they are

supported by stage and technical teams

second to none.

Though a few minutes of the show come

from the video archive (from televised

studio adaptations of NT productions, from

publicity material, from footage shot for

awards ceremonies), most of it is live. The

more recent the production, the easier its

been to get together the original cast

most of the second half of tonights show

is played by the actors who first played

their parts, sometimes it has to be said

when they arent any longer entirely age

appropriate. (Eight history boys in their mid

thirties may require the suspension of yourdisbelief.) But all the actors in the show have

been members of the National Theatre at

some point in the last fifty years, and youll

see decade by decade how astonishing

is their collective distinction. I want to single

out only the small band who were part of Sir

Laurence Oliviers National Theatre company

when it first took up residence at the Old Vic

50 years ago. Dame Joan Plowright went

last week to the Old Vic itself to record a

speech from Saint Joan, which she played

there in 1963; Dame Maggie Smith will

give a speech from The Beaux Stratagem;

Charles Kay will appear in a scene from The

National Healthin the same role he created

45 years ago, and Sir Michael Gambon

and Sir Derek Jacobi will take the roles in

No Mans Landoriginally played by their

great predecessors Sir Ralph Richardson

and Sir John Gielgud. I couldnt be happier

or prouder that they are here and that fifty

years on, they are still carrying the torch.

My grateful thanks are due to the

playwrights who have allowed us to hack

small chunks out of their work. We have

tried to root tonights show in the way it

was staged by the directors and designers

who took care of its many different scenes

first time around. I am grateful to them, and

sorry that we shall sometimes inevitably

fall short of what they achieved. The

National Theatres physical surroundings

have changed since it took up residence

at the Old Vic in 1963, but its identity has

never been bound up in bricks and mortar

(or concrete). It has always been about who

works here. Tonights cast, and tonights

audience, are a small part only of who weve

been; and when the next celebration comes

round, in 2063, I have no doubt that there

will be as much to choose from as there has

been tonight.

Nicholas Hytner

50 YEARS ON STAGE


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20

Hamlet

by William Shakespeare, Old Vic 1963

Francisco Matthew BarkerBarnardo Stanley TownsendHoratio Anna Maxwell Martin

Marcellus Adrian LesterGhost Derek Jacobi

A short film about Laurence Olivier

Saint Joan

by Bernard Shaw, Old Vic 1963

Original Director John Dexter

Joan Plowright, filmed at the Old Vic,11 October 2013

Rosencrantz and

Guildenstern Are Dead

by Tom Stoppard, Old Vic 1967

Original Director Derek Goldby

Rosencrantz Benedict CumberbatchGuildenstern Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

Hay Fever

by Nol Coward, Old Vic 1964Director Nol Coward

Myra Arundel Maggie SmithDavid Bliss Anthony Nicholls

The Beaux Stratagem

by George Farquhar, Old Vic 1970

Original Director William Gaskill

Mrs Sullen Maggie Smith

The National Health

by Peter Nichols, Old Vic 1969

Original Director Michael Blakemore

Original Designer Patrick Robertson

Matron Deborah FindlaySister Maggie Service

Lake Akiya Henry

Sweet Olivia VinallBarnet Matt CrossMackie James Hayes

Ash Anthony ODonnellFlagg Tim McMullanLoach Charles Kay

Foster Gawn GraingerDr Bird Michelle Terry

No Mans Land

by Harold Pinter, Old Vic 1975

Original Director Peter Hall

Original Designer John Bury

Spooner Derek Jacobi

Hirst Michael Gambon

Bedroom Farce

by Alan Ayckbourn, Lyttelton 1977

Original Directors Alan Ayckbourn

and Peter Hall

Original Designers Timothy OBrien &

Tazeena Firth

Ernest Nicholas le PrevostDelia Penelope Wilton

Amadeus

by Peter Shaffer, Olivier 1979

Director Peter Hall

Designer John Bury

Antonio Salieri Paul Scofield

Guys and Dolls

based on a story and characters of

Damon Runyon, music & lyrics by Frank Loesser

book by Jo Swerling & Abe Burrows, Olivier 1982

Original Director Richard Eyre

Original Choreographe r David Toguri

Original Designer John Gunter

Nicely-Nicely Clive RoweArvide Abernathy Nicholas LumleyGeneral Cartwright Sharon D Clarke

Martha Nicola SloaneAgatha Maggie Service

Sarah Brown Sophie BouldMission Girl Alexis Owen-Hobbs

Big Jule Stanley TownsendNathan Detroit Matt Cross

With

Edward Baruwa, Kevin Brewis,

James Doherty, Kate Fleetwood,Jonathan Glew, Richard Henders,

Nick Holder,Alastair Parker,Paul Thornley, Howard Ward,

Russell Wilcox, Duncan Wisbey

Pravda

by Howard Brenton & David Hare,

Olivier 1985

Original Director David Hare

Lambert Le Roux Ralph FiennesMichael Quince, MP Charles Edwards

Eaton Sylvester Jamie ParkerDPP Payne Andrew Knott

Journalists Martin ChamberlainNicholas Lumley

Colin HaighCliveden Whicker-Baskett

Richard HendersMac Whipper Wellington Iain Mitchell

A short film about Peter Hal l

Antony and Cleopatra

by William Shakespeare, Olivier 1987

Original Director Peter Hall

Cleopatra Judi DenchDolabella Rory Kinnear

20

Angels in America

by Tony Kushner, Cottesloe 1992

Original Director Declan Donnellan

Original Designer Nick Ormerod

Prior Walter Andrew ScottLouis Ironson Dominic Cooper

Richard III

by William Shakespeare, Lyttelton 1990

Director Richard Eyre

Designer Bob Crowley

Richard Ian McKellen

The Absence of War

by David Hare, Olivier 1993

Original Director Richard Eyre

Original Designer Bob Crowley

Linus Frank Nick SampsonGeorge Jones MP Christopher Eccleston

Andrew Buchan Paul ThornleyGwenda Aaron Maggie Service

Trevor Avery Aaron NeilMary Housego Lyndsey MarshalLindsay Fontaine Linzi Hateley

Oliver Dix Malcolm SinclairLinus Franks PA Judith Coke

The Madness of George III

by Alan Bennett, Lyttelton 1991

Director Nicholas Hytner

Designer Mark Thompson

George III Nigel HawthorneQueen Charlotte Selina Cadell

Arcadia

by Tom Stoppard, Lyttelton 1993

Original Director Trevor Nunn

Original Designer Mark Thompson

Bernard Nightingale Rory KinnearValentine Cover ly Jonathan Bailey

Hannah Jarvis Anna Maxwell MartinChloe Coverly Olivia Vinall

King Lear

by William Shakespeare, Cottesloe 1997

Director Richard Eyre

Designer Bob Crowley

Lear Ian HolmLears Fool Michael Bryant

Richard II

by William Shakespeare, Cottesloe 1995

Director Deborah Warner

Designer Hildegard Bechtler

Richard Fiona Shaw

50 YEARS ON STAGE


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2121

A Litt le Night Music

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Book by Hugh Wheeler, Olivier 1995

Original Director Sean Mathias

Dsire Armfeldt Judi DenchFredrik Egerman Oliver Cotton

The Mysteries

medieval mystery plays in a version by

Tony Harrison, Cottesloe 1985, revived 1999

Original Director Bill Bryden

Original Designer William Dudley

Joseph Edward Baruwa

Mary Lyndsey Marshal

Shepherd 1 Anthony ODonnell

Shepherd 2 Richard Ridings

Shepherd 3 Michelle Terry

Wise Man 1 Lucian Msamati

Wise Man 2 Aaron NeilWise Man 3 Junix Inocian

Hamlet

by William Shakespeare, Lyttelton 2000

Original Director John Caird

Hamlet Simon Russell Beale

Copenhagen

by Michael Frayn, Cottesloe 1998

Original Director Michael Blakemore

Heisenberg Roger Allam

My Fair Lady

Book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner

Music by Frederick Loewe, Lyttelton 2001

Original Director Trevor Nunn

Original Designer Anthony Ward

Original Choreographer Matthew Bourne

Eliza Doolittle Rosalie Craig

Henry Higgins Alex Jennings

Colonel Pickering Malcolm Sinclair

Cat On A Hot Tin Roof

by Tennessee Williams, Lyttelton 1988

Director Howard Davies

Designer William Dudley

Brick Ian Charleson

Maggie Lindsay Duncan

Mourning Becomes Electra

by Eugene ONeill, Lyttelton 2003

Original Director Howard Davies


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




Rudge Philip Correia

Scripps Jamie Parker

Dakin Dominic Cooper

Posner Sacha Dhawan

Akthar Marc Elliott

Timms James Corden

Crowther Samuel Anderson

Lockwood Andrew Knott

Headmaster Clive Merrison

Irwin Stephen Campbell Moore

War Horse

based on the novel by Michael Morpurgoadapted by Nick Stafford

in association with Handspring Puppet Company,

Olivier 2007

Songmaker John Tams

Original Directors Marianne Elliott

and Tom Morris

Original Designer Rae Smith

Song Man Tim van Eyken

Albert Jack Holden

Joey as a foal

head Laura Cubitt

heart Kate Colebrook

hind Louise Kempton

Joey

head Toby Oli

heart Thomas Wiltonhind Michael Brett

National Theatre Live

IncludingThe Cherry Orchard

by Anton Chekhov, in a version by Andrew Upton

Director Howard Davies

Designer Bunny Christie

Ranevskaya Zo Wanamaker

Trofimov Mark Bonnar

One Man, Two Guvnors

by Richard Bean

based on Goldonis The Servant of

Two Masterswith songs by Grant Olding,

Lyttelton 2011

Original Director Nicholas Hytner

Original Designer Mark Thompson

Francis Henshall James Corden

London RoadBook and lyrics by Alecky Blythe

Music and lyrics by Adam Cork,

Cottesloe 2011

Original Director Rufus Norris

Original Designer Katrina Lindsay

Julie Kate Fleetwood

Alfie James Doherty

Dodge Paul Thornley

Jane Linzi Hateley

Terry Howard Ward

Helen Rosalie Craig

Gordon Duncan Wisbey

Rosemary Nicola Sloane

June Claire Moore

Ron Nick Holder

Tim Hal Fowler

Othello

by William Shakespeare, Olivier 2013,

Old Vic 1964

Othello Adrian Lester

Iago Rory Kinnear

Epilogue: The Habit of Art


Kay Frances de la Tour

ASM Samuel Anderson


50 YEARS ON STAGE


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2222

Director Nicholas HytnerDesigner Mark Thompson

Lighting Designer Mark HendersonMusic for short films George Fenton

Sound Paul ArdittiMusic Director Gareth Valentine

Associate Director Adam Penford

Executive Producer David Sabel

Producer Robin Hawkes

Director Mourning Becomes Electra

Howard DaviesDirector London Road Rufus NorrisAssociate Choreographer Guys and

Dolls Cristina AveryAssociate Choreographer My Fair Lady

Fergus LoganAssociate Director War Horse

Alex SimsAssociate Puppetry Director War Horse

Finn CaldwellMusic DirectorLondon Road

David Shrubsole

Compiled by Nicholas Hytner,Lyn Haill, Tom Lyons,

David Sabel, Nicholas Wright,with John Heffernan, Alex Jennings,

Lesley Manville,

Simon Russell Beale

Broadcast

Director for Television

Tim Van SomerenHead of Events, BBC Phil Dolling

Executive Producer, BBC

Elaine PatersonTechnical Producer

Christopher C Bretnall

Production Manager Paul HandleyCompany Manager Eric LumsdenStage Manager David MarslandDeputy Stage Manager Anna Hi ll

Stage Management Fiona Bardsley,Ian Farmery, Polly Rowe, Julia Wickham

Costume Supervisor Irene BohanAssisted by Hannah TrickettProp Supervisor Kirsten Shiell

Deputy Production Manager Marius RnningProject Draughting Nick Murray&

Emma MorrisDigital Art Dan Radley-Bennett&

Lawrence RowellCasting Wendy Spon, Charlotte Sutton,

Juliet Horsley, Charlotte BevanPhotographer Catherine Ashmore

Assistant Producer Julia NelsonBroadcast Sound Supervisor Conrad Fletcher

Broadcast Lighting Director Bernie DaviesBroadcast Production Manager Harry GuthrieProducer National Theatre Live Emma Keith

Short films

Cameraman and Editor Mike MarriageEditor Jan Cholawo

Associate Producer James Norton

Musicians

Keyboards 1 Andrew VinterKeyboards 2 Peter McCarthy

Guitar Steve SmithDouble bass/bass guitar Don Richardson

Drums Allan CoxPercussion Martin Briggs

Piccolo/flute/alto sax Andy FindonFlute/clarinet/alto sax Howard McGill

Clarinet/bass clarinet/baritone sax

Jay Craig

Trumpet/flugelhorn John BarclayTrumpet/flugelhorn Andy Crowley

Trumpet/flugelhorn Toby ColesTrombone Gordon Campbell

Horn Matt GunnerHarp Helen Tunstall

Singers

Melanie MarshallStuart Matthew Price

Verity QuadeRoss Sharkey

Caroline SheenMichael Xavier

Orchestral Arrangements Christopher Egan

Special thanks to the

National Theatre Archive

[email protected]

BBC Arena: The National Theatre

Producer Martin Rosenbaum

Director Adam Low

Olivier Theatre 1 & 2 November 2013

Length: about 2 hours. There is no interval

Production credits

Arcadiatable & chairs built by Heron & Driver.

Extra show lighting generously donated by Richard Martin Lighting

DETAILS OF THIS EVENINGS EVENT ARE CORRECT AT TIME OF GOING TO PRESS BUT SOME CHANGES MAY BECOME NECESSARY

Make up by

50 YEARS ON STAGE


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Top left: Sara Ke stelman and Michael Brya nt in State of Revolution, 1977. Photo Zo Dominic

Top right: Nigel H awthorne in The Madness of George III, 1991. Photo Donald Cooper

Bottom left: David Hare (right) and Stephen Moore in rehearsal for Plenty, 1977. Photo Jennifer Rima Beeston

SARA KESTELMAN

Peter Woods production of Congreves The Double Dealerwas due to re-open, with some

cast changes, in the Olivier on March 22nd 1979.

However, the set for Galsworthys Strifewas still in the Olivier following the onset of the stage

hands strike started on March 16th.

Instead, it was decided to use the 3rd act set of Somerset Maughams For Services

Renderedwhich had been playing in the Lyttelton.

The set was an exterior lawn outside the manor house. The Double Dealeris all interior. Peter

Wood brilliantly re-staged the entire production reversing interiors to exteriors, playing the

crucial interior bedroom scene just inside the house behind the windows. And it worked!

DAVID HARE

I used to love the IRA alerts in the mid-70s.

When we moved into the South Bank, after

the intimacy of the Old Vic, it was so huge

that when we were all evacuated onto Upper

Ground by bomb warnings, I would run

into friends I hadnt seen for years, but who

turned out to be working somewhere in the

building.

We would all stand on the pavement, talking

companionably, sometimes for an hour, until

security let us back in.

MICHAEL ELLIOTTFormer Administrator of the NT

I was just a month into my new post when

80 stagehands walked out on unofficial

strike. By the weekend there was an

aggressive and threatening picket line

which closed the theatre. On the Sunday

BBC Newsnight arrived to do a story on

the strike, interviewing myself and Sir Ralph

Richardson.

I was sitting in the Olivier stalls and saw Sir

Ralph, who I had never met. I introduced

myself and he shook my hand and said,

Michael Elliott. I have been thinking of you.

His sympathy made me well up, and it was

only the intervention of the BBC producer

that stopped me from dissolving into tears in

front of Sir Ralph.


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Top left: Tony Ha ygarths favourite NT memory: The Queen meeting members of t he cast of

The Tempest, 1988; Haygarth was Caliban, Mich ael Bryant Prospero. Photo Nobby Clark

Top right: Bob Hoskins and Ian Charleson in Guys and Dolls, 1982. Photo John Haynes

GIUSEPPE FORTISRestaurants Manager 1978 2011

I have met the most fantastic and amazing

people spanning the world of celebrity to

royalty. Some of my most memorable:

Lord Olivier celebrating his 80th birthday.

Sir John Gielgud lunching with Superman,

Christopher Reeves.

Sir Ralph Richardson coming into the

restaurant during the strike of stagehands

and stating that the show must go on.

The Queen Mother hear ing her singing Sit

down, youre rocking the boat.

The Queen resting in the Cha irmans office,

NTLive 50th Programme

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