Nicholas Hytner
Work -- Theatre productions
Table:
Plays directed by Nicholas Hytner

Play

Author

Theatre

Opening date

Closing date

Notes

Absurd Person Singular
Alan Ayckbourn
Northcott Theatre, Exeter
24 September 1982

[9]

Jumpers
Tom Stoppard
Royal Exchange, Manchester
1 March 1984
7 April 1984
[38]

The Scarlet Pimpernel
Baroness Orczy, revised by Beverley Cross
Chichester Festival Theatre
1985

[39]

As You Like It
William Shakespeare
Royal Exchange, Manchester
9 January 1986
15 February 1986
[38]

Mumbo Jumbo
Robin Glendinning
Royal Exchange, Manchester
8 May 1986
31 May 1986
World premiere.[38]

Edward II
Christopher Marlowe
Royal Exchange, Manchester
23 October 1986
22 November 1986
[38]

The Country Wife
William Wycherley
Royal Exchange, Manchester
18 December 1986
24 January 1987
[38]

Don Carlos
Friedrich Schiller, translated by James Maxwell
Royal Exchange, Manchester
10 September 1987
10 October 1987
[38]

The Tempest
William Shakespeare
Royal Shakespeare Theatre
27 July 1988

A Royal Shakespeare Company production.[40]

Measure for Measure
William Shakespeare
Barbican Theatre
10 October 1988

A Royal Shakespeare Company production.[41]

Ghetto
Joshua Sobol
National Theatre
27 April 1989
9 November 1989
Winner of the 1989 Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Director (for both Ghetto and Miss Saigon).[42]

Volpone
Ben Jonson
Almeida Theatre
1990

The Wind in the Willows
Kenneth Grahame, adapted by Alan Bennett
National Theatre
12 December 1990
1 June 1991
[42]

Miss Saigon
Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby, Jr.
Drury Lane
20 September 1989
30 October 1999
Also at The Broadway Theatre in New York from March 1991 to January 2001.Winner of the 1989 Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Director (for both Miss Saigon and Ghetto).[11][13]

King Lear
William Shakespeare
Barbican Theatre
1 May 1991

A Royal Shakespeare Company production.[43]

The Madness of George III
Alan Bennett
National Theatre
28 November 1991
24 October 1992
[42]

The Recruiting Officer
George Farquhar
National Theatre
12 March 1992

[42]

Carousel
Rodgers and Hammerstein
National Theatre:

Lyttleton Theatre

10 December 1992

Also at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, Lincoln Center, New York from February 1994 to January 1995. Won 1993 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director of a Musical, 1994 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical and 1994 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical.[42][44]

The Importance of Being Earnest
Oscar Wilde
Aldwych Theatre
1993

The Cripple of Inishmaan
Martin McDonagh
National Theatre
7 January 1997

[42]

Leveraging the accompanying table along with the context snippets listed at the end.

Solve the question: Which Play had an earlier opening date ? A well received play by famous people such as Vanessa Redgrave , Juliet Stevenson and Maggie Smith , or a play about the fall of a famous king of England ? Return your answer as JSON: {"answer": "YOUR ANSWER"}. Base your answer solely on the given information.

Absurd Person Singular is a 1972 play by Alan Ayckbourn . Divided into three acts , it documents the changing fortunes of three married couples . Each act takes place at a Christmas celebration at one of the couples ' homes on successive Christmas Eves .
Sir Alan Ayckbourn CBE FRSA ( born 12 April 1939 ) is a prolific British playwright and director . He has written and produced more than seventy full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was , between 1972 and 2009 , the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough , where all but four of his plays have received their first performance . More than 40 have subsequently been produced in the West End , at the Royal National Theatre or by the Royal Shakespeare Company since his first hit Relatively Speaking opened at the Duke of York 's Theatre in 1969 . Major successes include Absurd Person Singular ( 1975 ) , The Norman Conquests trilogy ( 1973 ) , Bedroom Farce ( 1975 ) , Just Between Ourselves ( 1976 ) , A Chorus of Disapproval ( 1984 ) , Woman in Mind ( 1985 ) , A Small Family Business ( 1987 ) , Man Of The Moment ( 1988 ) , House & Garden ( 1999 ) and Private Fears in Public Places ( 2004 ) . His plays have won numerous awards , including seven London Evening Standard Awards . They have been translated into over 35 languages and are performed on stage and television throughout the world . Ten of his plays have been staged on Broadway , attracting two Tony nominations , and one Tony award .
The Northcott Theatre is a theatre situated on the Streatham Campus of the University of Exeter , Exeter , Devon , England . It opened in 1967 and was run until 2010 by the Northcott Theatre Foundation , when the company ceased operating after a period in administration . The theatre is now known as Exeter Northcott Theatre and became a registered charity ( no . 1151620 ) in June 2013 .
Jumpers is a play by Tom Stoppard which was first performed in 1972 . It explores and satirises the field of academic philosophy , likening it to a less-than skilful competitive gymnastics display . Jumpers raises questions such as What do we know ? and Where do values come from ? It is set in an alternative reality where some British astronauts have landed on the moon and Radical Liberals ( read pragmatists and relativists ) have taken over the British government ( the play seems to suggest that pragmatists and relativists would be immoral : Archie says that murder is not wrong , merely antisocial ) . It was inspired by the notion that a manned moon landing would ruin the moon as a poetic trope and possibly lead to a collapse of moral values . It is often listed among Stoppards strongest plays .
Sir Tom Stoppard OM CBE FRSL ( born Tomáš Straussler ; 3 July 1937 ) is a Czech-born British playwright and screenwriter . He has written prolifically for TV , radio , film and stage , finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia , The Coast of Utopia , Every Good Boy Deserves Favour , Professional Foul , The Real Thing , Travesties , The Invention of Love , and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead . He co-wrote the screenplays for Brazil , The Russia House , and Shakespeare in Love , and has received an Academy Award and four Tony Awards . His work covers the themes of human rights , censorship and political freedom , often delving into the deeper philosophical thematics of society . Stoppard has been a key playwright of the National Theatre and is one of the most internationally performed dramatists of his generation . In 2008 , The Daily Telegraph ranked him number 11 in their list of the 100 most powerful people in British culture . Born in Czechoslovakia , Stoppard left as a child refugee , fleeing imminent Nazi occupation . He settled with his family in Britain after the war , in 1946 , having spent the three years prior ( 1943-1946 ) in a boarding school in Darjeeling in the Indian Himalayas . After being educated at schools in Nottingham and Yorkshire , Stoppard became a journalist , a drama critic and then , in 1960 , a playwright . It was announced in June 2019 that he had written a new play , Leopoldstadt , set in the Jewish community of early 20th Century Vienna . The play premiered in January 2020 at Wyndham 's Theatre with Patrick Marber directing .
The Royal Exchange is a grade II listed building in Manchester , England . It is located in the city centre on the land bounded by St Ann 's Square , Exchange Street , Market Street , Cross Street and Old Bank Street . The complex includes the Royal Exchange Theatre and the Royal Exchange Shopping Centre . The Royal Exchange was heavily damaged in the Manchester Blitz and in the 1996 Manchester bombing . The current building is the last of several buildings on the site used for commodities exchange , primarily but not exclusively of cotton and textiles .
The Scarlet Pimpernel is the first novel in a series of historical fiction by Baroness Orczy , published in 1905 . It was written after her stage play of the same title enjoyed a long run in London , having opened in Nottingham in 1903 . The novel is set during the Reign of Terror following the start of the French Revolution . The title is the nom de guerre of its hero and protagonist , a chivalrous Englishman who rescues aristocrats before they are sent to the guillotine . Sir Percy Blakeney leads a double life : apparently nothing more than a wealthy fop , but in reality a formidable swordsman and a quick-thinking escape artist . The band of gentlemen who assist him are the only ones who know of his secret identity . He is known by his symbol , a simple flower , the scarlet pimpernel ( Anagallis arvensis ) . Marguerite Blakeney , his French wife , does not share his secret . She is approached by the new French envoy to England , Chauvelin , with a threat to her brother 's life if she does not aid in the search for the Pimpernel . She aids him , and then discovers that the Pimpernel is also very dear to her . She sails to France to stop the envoy . Opening at the New Theatre in London 's West End on January 5 , 1905 , the play became a favourite of British audiences , eventually playing more than 2,000 performances and becoming one of the most popular shows staged in Britain .
Baroness Emma Magdolna Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála Emmuska Orczy de Orci ( /ˈɔːrtsiː/ ; 23 September 1865 - 12 November 1947 ) was a Hungarian-born British novelist and playwright . She is best known for her series of novels featuring the Scarlet Pimpernel , the alter ego of Sir Percy Blakeney , a wealthy English fop who turns into a quick-thinking escape artist in order to save ill-fated French royalty from Madame Guillotine during the French revolution , establishing the hero with a secret identity into popular culture . Opening in London 's West End on 5 January 1905 , The Scarlet Pimpernel became a favourite of British audiences . Some of Orczy 's paintings were exhibited at the Royal Academy in London . During World War I , she formed the Women of England 's Active Service League , an unofficial organisation aimed at encouraging women to persuade men to volunteer for active service in the armed forces .
Alan Beverley Cross ( 13 April 1931 - 20 March 1998 ) ( known as Beverley Cross ) was an English playwright , librettist and screenwriter .
Chichester Festival Theatre , located in Chichester , Sussex , England , is a theatre designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya , and opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin in 1962 . The smaller and more intimate Minerva Theatre was built nearby in 1989 . The inaugural Artistic Director was Sir Laurence Olivier , and it was at Chichester that the first National Theatre company was formed . Chichester 's productions would transfer to the NT 's base at the Old Vic in London . The opening productions in 1962 were : The Chances by John Fletcher ( first production 1638 ) which opened on 3 July ; The Broken Heart ( 1633 ) , by John Ford , opened 9 July ; Uncle Vanya ( 1896 ) , by Anton Chekov , opened 16 July . Among the actors in the opening season were : Lewis Casson , Fay Compton , Joan Greenwood , Rosemary Harris , Kathleen Harrison , Keith Michell , André Morell , John Neville , Laurence Olivier , Joan Plowright , Michael Redgrave , Athene Seyler , Sybil Thorndike and Peter Woodthorpe . The Festival Season usually runs from April to early December and includes productions from classics to contemporary writing and musicals , reaching an audience of 230,000 . Productions originated at Chichester frequently transfer to London or tour nationally and internationally . A range of additional events is designed to add to the experience of visiting the theatre , including performances , cabarets , family days , tours and talks . Through the winter months , the Theatre presents touring productions and a Christmas show mounted by Chichester Festival Youth Theatre . The Theatre runs a large and active Learning , Education and Participation programme for all ages ; its Youth Theatre is one of the largest in the country , with over 800 members . The Theatre is a registered charity and is chaired by Sir William Castell .
As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623 . The play 's first performance is uncertain , though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility . As You Like It follows its heroine Rosalind as she flees persecution in her uncle 's court , accompanied by her cousin Celia to find safety and , eventually , love , in the Forest of Arden . In the forest , they encounter a variety of memorable characters , notably the melancholy traveller Jaques who speaks many of Shakespeare 's most famous speeches ( such as All the world 's a stage , too much of a good thing and A fool ! A fool ! I met a fool in the forest ) . Jaques provides a sharp contrast to the other characters in the play , always observing and disputing the hardships of life in the country . Historically , critical response has varied , with some critics finding the play a work of great merit and some finding it to be of lesser quality than other Shakespearean works . The play remains a favourite among audiences and has been adapted for radio , film , and musical theatre . The piece has been a favourite of famous actors on stage and screen , notably Vanessa Redgrave , Juliet Stevenson , Maggie Smith , Rebecca Hall , Helen Mirren , and Patti LuPone in the role of Rosalind and Alan Rickman , Stephen Spinella , Kevin Kline , Stephen Dillane , and Ellen Burstyn in the role of Jaques .
William Shakespeare ( bapt . 26 April 1564 - 23 April 1616 ) [ a ] was an English poet , playwright , and actor , widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world 's greatest dramatist . He is often called England 's national poet and the Bard of Avon ( or simply the Bard ) . [ b ] His extant works , including collaborations , consist of some 39 plays , [ c ] 154 sonnets , two long narrative poems , and a few other verses , some of uncertain authorship . His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright . Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon , Warwickshire . At the age of 18 , he married Anne Hathaway , with whom he had three children : Susanna and twins Hamnet and Judith . Sometime between 1585 and 1592 , he began a successful career in London as an actor , writer , and part-owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain 's Men , later known as the King 's Men . At age 49 ( around 1613 ) , he appears to have retired to Stratford , where he died three years later . Few records of Shakespeare 's private life survive ; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance , his sexuality , his religious beliefs , and whether the works attributed to him were written by others . Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613 . [ d ] His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best work produced in these genres .
Robert James Glendinning ( born 1 September 1938 ) , known as Robin Glendinning , is a Northern Irish playwright and former politician . Born in Belfast , the brother of Will Glendinning , Robin grew up in County Armagh and studied at Rockport School , Campbell College and Trinity College Dublin . He taught English and history at Omagh Academy for eleven years . Glendinning was a founder of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland , and left teaching in 1973 to become its full-time political organiser . He stood for the party in Mid Ulster at the 1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election and Armagh at the February 1974 general election , but missed election on both occasions . In 1976 , Glendinning returned to teaching , working at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution , although he remained politically active , campaigning for the Alliance Party into the 1980s , and presenting a submission to the New Ireland Forum in 1983 . He also began writing short stories , some of which were published in the Irish Times , as a result of which he won the Hennessey Award . Following this , he switched to write plays , several of which were produced for BBC Television and Radio . These early works included The Artist , Condemning Violence , Culture Vultures , Faith , Mumbo Jumbo and Stuffing It . In 1991 , his Donny Boy won Best New Play at the inaugural TMA Awards , and this success inspired him to again quit teaching , this time to become a full-time writer .
The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second , King of England , with the Tragical Fall of Proud Mortimer , known as Edward II , is a Renaissance or Early Modern period play written by Christopher Marlowe . It is one of the earliest English history plays , and focusses on the relationship between King Edward II of England and Piers Gaveston , and Edward 's murder on the orders of Roger Mortimer . Marlowe found most of his material for this play in the third volume of Raphael Holinshed 's Chronicles ( 1587 ) . Frederick S. Boas believes that out of all the rich material provided by Holinshed Marlowe was drawn to the comparatively unattractive reign of Edward II due to the relationship between the King and Gaveston . Boas elaborates , Homosexual affection . has ( as has been seen ) a special attraction for Marlowe . Jove and Ganymede in Dido , Henry III and his 'minions ' in The Massacre , Neptune and Leander in Hero and Leander , and all akin , although drawn to a slighter scale , to Edward and Gaveston . Boas also notes the existence of a number of parallels between Edward II and The Massacre at Paris , asserting that it is scarcely too much to say that scenes xi-xxi of The Massacre are something in the nature of a preliminary sketch for Edward II . Marlowe stayed close to the account but embellished it with the character of Lightborn ( or Lucifer ) as Edward 's assassin .
Christopher Marlowe , also known as Kit Marlowe ( /ˈmɑːrloʊ/ ; baptised 26 February 1564 - 30 May 1593 ) , was an English playwright , poet and translator of the Elizabethan era . Marlowe was the foremost Elizabethan tragedian of his day . He greatly influenced William Shakespeare , who was born in the same year as Marlowe and who rose to become the pre-eminent Elizabethan playwright after Marlowe 's mysterious early death . Marlowe 's plays are known for the use of blank verse and their overreaching protagonists . Some scholars believe that a warrant was issued for Marlowe 's arrest on 18 May 1593 . No reason was given for it , though it was thought to be connected to allegations of blasphemy - a manuscript believed to have been written by Marlowe was said to contain vile heretical conceipts . On 20 May , he was brought to the court to attend upon the Privy Council for questioning . There is no record of their having met that day , and his being commanded to attend upon them each day thereafter , until licensed to the contrary . Ten days later , he was stabbed to death by Ingram Frizer . Whether or not the stabbing was connected to his arrest remains unknown .
The Country Wife is a Restoration comedy written in 1675 by William Wycherley . A product of the tolerant early Restoration period , the play reflects an aristocratic and anti-Puritan ideology , and was controversial for its sexual explicitness even in its own time . The title itself contains a lewd pun with regard to the first syllable of country . It is based on several plays by Molière , with added features that 1670s London audiences demanded : colloquial prose dialogue in place of Molière 's verse , a complicated , fast-paced plot tangle , and many sex jokes . It turns on two indelicate plot devices : a rake 's trick of pretending near impotence to safely have clandestine affairs with married women , and the arrival in London of an inexperienced young country wife , with her discovery of the joys of town life , especially the fascinating London men . The implied condition the Rake , Horner , claimed to suffer from was , he said , contracted in France whilst dealing with common women . The only cure was to have a surgeon drastically reduce the extent of his manly stature and therefore he would be no threat to any man 's wife . The scandalous trick and the frank language have for much of the play 's history kept it off the stage and out of print . Between 1753 and 1924 , The Country Wife was considered too outrageous to be performed at all and was replaced on the stage by David Garrick 's cleaned-up and bland version The Country Girl , now a forgotten curiosity . The original play is again a stage favourite today , and is also acclaimed by academic critics , who praise its linguistic energy , sharp social satire , and openness to different interpretations .
William Wycherley ( baptised 8 April 1641 - 1 January 1716 ) was an English dramatist of the Restoration period , best known for the plays The Country Wife and The Plain Dealer .
Don Carlos ( German : Don Karlos , Infant von Spanien [ nb 1 ] ) is a ( historical ) tragedy in five acts by Friedrich Schiller ; it was written between 1783 and 1787 and first produced in Hamburg in 1787 . The title character is Carlos , Prince of Asturias and the play as a whole is loosely modeled on historical events in the 16th century under the reign of King Philip II of Spain .
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller ( German : [ ˈjoːhan ˈkʁɪstɔf ˈfʁiːdʁɪç fɔn ˈʃɪlɐ ] ; 10 November 1759 - 9 May 1805 ) was a German poet , philosopher , physician , historian and playwright . During the last seventeen years of his life ( 1788-1805 ) , Schiller developed a productive , if complicated , friendship with the already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe . They frequently discussed issues concerning aesthetics , and Schiller encouraged Goethe to finish works he left as sketches . This relationship and these discussions led to a period now referred to as Weimar Classicism . They also worked together on Xenien , a collection of short satirical poems in which both Schiller and Goethe challenge opponents of their philosophical vision .
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare , probably written in 1610-1611 , and thought to be one of the last plays that Shakespeare wrote alone . After the first scene , which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest , the rest of the story is set on a remote island , where the sorcerer Prospero , a complex and contradictory character , lives with his daughter Miranda , and his two servants - Caliban , a savage monster figure , and Ariel , an airy spirit . The play contains music and songs that evoke the spirit of enchantment on the island . It explores many themes , including magic , betrayal , revenge , and family . In Act IV , a wedding masque serves as a play-within-the play , and contributes spectacle , allegory , and elevated language . Though The Tempest is listed in the First Folio as the first of Shakespeare 's comedies , it deals with both tragic and comic themes , and modern criticism has created a category of romance for this and others of Shakespeare 's late plays . The Tempest has been put to varied interpretations - from those that see it as a fable of art and creation , with Prospero representing Shakespeare , and Prospero 's renunciation of magic signaling Shakespeare 's farewell to the stage , to interpretations that consider it an allegory of Europeans colonizing foreign lands .
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre ( RST ) is a 1,040+ seat thrust stage theatre owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company dedicated to the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare . It is located in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon - Shakespeare 's birthplace - in the English Midlands , beside the River Avon . The Royal Shakespeare and Swan Theatres re-opened in November 2010 after undergoing a major renovation known as the Transformation Project .
Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare , believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604 . Originally published in the First Folio of 1623 , where it was listed as a comedy , the play 's first recorded performance occurred in 1604 . The play 's main themes include justice , morality and mercy in Vienna , and the dichotomy between corruption and purity : some rise by sin , and some by virtue fall . Mercy and virtue prevail , as the play does not end tragically , with virtues such as compassion and forgiveness being exercised at the end of the production . While the play focuses on justice overall , the final scene illustrates that Shakespeare intended for moral justice to temper strict civil justice : a number of the characters receive understanding and leniency , instead of the harsh punishment to which they , according to the law , could have been sentenced . Measure for Measure is often called one of Shakespeare 's problem plays . It continues to be classified as a comedy , albeit a dark one , though its tone may defy those expectations .
The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe . The Centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts , theatre performances , film screenings and art exhibitions . It also houses a library , three restaurants , and a conservatory . The Barbican Centre is member of the Global Cultural Districts Network . The London Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra are based in the Centre 's Concert Hall . In 2013 , it once again became the London-based venue of the Royal Shakespeare Company following the company 's departure in 2001 . The Barbican Centre is owned , funded , and managed by the City of London Corporation , the third-largest arts funder in the United Kingdom . It was built as The City 's gift to the nation at a cost of £161 million ( equivalent to £480 million in 2014 ) and was officially opened to the public by Queen Elizabeth II on 3 March 1982 . The Barbican Centre is also known for its brutalist architecture .
Ghetto ( Hebrew : גטו ) is a play by Israeli playwright Joshua Sobol about the experiences of the Jews of the Vilna Ghetto during Nazi occupation in World War II . The play focuses on the Jewish theatre in the ghetto , incorporating live music and including as characters historical figures such as Jacob Gens , the chief of the Jewish Police and later Head of the ghetto . It is part of a triptych of plays about the resistance movement , which also includes Adam and Underground . Ghetto premièred at the Haifa Municipal Theatre in Israel and the Freie Volksbühne , Berlin , in 1984 , with folk and jazz singer , Esther Ofarim as Hayyah It was performed in the Olivier Theatre at the Royal National Theatre , London , in an English-language version by David Lan , based on a translation by Miriam Schlesinger . This production opened on 27 April 1989 . It was directed by Nicholas Hytner and designed by Bob Crowley . Alex Jennings played Kittel , Jonathan Cullen played Srulik , and Maria Friedman played Hayyah . It won the 1989 Evening Standard Award for Best Play . A production directed by Gedalia Besser opened at the Circle in the Square Theatre in New York on 30 April 1989 .
Yehoshua Sobol ( born August 24 , 1939 ) , is an Israeli playwright , writer , and director .
The Royal National Theatre in London , commonly known as the National Theatre ( NT ) , is one of the United Kingdom 's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues , alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House . Internationally , it is known as the National Theatre of Great Britain . From its foundation in 1963 until 1976 , the company was based at The Old Vic theatre in Waterloo . The current building is located next to the Thames in the South Bank area of central London . In addition to performances at the National Theatre building , the National Theatre tours productions at theatres across the United Kingdom . Permission to add the Royal prefix to the name of the theatre was given in 1988 , but the full title is rarely used . The theatre presents a varied programme , including Shakespeare , other international classic drama , and new plays by contemporary playwrights . Each auditorium in the theatre can run up to three shows in repertoire , thus further widening the number of plays which can be put on during any one season . In June 2009 , the theatre began National Theatre Live ( NT Live ) , a programme of simulcasts of live productions to cinemas , first in the United Kingdom and then internationally . The programme began with a production of Phèdre , starring Helen Mirren , which was screened live in 70 cinemas across the UK . NT Live productions have since been broadcast to over 2,500 venues in 60 countries around the world . The NT had an annual turnover of approximately £105 million in 2015-16 , of which earned income made up 75% ( 58% from ticket sales , 5% from NT Live and Digital , and 12% from commercial revenue such as in the restaurants , bookshops , etc .
Volpone ( Italian for sly fox ) is a comedy play by English playwright Ben Jonson first produced in 1605-1606 , drawing on elements of city comedy and beast fable . A merciless satire of greed and lust , it remains Jonson 's most-performed play , and it is ranked among the finest Jacobean era comedies .
Benjamin Jonson ( c. 11 June 1572 - c. 16 August 1637 ) was an English playwright and poet , whose artistry exerted a lasting impact upon English poetry and stage comedy . He popularised the comedy of humours . He is best known for the satirical plays Every Man in His Humour ( 1598 ) , Volpone , or The Fox ( c. 1606 ) , The Alchemist ( 1610 ) and Bartholomew Fair ( 1614 ) and for his lyric and epigrammatic poetry . He is generally regarded as the second most important English dramatist , after William Shakespeare , during the reign of James I. Jonson was a classically educated , well-read and cultured man of the English Renaissance with an appetite for controversy ( personal and political , artistic and intellectual ) whose cultural influence was of unparalleled breadth upon the playwrights and the poets of the Jacobean era ( 1603-1625 ) and of the Caroline era ( 1625-1642 ) .
The Almeida Theatre , opened in 1980 , is a 325-seat studio theatre with an international reputation , which takes its name from the street on which it is located , off Upper Street , in the London Borough of Islington . The theatre produces a diverse range of drama . Successful plays are often transferred to West End theatres .
The Wind in the Willows is a children 's novel by Scottish novelist Kenneth Grahame , first published in 1908 . Alternatingly slow-moving and fast-paced , it focuses on four anthropomorphised animals : Mole , Rat ( a European water vole ) , Toad , and Badger . They live in a pastoral version of Edwardian England . The novel is notable for its mixture of mysticism , adventure , morality , and camaraderie , and celebrated for its evocation of the nature of the Thames Valley . In 1908 , Grahame retired from his position as secretary of the Bank of England . He moved back to Berkshire , where he had lived as a child , and spent his time by the River Thames , doing much as the animal characters in his book do - to quote , simply messing about in boats - and expanding the bedtime stories he had earlier told his son Alastair into a manuscript for the book . The novel was in its 31st printing when playwright A . A. Milne adapted part of it for the stage as Toad of Toad Hall in 1929 . In 1949 , the first film adaptation was produced by Walt Disney as one of two segments in the package film The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad . In 2003 , The Wind in the Willows was listed at # 16 in the BBC 's survey The Big Read . More than a century after its original publication , it was adapted again for the stage , as a 2016 musical by Julian Fellowes .
Kenneth Grahame ( /ˈɡreɪ.əm/ GRAY-əm ; 8 March 1859 - 6 July 1932 ) was a British writer , most famous for The Wind in the Willows ( 1908 ) , one of the classics of children 's literature . He also wrote The Reluctant Dragon . Both books were later adapted for stage and film , of which A . A. Milne 's Toad of Toad Hall was the first . The Disney films The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad and The Reluctant Dragon are other adaptations .
Alan Bennett ( born 9 May 1934 ) is an English actor , playwright , screenwriter , and author . He was born in Leeds and attended Oxford University , where he studied history and performed with the Oxford Revue . He stayed to teach and research medieval history at the university for several years . His collaboration as writer and performer with Dudley Moore , Jonathan Miller and Peter Cook in the satirical revue Beyond the Fringe at the 1960 Edinburgh Festival brought him instant fame . He gave up academia , and turned to writing full-time , his first stage play Forty Years On being produced in 1968 . His work includes The Madness of George III and its film adaptation , the series of monologues Talking Heads , play and subsequent film of The History Boys , and popular audio books , including his readings of Alice 's Adventures in Wonderland and Winnie-the-Pooh .
Miss Saigon is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil , with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr . It is based on Giacomo Puccini 's opera Madame Butterfly , and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed romance involving an Asian woman abandoned by her American lover . The setting of the plot is relocated to 1970s Saigon during the Vietnam War , and Madame Butterfly 's story of marriage between an American lieutenant and a geisha is replaced by a romance between a United States Marine and a seventeen-year-old South Vietnamese bargirl . The musical was premièred at the Theatre Royal , Drury Lane , London , on 20 September 1989 , closing after 4,092 performances on 30 October 1999 . It opened on Broadway at the Broadway Theatre on April 11 , 1991 , and subsequently played in many other cities and embarked on tours . Prior to the opening of the 2014 London revival , it was said that Miss Saigon had set a world record for opening day ticket sales , with sales in excess of £4m reported . The musical represented Schönberg and Boublil 's second major success , following Les Misérables in 1985 . As of July 2019 , Miss Saigon remains Broadway 's thirteenth longest-running show .
Claude-Michel Schönberg ( born 6 July 1944 in Vannes ) is a French record producer , actor , singer , songwriter , and musical theatre composer , best known for his collaborations with lyricist Alain Boublil . Major works include La Révolution Française ( 1973 ) , Les Misérables ( 1980 ) , Miss Saigon ( 1989 ) , Martin Guerre ( 1996 ) , The Pirate Queen ( 2006 ) , and Marguerite ( 2008 ) .
Alain Boublil ( born 5 March 1941 ) is a French musical theatre lyricist and librettist , best known for his collaborations with the composer Claude-Michel Schönberg for musicals on Broadway and London 's West End . These include : La Révolution Française ( 1973 ) , Les Misérables ( 1980 ) , Miss Saigon ( 1989 ) , Martin Guerre ( 1996 ) , The Pirate Queen ( 2006 ) , and Marguerite ( 2008 ) .
Richard Eldridge Maltby Jr. ( born October 6 , 1937 ) is an American theatre director and producer , lyricist , and screenwriter . He conceived and directed the only two musical revues to win the Tony Award for Best Musical : Ai n't Misbehavin ' ( 1978 : Tony , N.Y . Drama Critics , Outer Critics , Drama Desk Awards , also Tony Award for Best Director ) and Fosse ( 1999 : Tony , Outer Critics , Drama Desk Awards ) .
The Theatre Royal , Drury Lane , commonly known as Drury Lane , is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden , London , England . The building faces Catherine Street ( earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street ) and backs onto Drury Lane . The building is the most recent in a line of four theatres which were built at the same location , the earliest of which dated back to 1663 , making it the oldest theatre site in London still in use . According to the author Peter Thomson , for its first two centuries , Drury Lane could reasonably have claimed to be London 's leading theatre . For most of that time , it was one of a handful of patent theatres , granted monopoly rights to the production of legitimate drama in London ( meaning spoken plays , rather than opera , dance , concerts , or plays with music ) . The first theatre on the site was built at the behest of Thomas Killigrew in the early 1660s , when theatres were allowed to reopen during the English Restoration . Initially known as Theatre Royal in Bridges Street , the theatre 's proprietors hired prominent actors who performed at the theatre on a regular basis , including Nell Gwyn and Charles Hart . In 1672 , the theatre caught fire and Killigrew built a larger theatre on the same plot , renamed the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane ; it opened in 1674 . This building lasted nearly 120 years , under the leaderships of Colley Cibber , David Garrick and Richard Brinsley Sheridan , the last of whom employed Joseph Grimaldi as the theatre 's resident Clown . In 1791 , under Sheridan 's management , the building was demolished to make way for a larger theatre which opened in 1794 . This new Drury Lane survived for 15 years before burning down in 1809 . The building that stands today opened in 1812 .
King Lear is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare . It tells the tale of a king who bequeaths his power and land to two of his three daughters , after they declare their love for him in an extremely fawning and obsequious manner . His third daughter gets nothing , because she will not flatter him as her sisters had done . When he feels disrespected by the two daughters who now have his wealth and power , he becomes furious to the point of madness . He eventually becomes tenderly reconciled to his third daughter , just before tragedy strikes her and then the king . Derived from the legend of Leir of Britain , a mythological pre-Roman Celtic king , the play has been widely adapted for the stage and motion pictures , with the title role coveted by many of the world 's most accomplished actors . The first attribution to Shakespeare of this play , originally drafted in 1605 or 1606 at the latest with its first known performance on St. Stephen 's Day in 1606 , was a 1608 publication in a quarto of uncertain provenance , in which the play is listed as a history ; it may be an early draft or simply reflect the first performance text . The Tragedy of King Lear , a revised version that is better tailored for performance , was included in the 1623 First Folio . Modern editors usually conflate the two , though some insist that each version has its own individual integrity that should be preserved . After the English Restoration , the play was often revised with a happy ending for audiences who disliked its dark and depressing tone , but since the 19th century Shakespeare 's original version has been regarded as one of his supreme achievements . The tragedy is noted for its probing observations on the nature of human suffering and kinship . George Bernard Shaw wrote No man will ever write a better tragedy than Lear .
The Madness of George III is a 1991 play by Alan Bennett . It is a fictionalised biographical study of the latter half of the reign of George III of the United Kingdom , his battle with mental illness , and the inability of his court to handle his condition . It was adapted for film in 1994 as The Madness of King George .
The Recruiting Officer is a 1706 play by the Irish writer George Farquhar , which follows the social and sexual exploits of two officers , the womanising Plume and the cowardly Brazen , in the town of Shrewsbury ( the town where Farquhar himself was posted in this capacity ) to recruit soldiers . The characters of the play are generally stock , in keeping with the genre of Restoration comedy .
George Farquhar ( 1677 - 29 April 1707 ) was an Irish dramatist . He is noted for his contributions to late Restoration comedy , particularly for his plays The Recruiting Officer ( 1706 ) and The Beaux ' Stratagem ( 1707 ) .
Carousel is the second musical by the team of Richard Rodgers ( music ) and Oscar Hammerstein II ( book and lyrics ) . The 1945 work was adapted from Ferenc Molnár 's 1909 play Liliom , transplanting its Budapest setting to the Maine coastline . The story revolves around carousel barker Billy Bigelow , whose romance with millworker Julie Jordan comes at the price of both their jobs . He participates in a robbery to provide for Julie and their unborn child ; after it goes tragically wrong , he is given a chance to make things right . A secondary plot line deals with millworker Carrie Pipperidge and her romance with ambitious fisherman Enoch Snow . The show includes the well-known songs If I Loved You , June Is Bustin ' Out All Over and You 'll Never Walk Alone . Richard Rodgers later wrote that Carousel was his favorite of all his musicals . Following the spectacular success of the first Rodgers and Hammerstein musical , Oklahoma ! ( 1943 ) , the pair sought to collaborate on another piece , knowing that any resulting work would be compared with Oklahoma ! , most likely unfavorably . They were initially reluctant to seek the rights to Liliom ; Molnár had refused permission for the work to be adapted in the past , and the original ending was considered too depressing for the musical theatre . After acquiring the rights , the team created a work with lengthy sequences of music and made the ending more hopeful . The musical required considerable modification during out-of-town tryouts , but once it opened on Broadway on April 19 , 1945 , it was an immediate hit with both critics and audiences .
Rodgers and Hammerstein refers to the duo of composer Richard Rodgers ( 1902-1979 ) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II ( 1895-1960 ) , who together were an influential , innovative and successful American musical theatre writing team . They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s , initiating what is considered the golden age of musical theatre . Five of their Broadway shows , Oklahoma ! , Carousel , South Pacific , The King and I and The Sound of Music , were outstanding successes , as was the television broadcast of Cinderella ( 1957 ) . Of the other four shows that the team produced on Broadway during their lifetimes , Flower Drum Song was well-received , and none was an outright flop . Most of their shows have received frequent revivals around the world , both professional and amateur . Among the many accolades their shows ( and film versions ) garnered were thirty-four Tony Awards , fifteen Academy Awards , two Pulitzer Prizes , and two Grammy Awards . Their musical theatre writing partnership has been called the greatest of the 20th century .
The Importance of Being Earnest , A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde . First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James 's Theatre in London , it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae to escape burdensome social obligations . Working within the social conventions of late Victorian London , the play 's major themes are the triviality with which it treats institutions as serious as marriage , and the resulting satire of Victorian ways . Some contemporary reviews praised the play 's humour and the culmination of Wilde 's artistic career , while others were cautious about its lack of social messages . Its high farce and witty dialogue have helped make The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde 's most enduringly popular play . The successful opening night marked the climax of Wilde 's career but also heralded his downfall . The Marquess of Queensberry , whose son Lord Alfred Douglas was Wilde 's lover , planned to present the writer with a bouquet of rotten vegetables and disrupt the show . Wilde was tipped off and Queensberry was refused admission . Their feud came to a climax in court , where Wilde 's homosexuality was revealed to the Victorian public and he was sentenced to imprisonment . Despite the play 's early success , Wilde 's notoriety caused the play to be closed after 86 performances . After his release from prison , he published the play from exile in Paris , but he wrote no further comic or dramatic work . The Importance of Being Earnest has been revived many times since its premiere .
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde ( 16 October 1854 - 30 November 1900 ) was an Irish poet and playwright . After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s , the early 1890s saw him become one of the most popular playwrights in London . He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays , his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray , and the circumstances of his criminal conviction for gross indecency , imprisonment , and early death at age 46 . Wilde 's parents were successful Anglo-Irish intellectuals in Dublin . A young Wilde learned to speak fluent French and German . At university , Wilde read Greats ; he demonstrated himself to be an exceptional classicist , first at Trinity College Dublin , then at Oxford . He became associated with the emerging philosophy of aestheticism , led by two of his tutors , Walter Pater and John Ruskin . After university , Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles . As a spokesman for aestheticism , he tried his hand at various literary activities : he published a book of poems , lectured in the United States and Canada on the new English Renaissance in Art and interior decoration , and then returned to London where he worked prolifically as a journalist . Known for his biting wit , flamboyant dress and glittering conversational skill , Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day . At the turn of the 1890s , he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues and essays , and incorporated themes of decadence , duplicity , and beauty into what would be his only novel , The Picture of Dorian Gray ( 1890 ) . The opportunity to construct aesthetic details precisely , and combine them with larger social themes , drew Wilde to write drama .
The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre , located in Aldwych in the City of Westminster . It was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971 . Its seating capacity is 1,200 on three levels .
The Cripple of Inishmaan is a dark comedy by Martin McDonagh who links the story to the real life filming of the documentary Man of Aran . The play is set on the small Aran Islands community of Inishmaan ( Inis Meáin ) off the Western Coast of Ireland in 1934 , where the inhabitants are excited to learn of a Hollywood film crew 's arrival in neighbouring Inishmore ( Inis Mór ) to make a documentary about life on the islands . Cripple Billy Claven , eager to escape the gossip , poverty and boredom of Inishmaan , vies for a part in the film , and to everyone 's surprise , the orphan and outcast gets his chance . or so some believe .
Martin Faranan McDonagh ( /məkˈdɒnə/ ; born 26 March 1970 ) is an Irish-British playwright , screenwriter , producer , and director . Born and brought up in London , the son of Irish parents , he is considered among the most acclaimed living Irish playwrights . A winner of the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film , McDonagh has been nominated for three other Academy Awards , and in 2018 won three BAFTA Awards from four nominations and two Golden Globe Awards from three nominations for his film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing , Missouri .