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Stage by StageThe early years: 1963 – 1975Stage by StageThe Development of the National Theatre from 1848Designed by Michael MayhewCompiled by Lyn Haill & Stephen WoodWith thanks to Richard Mangan and The Mander & Mitchenson Theatre Collection,Monica Sollash and The Theatre MuseumThe majority of the photographs in the exhibition were commissionedby the National Theatre and are part of its archiveThe exhibition was funded by The Royal National Theatre Foundation
Laurence Olivier. Photograph by Zoë Dominic.
This part of the story covers the first years of the National, when it was mostlyperforming in the Old Vic.1963‘Our aim is the best of everything’ KennethTynanOctober 22: The National’s inauguralproduction opens – Shakespeare’s Hamlet,directed by Laurence Olivier, with Peter O’Toolein the lead. The repertoire for the first seasonalso consists of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya andShaw’s Saint Joan, which had opened atChichester, Farquhar’s The Recruiting Officer,Ibsen’s The Master Builder, Harold Brighouse’sHobson’s Choice, Beckett’s Play withSophocles’ Philoctetes, Max Frisch’s Andorra,and Shakespeare’s Othello, a ticket for which isto become ‘The most difficult piece of paper toget hold of in Britain’ (Daily Express).Denys Lasdun is chosen as the architectof the new theatre and opera house on theSouth Bank. For two years he explores theproblems with a building committee consistingof Laurence Olivier, and directors MichaelMichael Redgrave in Uncle Vanya.Photograph by Angus McBean.A ticket in the stalls for the first season costs27s 6d ( 1.28) and in the gallery 3s (15p).The Arts Council grant for the first season is 130,000. Despite ‘House Full’ signs everynight, the first season ends with a deficit of 22,500.The Actors in the 1963/64 Company:Max AdrianRod BeachamColin BlakelyMartin BoddeyJanie BoothElizabeth BurgerEdward CaddickPeter CellierByron ChandlerChristopher ChittellRaymond ClarkeWynne ClarkTom CourtenayCyril CusackLewis FianderFrank FinlayNeil FitzpatrickMichael GambonReginald GreenRichard HamptonEdward HardwickeRaymond HardyRosemary HarrisJames HayesRoger HeathcottJanet HenfreyJeanne HeppleWilliam HobbsGeorge InnesDerek JacobiCaroline JohnPeter JohnCelia JohnsonTom KempinskiTerence KnappJeanette LandisRobert LangHarry LomaxEnid LorimerKenneth MackintoshKeith MarshTrevor MartinDan MeadenMary MillerTom MinnikinJames MellorMary MillerAnthony NichollsLaurence OlivierPeter O’TooleMichael ParkerRon PemberEdward PetherbridgeJoan PlowrightBruce PurchaseLouise PurnellLynn RedgraveMichael RedgraveJoyce RedmanSheila ReidAlan RidgwayMaggie RileyJean RogersJohn RogersMichael RothwellAdam RowntreeRobert RussellClive RustAnn RyeMaggie SmithRobert StephensJohn StrideChristopher TimothyMichael TurnerDerek WareBillie WhitelawMervyn WillisDiana Wynyard
Benthall, Peter Brook, Michel St Denis, GeorgeDevine, John Dexter, Frank Dunlop, MichaelElliott, William Gaskill, and Peter Hall; designersRoger Furse, Jocelyn Herbert, Sean Kenny, andTanya Moiseiwitsch; manager Stephen Arlen;lighting designer Richard Pilbrow; and actorRobert Stephens; and with consultation fromKenneth Tynan.1964The Royal Hunt of the Sun by Peter Shafferis the NT’s first world premiere, and thefirst visiting company from overseas is theCompagnia Proclemer-Albertazzi from Italy withHamlet. The National begins a policy of splittingthe company into two for a period each year inorder to tour 8 or 10 UK cities.1965The National Theatre Company visits Russiaand East Germany with Othello, Hobson’sChoice and Love for Love. Franco Zeffirelliis the first director from overseas to direct atthe National, with a hugely popular Much AdoAbout Nothing.It is now estimated that the new building willcost 5.5 million to build, plus another 4million for the opera house.1966The National at the Old Vic goes 250,000 intothe red. Arts Minister Jennie Lee announces anincrease in the government subsidy to coverthe deficit. Jacques Charon, from the ComédieFrançaise, directs an acclaimed productionof Feydeau’s A Flea In Her Ear adapted byJohn Mortimer. To increase their audience,Robert Stephens and Laurence Olivier in The Recruiting Officer.Photograph by Lewis Morley.Lasdun’s model of the new building. Photograph by Robert Kirkman.the company plays a season at the Queen’sTheatre in Shaftesbury Avenue. Othello, A FleaIn Her Ear, The Royal Hunt of the Sun and ABond Honoured (by John Osborne from Lopede Vega), with Peter Shaffer’s Black Comedyplay there from August to October.1967The opera house is dropped from the newbuilding scheme. (The Sadler’s Wells Company,due to be housed there, eventually move tothe Coliseum to become the English NationalOpera.) The site for the new theatre is shifted afew hundred yards eastwards – its last move.The capital cost is now estimated at 7.5million.The National’s proposed production of RolfHochhuth’s Soldiers is stopped after pressurefrom the NT Board, led by its Chairman, LordChandos. The play portrayed Winston Churchillas being involved in the ‘assassination’ ofGeneral Sikorski, the Polish leader who diedin an air crash in 1943. Chandos, then OliverLyttelton, had been a member of Churchill’swartime cabinet.The National stages As You Like It with an allmale cast, and its first new play by an untriedauthor: Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz andGuildenstern Are Dead. Harold Hobson callsthe latter ‘the National’s biggest gamble to date– a winner at 66 to 1’.1969An amendment to the National Theatre Act
authorises increased government expenditureof up to 3,750,000 for building and equippingthe NT. This amount is to be matched by theGreater London Council (formerly the LondonCounty Council). Work starts on the buildingand is expected to be completed by 1973.1970Money from recent surpluses is used to financethe Young Vic, a hundred yards down The Cutfrom the Old Vic. The director is Frank Dunlopand the opening production is Scapino. TheYoung Vic serves the NT as a studio theatreuntil 1973 when it becomes a separatecompany.The National company begins a season at theCambridge Theatre, where Ingmar Bergmandirects Hedda Gabler.Olivier receives a life peerage, the first everoffered to an actor.1971Olivier’s illness leads to the postponement ofa planned production of Guys and Dolls.He was to have played Nathan Detroit, withGeraldine McEwan as Miss Adelaide, DenisQuilley as Sky Masterson, and Louise Purnellas Sarah Brown.The National is brought to a low point witha series of unpopular productions at the OldVic, and a season of plays staged at the NewTheatre (now the Albery), unsuccessful apartfrom Long Day’s Journey Into Night, withOlivier as James Tyrone. ‘The National Theatrecan never be what the public wants if it isn’tallowed sometimes to be what the publicdoesn’t want’. Laurence OlivierSir Max Rayne (later to be Lord Rayne)succeeds Lord Chandos as Chairman of the NTBoard.1972The NT’s first mobile production (’Tis Pity She’sa Whore directed by Roland Joffe), tours smallvenues and colleges. The National’s fortunesrevive with Jonathan Miller’s production of TheSchool for Scandal and Michael Blakemore’s ofThe Front Page.1973The National Theatre and Museums of LondonBill becomes law, providing another 2 millionfor construction. The new building is ‘toppedout’ by Laurence Olivier and Lord Cottesloe.Olivier gives his last stage performance – inTrevor Griffiths’ The Party. He resigns asDirector, to be succeeded by Peter Hall,founder and former director of the RoyalShakespeare Theatre.‘I was always dreaming of marching my littletroupe up the road but that wasn’t for me. Iwas hoping to feel a glow of satisfaction butI was so tired out, I was just glad to let it go.’Laurence OlivierLeft: Laurence Olivier and Constance Cummings in Long Day’s Journey into Night. Photograph by Zoë Dominic.Right: Laurence Olivier in The Party. Photograph by John Haynes.
Michael Feast, John Gielgud and Terence Rigby in No Man’s Land.Photograph by Anthony Crickmay.1974The opening of the new NT is delayed furtherby construction difficulties; but the NationalTheatre Bill 1974 removes the limit ongovernment support for the building work.Trevor Griffiths’ Comedians, directedby Richard Eyre, visits the Old Vic fromNottingham Playhouse.1975Associate Director Jonathan Miller resigns,describing the new building as ‘a mixture ofGatwick airport and Brent Cross shoppingcentre’. He is followed a year later by fellowAssociate Michael Blakemore, who criticisesHall’s leadership.Peter Hall takes the decision to move into thenew building as soon as one auditorium isready. The NT staff leave the huts in AquinasStreet which have served as their ‘temporary’offices throughout the company’s years at theOld Vic. They move into the still unfinishedSouth Bank building to prepare to open ittheatre-by-theatre.Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land, one of severalnew plays written for the opening of theNational, opens at the Old Vic with RalphRichardson and John Gielgud, directed byPeter Hall.Rehearsal room at Aquinas Street.Photograph by John Haynes.
from Long Day's Journey Into Night, with Olivier as James Tyrone. 'The National Theatre can never be what the public wants if it isn't allowed sometimes to be what the public doesn't want'. Laurence Olivier Sir Max Rayne (later to be Lord Rayne) succeeds Lord Chandos as Chairman of the NT Board. 1972
