National Theatre

About National Theatre

Theatre company in London, Great Britain

The National Theatre, officially the Royal National Theatre since 1988 and known internationally as the National Theatre of Great Britain, is one of the three most prominent publicly funded performing-arts institutions in the United Kingdom alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. Founded by the actor Laurence Olivier in 1963, the company was based at The Old Vic in Waterloo until 1976, when it moved to its present building on the Thames in the South Bank area of central London, adjacent to but not part of the Southbank Centre. Denys Lasdun's concrete building is one of the most famous and controversial examples of brutalist architecture, described by some as a concrete monster and loved by others. The building holds three auditoriums: the large Olivier with its open stage and fan-shaped seating that gives every seat a good view, where the most popular productions are staged; the more traditional proscenium-arch Lyttelton; and the Dorfman (formerly Cottesloe), a small studio for about 400, and each can run up to three shows in repertoire in a season. The theatre presents a varied programme of Shakespeare, international classics and new plays by contemporary writers, transfers productions to the West End and Broadway and tours them across Britain and the world, and hundreds of well-known actors have performed here. Even without seeing a show the building rewards a visit: the photographic exhibitions in the Lyttelton foyer are free, live music is played in the ground-floor foyer in the evenings, in summer the riverside forecourt hosts a free outdoor festival of performance on deckchairs and artificial grass, and backstage tours are offered for a small fee.

Where:

London, United Kingdom