When was the idea of a National Theatre first suggested?
In 1848. There is some difference of opinion as to who should take credit for the idea but certainly the first recorded proposal for the establishment of a National Theatre was put forward by Effingham Wilson, a London publisher.

What happened next?
There were several unsuccessful attempts to launch the scheme during the rest of the century. Definite plans were formulated in a book by Harley Granville Barker and William Archer in 1903.

When did Parliament give its approval?
Not until 1949 when the National Theatre Bill was passed by both Houses of Parliament, without a division. It was left to the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the day to decide when the theatre should be built.

When did work start on the building?
The site itself was changed three - arguably four - times. The first foundation stone was laid by the Queen Mother in 1951 next to the Festival Hall. Work on the site where the National Theatre actually stands started on 3 November 1969, and was inaugurated by Jennie Lee (made Baroness 1970), then Minister for the Arts.

When did public performances start?
Because of the National Theatre Board's wish to make the building live as soon as possible despite protracted building delays, each of the three theatres within the National was used as it became available, even though not finished. The Lyttelton opened first, in March 1976; the Olivier next in October 1976; and the Cottesloe staged its first public performances in March 1977. The Queen officially opened the building on 25 October 1976. Saturday 1 March 1977 was the first night on which all three theatres were playing.

When did the National become the Royal National Theatre?
In October 1988. To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the National was granted the title Royal, and HM The Queen unveiled a plaque in the foyer commemorating the event.

Why are the three theatres within the National named as they are?
The Olivier Theatre is named after the National's first artistic director (1962 until 1973), the late Lord Olivier, then Sir Laurence Olivier (made Baron 1970); the Lyttelton after the National's first Chairman (1962 until 1971), Oliver Lyttelton (the late Lord Chandos); and the small Cottesloe Theatre after the late Lord Cottesloe, first Chairman (1962 until 1977) of the South Bank Theatre Board. The three theatres contain, in all, nearly 2,500 seats.

The South Bank Theatre Board - now disbanded - was set up in 1962 by the Chancellor on behalf of the government, to be responsible for the building of the National Theatre and, on completion to hand it over to the National's Board.

Who is the current director of the Royal National Theatre?
Trevor Nunn has been Director since October 1997. Lord Olivier OM was Director from 1963 to 1973, succeeded by Sir Peter Hall CBE until 1988; Sir Richard Eyre was Director from 1988 until 1997. Nicholas Hytner will succeed Trevor Nunn as Director in April 2003.

Who is the current Chairman of the Royal National Theatre?
Sir Christopher Hogg became Chairman in August 1995.
The first Chairman was Oliver Lyttelton (the late Lord Chandos) from 1962 to 1971. He was succeeded as Chairman by Sir Max (later Lord) Rayne in 1971, who served until 1988. The Lady Soames DBE was the third Chairman of the National from 1988 until 1995.

When was the National Theatre company founded?
It was decided in July 1962 that pending completion of the new building, the Old Vic Theatre was to become the temporary home of the specially created National Theatre company. The company's first ever performance was at the Old Vic on 22 October 1963. Before the move to the South Bank, they played at the Old Vic for twelve and a half very successful years, ten of them under the directorship of Laurence Olivier.
NB An exhibition about the history of the National Theatre is on permanent display in the Theatre's Olivier Circle Gallery.

Why was the present site chosen?
It is in an area devoted to the arts, with the Royal Festival and Queen Elizabeth Halls, the Purcell Room, the Hayward Gallery, and the National Film Theatre. It is central and accessible to public transport. It is also in one of London's most magnificent situations, overlooking a beautiful reach of the Thames, with superb views across to Somerset House and the river curving up to St Paul's.

How was the building planned?
A Building Committee, under the joint chairmanship of Laurence Olivier and Norman Marshall worked out the brief for the stage areas. The committee included many immensely experienced theatre directors, designers and technicians - Stephen Arlen, Michael Benthall, Peter Brook, George Devine, John Dexter, Frank Dunlop, Michael Elliott, Roger Furse, William Gaskill, Peter Hall, Jocelyn Herbert, Sean Kenny, Norman Marshall, Tanya Moiseiwitsch, Laurence Olivier, Richard Pilbrow, Michel St Denis, Robert Stephens. Kenneth Tynan was also consulted.

Who designed it?
Sir Denys Lasdun - one of the country's leading architects. He was also the architect for the IBM building, the National's neighbour on the South Bank (1983), the University of East Anglia (1968), the Royal College of Physicians in Regent's Park (1960), and the flats in St James's Place overlooking Green Park (1958).

Why is the building so big?
The front, facing the river, is taken up with many terraces, foyers, and places to eat or drink, all intended to be welcoming and informal. At the back are rehearsal rooms and large workshops for making costumes and props, and building and painting scenery. And the three theatres, all radically different in design, occupy a lot of space.

Why three different theatres?
The Building Committee agreed that it was necessary to have two main auditoriums: one an open stage - an expression of what the committee felt a modern theatre should be; the other a more traditional proscenium theatre, providing the kind of stage most commonly used over the last 300 years. A small auditorium, as well, is crucial because theatre is always changing, and many of its most important changes start on a small scale and before a limited audience.

What are the three theatres like?
First, the Olivier. It is the largest and most radical of the three auditoriums. It is designed to be flexible enough to serve dramatists of every period. It can accommodate an audience of 1,160 people but has a concentrated intimacy. The auditorium is fan-shaped, with two main banks of sharply-raked seats sweeping down to the stage. A feature of the stage is the drum revolve, which combines the advantages of a revolving stage with two elevators to allow scenery and props to be moved on and off the drum during performances.
Next, the Lyttelton. It seats 890, also in two tiers, and is more conventional in appearance but has an adjustable proscenium stage. Part can be lowered to form an orchestra pit. The main acting area can be raked.
Lastly, the Cottesloe, the smallest of the three, holding up to 400 people. It is a simple rectangular room with two tiers of galleries on three sides, and a floor space that can be rearranged for actor and audience. The three theatres contain, in all, nearly 2,500 seats.

What other activities does the National offer?
An exciting and varied programme of events all year round, many of which are free, playing in the foyers, terraces and in Theatre Square, right by the river. The programme includes Platform performances (short early-evening events given up to twelve times a month in one of the theatres); a vigorous educational programme; varied and changing exhibitions; and live pre-performance music in the foyers, or outside in summer. The building has two restaurants (Mezzanine and the Terrace Cafe), an Espresso Bar, three buffets, seven bars; easy parking for more then 400 cars; a specialist theatre bookshop and two bookstalls; river walks, and terraces.

The Royal National Theatre is open all day, six days a week, fifty-two weeks of the year - and not only to those with tickets for a performance. It is a social centre, a building that has been designed to look incomplete when it is not full of people. The spacious foyers and river terraces are there for everyone to enjoy.

What is the purpose of the NT Studio?
The National has a Studio whose home is next to the Old Vic Theatre, off Waterloo Road. It is the centre of research and development for the National, providing a workspace outside the confines of the rehearsal room and stage where artists can experiment and develop their skills. Central to the Studio's work is a commitment to new writing. A number of the National's main-house productions have originated from the Studio, and seasons of work from there have been staged in the Cottesloe, as well as plays at the Bush and Royal Court.

As part of its on-going training programme for artists, the Studio has held residencies in Vilnius, Lithuania; in Johannesburg, South Africa; in Belfast; and three times at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

What is the purpose of the Education Department?
NT Education's aim is to demystify the process of theatre and to allow access to drama on a national level through youth theatre projects, touring productions, workshops, rehearsed readings, work in schools and a nationwide membership scheme.

Up to 100,000 people aged from 5 years upwards, participate in the Department's activities each year nationwide.

The main house repertoire embraces many productions initiated and produced by the department. Each year a mobile production tours nationally and internationally to small and middle-scale venues before returning to the National to join the Cottesloe in repertoire. A Shakespeare play accompanied by a specially designed workshop programme tours annually to schools around the UK and includes performances in the Cottesloe Theatre.

What is Shell InterNational Connections?
Shell InterNational Connections is a partnership between 150 youth theatre companies, flagship theatres across the UK, Faber and Faber, the Royal National Theatre, and Shell in the UK who became sponsors of the programme in 2002 in a major new partnership worth £500,000 over two years.

Since the beginning of the project 10 years ago, the National has developed a portfolio of 45 plays for young performers from some of the best writers around, including new translations of the work of several European and American writers.

Does the National go on tour?
To live up to its name and be truly national, the National takes its work beyond its South Bank home as a representative of British theatre throughout the UK and the world. Plays from the main repertoire and specially-mounted small-scale productions make up an annual touring programme which is carried out without affecting the company's work in London.

The first tour was of Laurence Olivier's production of Uncle Vanya, visiting Newcastle in 1964. The first foreign tour was to Moscow in 1965.

How is touring funded?
Touring, both nationally and internationally, does not draw on the company's main Arts Council grant but is funded separately by either the Arts Council's Touring budget, the British Council, the host venue, sponsorship, or a combination of these.

And what about the National as host?
Since moving to the South Bank, the National has played host to numerous companies from overseas, including Peter Stein's Schaubühne company from Berlin, the Market Theatre from Johannesburg, the Ninagawa company from Tokyo, the Moscow Art Theatre, the Bulandra Company from Bucharest, the Contemporary Legend Theatre from Taiwan, Comédie Française, Robert Lepage, the Abbey Theatre, and as part of The European Arts Festival, Giorgio Strehler's Piccolo Theatre from Milan.

Who pays for visiting companies from abroad?
All these visits from abroad are funded by either the guest company, their government, or sponsorship from here or overseas. A small amount of money comes from Visiting Arts, but none of the National's subsidy is used.

How about co-productions?
In 1989 the National pioneered co-productions with regional and touring theatre companies. Since then the National has co-produced with the Bristol Old Vic; the Belgrade Theatre; Coventry; Nottingham Playhouse; Birmingham Rep; Shared Experience; Theatre de Complicite; Alley Theatre, Houston; Out of Joint; the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool; Abbey Theatre, Dublin; Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough; Kneehigh Theatre from Cornwall; and Tara Arts.

Do National Theatre productions ever transfer to the West End or Broadway?
Yes. At the beginning of 1999 for example, four plays from the National were playing in the West End, and three on Broadway.

What are the National's financial objectives?
Financial performance remains an essential part of an overall assessment of the National's performance, although it is clear that this cannot be seen in isolation from artistic achievements. Our financial objectives remain to:

• Invest adequately in productions and performances in order to uphold their variety and distinction
• Achieve high box office returns
• Sustain good net ancillary income from catering and the sale of programmes and publications
• Raise satisfactory amounts of sponsorship and donations
• Sustain our Arts Council grant in real terms
• Ensure the future solvency of the company
• Raise sufficient resources for the capital maintenance of the National.

How much did the theatre cost to build?
Approximately £20m at mid 1970s prices - not a high figure compared to other similar buildings here and abroad - paid by central government, apart from the contribution by the GLC (Greater London Council) of a fixed sum of £5.7m.

How much of the theatre's revenue is subsidy?
Offering the public a wide choice of plays, both modern and classical, given concurrently in repertoire and continually changing, is very expensive. Even with capacity audiences, it is a form of theatre that demands heavy government subsidy.
The National has suffered a progressive reduction in the real terms value of its public funding. After six years when the grant remained at the same amount, 2000/01 saw, for the second year, a small increase which took the grant to £12.493 million.

The subsidy covers less than 40% of the National's total costs (once upon a time it covered 60%).

The self-earned income is chiefly from the box office and sponsorship, but also from West End transfers, catering, plus other front-of-house services, bookshops, programmes and other publications.

To what extent do sponsorship and donations contribute?
For 2000/01, 6% of the Theatre's income came from donations or sponsorship.

As the GLC provided a proportion of the capital cost, did it play a part in the movement for a national theatre?
Yes. The first big step on the road to the new building came in 1945 when the LCC (London County Council), as it was called at the time, offered a site (later changed). The National Theatre Bill followed four years later, but little progress was made. Pressure by the LCC under the leadership of the late Sir Isaac Hayward culminated in their offer in 1961 to find the sum then needed to meet the balance of the cost. A year later the government set up the South Bank Theatre Board to build the theatre, which stands on a 4.7 acre site provided by the GLC. Until April 1986, when it was disbanded, the GLC gave the National an annual subsidy. The freehold of the site passed to the Arts Council in 1986. In 1996 the National signed a long term lease having been a licensee up to that date.

What about seat prices?
Our tickets are priced lower than many other London theatres. Normal prices range from £10.00 to £33.00. There are a substantial number of tickets at £19.00 or less.

In the Olivier and Lyttelton all prices are reduced for matinees and previews. In the Cottesloe the majority of seats cost £27.00, with some seats (side or restricted view) at £15 and £10.

And in all three theatres, some tickets at £10 (in the Olivier and Lyttelton many of these are front stalls) are held for sale from 10.00am on the day of the performance.

Do you offer reductions?
Yes, concessions are available in all three theatres for groups, school/student parties, senior citizens, people with disabilities, the unemployed and under 18s. In fact with a Student Stand-by (also available to the unemployed, Stage Pass holders, members of SOLT and theatre unions) you can see a show for as little as £8.00, and if you are prepared to stand you can attend a performance for £6.00 (subject to availability).
Any unsold tickets are offered at a reduced rate two hours before all performances.

How many tickets were sold in the financial year 1997/98?
Approximately 610,000.

How many people in all are needed to run the National?
The full-time staff totals about 700 including a company of upwards of 120 actors. Because seven or eight plays are run in the repertoire with each other, actors have the chance to play a variety of parts at the same time. There has been an example of one actor, Warren Clarke, performing in all three theatres on one night and more recently, Colin Stinton appeared on the same night in Guys and Dolls in the Olivier and Death of a Salesman in the Lyttelton while both plays were in repertory. The late Yvonne Bryceland once did twelve performances of four different productions in one week.

It's interesting that when Henry Irving was running the Lyceum Theatre, over a hundred years ago, he employed almost exactly the same total number - but he was operating in one theatre, not three, and for the most part putting plays on singly, not in repertoire which requires many more people.

Original Consultants, Contractors and Architects

Architects
Denys Lasdun Redhouse & Softley

Theatre Consultants
Theatre Projects Consultants Ltd (Stage Engineering, Stage andArchitectural Lighting, Sound and Intercommunications)

Structural Engineers
Flint & Neill Partnership

Quantity Surveyors
Davis Belfield and Everest

Acoustical Consultants
Sound Research Laboratories Ltd, successor to Henry R Humphries

Current Consultants, Contractors and Architects
Alan Stanton and Paul Williams - Stanton Williams

Front of House Lighting
Consultants Maurice Brill - Maurice Brill Associates

Signage Consultants
CDT & Harkess Ord

Structural Engineers
Flint & Neill Partnership

Quantity Surveyors
Davis, Langdon & Everest

Accoustic Enhancement Consultants
SIAP System for Improved Acoustic Performance BV

Artistic Aims

What are the chief artistic aims of the Royal National Theatre?
Simply described, these are:

• Diversity of repertoire embracing classic, new and neglected plays from the whole of world drama
• To present these plays to the very highest standards
• To do experimental work, and work for children and young people
• To give audiences a choice of several different productions at any one time
• To take current productions regularly to the regions and abroad
• To use fully the unique advantages of the building so that the public is continuously offered, in addition to the plays, all kinds of other events

The Royal National Theatre has been awarded over 350 major drama awards since its move to the South Bank in 1976. This is more than any other drama company has won over the same period.

For further information about the Royal National Theatre:

For information regarding productions staged at the National since April 1998, try our web archive.

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