Winner of the STR Theatre Book Prize 2014 The National Theatre Story is filled with artistic, financial and political battles, onstage triumphs - and the occasional disaster. This definitive account takes readers from the National Theatre's 19th-century origins, through false dawns in the early 1900s, and on to its hard-fought inauguration in 1963. At the Old Vic, Laurence Olivier was for ten years the inspirational Director of the NT Company, before Peter Hall took over and, in 1976, led the move into the National's concrete home on the South Bank. Altogether, the NT has staged more than 800 productions, premiering some of the 20th and 21st centuries' most popular and controversial plays, including Amadeus, The Romans in Britain, Closer, The History Boys, War Horse and One Man, Two Guvnors. Certain to be essential reading for theatre lovers and students, The National Theatre Story is packed with photographs and draws on Daniel Rosenthal's unprecedented access to the National Theatre's own archives, unpublished correspondence and more than 100 new interviews with directors, playwrights and actors, including Olivier's successors as Director (Peter Hall, Richard Eyre, Trevor Nunn and Nicholas Hytner), and other great figures from the last 50 years of British and American drama, among them Edward Albee, Alan Bennett, Judi Dench, Michael Gambon, David Hare, Tony Kushner, Ian McKellen, Diana Rigg, Maggie Smith, Peter Shaffer, Stephen Sondheim and Tom Stoppard.

A fascinating tale, The National Theatre Story is an absolute must for all theatre aficionados.

About the Author
Daniel Rosenthal was born in London in 1971. He has written on theatre and film for The Times, Independent and Observer, and his previous books include 100 Shakespeare Films (2007) and Student Editions of David Mamet's Oleanna and Patrick Marber's Closer. He has chaired 30 National Theatre Platforms and is Associate Producer of the BBC 4 Arena documentaries on the NT. He lectures on drama, film and journalism for the International Programmes department at Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, UK.

Reviews
As packed with drama as anything it has staged ... Covering 50 years during which the National has staged 800 or so shows, it can't help but prompt vivid memories in theatre-going readers. * The Sunday Times *
This weighty tome is the definitive history, synthesising many of the previous works, incorporating extensive new interview material with privileged access to directors' files, administrative records, board papers and the restricted holdings in the NT archive ... It's all here, summarised better than anywhere else ... This is a story with guts, great actors, laughter, disaster, and other properties that most books don't possess ... It's the story of a campaign, a process, a fulfilment; of a triumph of the national character despite itself, of a celebration and a realisation of what we, as a nation, simply do better, probably thanks to Shakespeare, than anyone else: the theatre. * The Independent *
[A] mighty tome ... Rosenthal documents with precision and style. * Herald Scotland *



Book Information
ISBN 9781840027686
Author Dr Daniel Rosenthal
Format Hardback
Page Count 928
Imprint Oberon Books Ltd
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Weight(grams) 1770g
Dimensions(mm) 276mm * 185mm * 70mm