National Theatre Live!

"It's a hub of creativity, a place where ideas are born, nurtured and shared."

This is the quote you first see when searching into The National Theatre. Now, if you have any interest in theatre at all I don't doubt that you have heard of The National Theatre. You'd be crazy if you hadn't! This is because The National Theatre is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues. It is located next to the Thames in the South Bank area of central London, just minutes from Covent Garden, the West End and Waterloo. The National Theatre has three different stages; Olivier, Lyttelton and Dorfman.

      Olivier Theatre

Named after the theatre's first artistic director, Laurence Olivier, this is the main auditorium, modelled on the ancient Greek theatre at Epidaurus; it has an open stage and a fan-shaped audience seating area for 1100 people.  Its design ensures that the audience's view is not blocked from any seat, and that the audience is fully visible to actors from the stage's centre.

Lyttelton Theatre

Named after Oliver Lyttelton, the National Theatre's first board chairman, it has a proscenium arch design and can accommodate an audience of 890.

Dorfman Theatre

Named after Lloyd Dorfman (philanthropist and chairman of Travelex Group), the Dorfman is "the smallest, the barest and the most potentially flexible of the National Theatre houses . . . a dark-walled room" with an audience capacity of 400. Over the years The national Theatre have hosted countless amounts of shows. In 2017-2018 there were 10 shows on tour in 36 towns and cities in the United Kingdom. You can find out more about these mind-blowing shows at;

https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/about-the-national-theatre/archive

The National Theatre archive is open to everyone by appointment. (Although that may not be much use during the pandemic that we're currently facing!)

The first show that the company ever produced and showed on October 22nd 1963 was Hamlet. Hamlet was directed by Laurence Oliver which starred  Peter O'Toole in the title role and Michael Redgrave as Claudius. This show (like many others) was a complete success.

In 1964, The National Theatre had its first world premiere with the show 'The Royal Hunt of the Sun' by Peter Shaffer and directed by John Dexter. It is clear that from the beginning of the company, it was destined for greatness. There are hundreds more shows that I could talk about and explore, but quite frankly I would be here for days! Once again, you can find this information on The National Theatre's archive. One more notable mention, however, is a show named 'Illuminatus!' which premiered in 1977. This was an 8 hour 5 minute cycle from Ken Campbell's 'The Science Fiction Theatre of Liverpool'. This show just proves the diversity and variety that The National Theatre has to offer.

Next up, stars. As I have discussed, The National Theatre hosts hundreds of shows. Many of these shows will contain some of your very favourite celebs. I feel like some honourable mentions include;

Judi Dench and Anthony Hopkins  in the 1987 showing of 'Antony and Cleopatra'. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that the multi award-winning stars did these roles justice back in the day. Judi is known for her early roles in Shakespeare plays which leads me to believe that this role for her was essentially "water off a duck's back". Personally, I know Anthony Hopkins for his role in the Hannibal Lecter movie franchise. To hear that he played such a famous role in a famous Shakespeare play at The National theatre only leads me to believe that he is a man of many talents.

Judi Dench also starred in 'A little night music' directed by Sean Mathias in 1995 which goes to show that her talent was consistent over the years as she acted for The National Theatre more than just the once.

In 1998 Hugh Jackman and Maureen Lipman starred in 'Oklahoma!' directed by Trevor Nunn at The National Theatre. This goes to show that The National Theatre included people from all over the world in their shows as Hugh Jackman is indeed an Australian man. This 1998 showing was indeed (and unsurprisingly) successful.

My personal favourite star who has performed with The National Theatre is the man, the myth, the legend … Jonny Lee Miller. Miller starred in 'Frankenstein' in 2011 alongside Benedict Cumberbatch. Jonny Lee Miller is successful in my eyes as I love his rendition of the character 'Sickboy' in the movie 'Trainspotting'. I loved him and his acting from the day I watched the movie and inwards. To find out he performed in The National Theatre blows my mind as I knew him only for his screen work.