Royal National Theatre

Royal National Theatre a government-funded repertory company based in London. Although the idea for such a company originated in the 19th cent., the National Theatre was not finally established until 1963, with Laurence Olivier appointed as director. Temporarily housed at first in the Old Vic theater, the company opened with Hamlet in 1963. Peter Hall took over the directorship in 1973, and the National Theatre complex opened in 1976-77 in its new building on the south bank of the Thames. In 1988 the name of the company was changed to the Royal National Theatre, and Richard Eyre took over as director. Eyre was succeeded by Trevor Nunn in 1997 and Nicholas Hytner in 2003. The National Theatre engages many of England's most talented actors, directors, and designers to produce its repertory of classic and modern plays.

National Theatre, since 1988 the Royal National Theatre, a three-auditorium complex on London's South Bank devoted to the spectrum of world drama. Initially proposed as early as 1848, the idea of a National Theatre Company only became a living reality at the Old Vic in 1963 under the direction of Laurence Olivier: its early successes included standard classics as well as new plays by Stoppard, Shaffer and P. Nichols. In 1976 it moved into its South Bank home designed by Sir Denys Lasdun where, under the direction of Peter Hall, Richard Eyre, Trevor Nunn, and Nicholas Hytner, its repertoire has ranged from Aeschylus and Sophocles to Brecht, O'Casey, and popular musicals; but it has achieved particular success with new plays including the trilogy by D. Hare, charting the decline of British institutions under Thatcherism, The Madness of George III by Alan Bennett, Arcadia by Stoppard, and numerous others.

National Theatre. First proposed by Effingham Wilson (1848), but bedevilled by false starts, conflicts of interest, and two world wars, the idea of a state theatre received parliamentary approval (1949) but the promised funding was not forthcoming. The National Theatre company was finally incorporated in 1963, with Laurence Olivier as director and the Old Vic providing a nucleus of actors, but it was not until 1976, after financial difficulties and criticism, that the company moved into its permanent home, a three-theatre complex on the South Bank (London), partly state subsidized. Since 1988 the prefix ‘Royal’ has been permitted.

A. S. Hargreaves