National Theatre

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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

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