Losing the National Theatre habit

I quite agree. Most of it just smacks of worthy pieces that preach to the converted.

Whoops.,,,sad

It is very disappointing. It is almost as if they cant’t see the point of doing anything for us Londoners. They have such a wonderful space right on the river where they could have safely put something.

I'm a bit more positive. I've seen/booked for everything post-Covid apart from Hex (but I'm just not in the target audience for that). I enjoyed After Life and thought Paradise and UMW were a bit disappointing but worth seeing, and I'm looking forward to a few of the forthcoming shows, especially ROckets and Blue Lights and Manor. It doesn't worry me that there's been no standout show yet, and I think there's still a lot of goodwill from the free NT@Home shows.

But I do really miss the foyer spaces. I like being able to go straight to the NT after work and hang around for an hour or two, getting something to eat, browsing in the bookshop, sometimes listening to the live music, or just sitting with a book. It's one of the reasons I really like the NT - lots of space and it works for all kinds of people, whether you're alone or in a group, chatty or prefer to keep to yourself - it's always felt like a really comfortable and welcoming space, and I think the NT loses a lot by not using it. And the current policy of herding audiences straight out through the nearest external door is a bit grim. Both times I've been to the Olivier I've ended up having to use the Waterloo Station loos rather than join the long queue for the only loos I was allowed to use before the exit. It's a small thing but I think a large part of what makes the National is that it's a big public building with lots of facilities and social spaces. I hope it will be fully open in the next few weeks, and I agree they could have been more creative about welcoming people back into their public areas and not just ticketholders.

To be honest I think I might have lost the habit, full-stop.

I still have an enthusiastic theatre buddy reminding me of some on-sale dates but if she doesn’t point it out they are largely passing me by.

Jack Absolute and The Corn is Green I hope come next year, I assume the National aren’t in the position to stage either yet for various reasons.

Exactly. I spent as time there when going to see a show as when I was and that sort of bought my good favour to then see things. I do understand their problems and I don't suppose I'd be rushing back to just hang out there but the current set up does sound rather out of step with other theatres. I suppose they don't have the extra space to worry about. The lack of anything outside is just odd when as others have said you'd think they'd want to a) make some money and b)keep their profile up.

I have a fair amount of credit but I'm not risking getting on trains and going to the theatre for something I don't want to see so I might just have to accept it's a right off.

Not so much Macbeth but I should learn not to book things just cos certain people are in it as have been burnt a bit before plus I am a faint risk for the scottish play. So i intend to join the queue tomorrow but think secretly I hope there isn't anything that I can do/afford to take the decision out of my hands.

I'm also losing patience; Rufus is arsing around like he's running the Soho Theatre on a job share when he's got 2,500 thousand seats to fill eight times a week.

The Circle of his show in the Olivier is closing this weekend and he's got nothing in the Lyttleton until October, and then it's an unoriginal revival from 25 years ago. The Dorfman opens tomorrow and at least that has sold well.

The main entrance is like trooping into Moscow airport in 1980. As a member, I'll give it one more season announcement.

I am excited about a few of the forthcoming productions, but I agree about Hex - there should be very tight rules about people paid with public money giving contracts to themselves or their own families, whether it's manufacturing PPE for the NHS or writing musicals for the National Theatre.

It's ironic that the two organisations that got significant loans from the Cultural Recovery Fund aren't putting in the effort compared to other companies who either got smaller amounts or no support.

I let my membership lapse about a year ago for the same reason. I'd been a member since the 1980s. Around the time he was appointed the Almeida AD job was also vacant and I thought then they'd both made the wrong appointments - Norris would have been great at the Almeida and Goold at NT. What you need at NT is someone who in amongst everything else is a little bit of a populist showman, all of his predecessors were with maybe the exception of Richard Eyre. Norris' programming is just so earnest and dull and it lacks diversity, almost everything he stages is about identity politics in one way or another. However, that's just my taste and whoever takes over from him can change that immediately if they wish. Not so at the RSC where I think Doran has actually destroyed the company. 

Standing At The Sky’s Edge seems to have been dropped from the plans. 

Just reading this interview from April doesn’t inspire much confidence!

www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/national-new-programming-musical-year_53782.html

I'm writing this as someone with no insider knowledge of how theatres are run, but I'm just wondering how things can be derailed by one person - the artistic director? I can see how the artistic vision might just not be right, but ultimately there are trustees who are employing the AD and he is answerable to them if his vision is out of kilter with the organisation's objectives, what they expected of the appointment, or their responses to public/industry criticism. So are the trustees failing to take enough responsibility?

Apart from the trustees, aren't there dozens of people whose opinions should be heard by the AD, whether formally or just because it's part of their job to keep their ears to the ground? I mean senior employees, major figures in other parts of the industry, neighbouring organisations (Hayward, RFH, etc), the Arts Council, Stratford Council and business representatives, etc. Maybe even audiences?

On the most basic level there must be many actors and directors going to the NT and the Garden Theatre and gossiping about what's wrong e.g. wondering when the RSC theatres will reopen, and gossip and unrest must surely filter back to those in charge, unless everyone working in theatre thinks all's hunky dory with the RSC and NT?

I'm probably not understanding what an AD's role is, but if they're the artistic directors, aren't there other employees responsible for non-artistic/business stuff, e.g. who would be saying to GD, we've got to get these theatres open asap because we're killing the town's economy and our own reputation? And if not, why not? Why would we expect someone whose expertise is in putting on plays, to be able to do things like managing finances, buildings and employees, economic responsibilities? Or maybe it's the finance directors who are overriding artistic decisions and saying they can't afford to reopen yet (unless it's underwritten by the Gorvy family)?

It seems like the response to the pandemic has highlighted (existing?) issues around how big arts organisations are managed. There's the artistic vision - and there are legitimate criticisms of the way both RN and GD have been doing their jobs as creatives and seemingly not been held to account. And there's also the balance between creativity and business/financial management, as well as wider responsibility to audiences and local communities, which seems to be the issue which is killing Stratford and keeping the NT from fully reopening as a public space.

My extremely limited knowledge of the situation at the NT is that Rufus is a consensus builder and listens to everybody. And that's not a bad thing in general, but when running a multi-theatre institution there needs to be someone at the top with a clear vision to make tough artistic and business decisions and that as talented and as personable as he may be, he's in over his head. Let's remember he was an NT Associate before he was given the job, so the thinking may have been: He knows the building, he knows how its run, there won't be a learning curve. Similarly Greg Doran got the job for which he had been campaigning for many many years. Both organizations are facing unprecedented social and artistic challenges in these unsettled times. There are no easy answers. My question is are these organizations asking the hard questions or simply sleepwalking in the hopes that it will all be over soon?