Among Londoners, the building has always divided opinion, regularly appearing in both the most loved and most hated lists. Architecturally, it is a child of the 60’s (opened in 1963), its concrete brutalism not to everyones taste – perhaps not to my taste – and yet for me The National Theatre remains one of my most visited and treasured spaces in London.
The theatre itself is divided into three stages – ‘The Olivier’, ‘The Lyttelton’ and what in my day used to be ‘The Cottesloe’ but has since been renamed. Allowing for three different plays to run simultaneously each night, on my evening stroll over Waterloo Bridge, I was often spoilt for choice – a challenging modern drama by a new playwright just as likely as an established classic.
I have lost count of the number of plays I’ve enjoyed there (my old University being just across the bridge). When the lights went up at the end of each production, I would emerge back into the hustle and bustle of London, readjusting only gradually, having just been transported somewhere else for a couple of hours. The lights strung along the South Bank – as if continuing some of the theatre – reflecting in the water of the Thames below.
The actors’ dressing rooms are designed so the window of each faces the others around a central lightwell. This strange arrangement has led to a tradition whereby on opening and closing night, when the actors are called to their positions, they each stand behind their individual window and drum on the glass with the palms of their hands.
This tradition must have taken on new symbolism for the cast of the National’s latest production, a new adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Closed to the public since March 2020 and not due to reopen until June 2021, it was filmed in the empty theatre.
Live streaming is one way to keep the curtain up and although nothing can compare to the experience of live performance this short trailer from the play captures something of the great artistry and invention of the many productions I was lucky enough to enjoy there in better times.
