Theatres The National Theatre building houses three separate theatres. Additionally, a temporary structure was added in April 2013 and closed in May 2016.
Olivier Theatre Named after the theatre's first artistic director,
Laurence Olivier, this is the main auditorium. Modelled on the
Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, it has an open stage and a fan-shaped audience seating area for 1160 people. A "drum revolve" (a five-storey revolving stage section) extends eight metres beneath the stage and is operated by a single staff member. The drum has two rim revolves and two platforms, each of which can carry ten tonnes, facilitating dramatic and fluid scenery changes. Its design ensures that the audience's view is not blocked from any seat, and that the audience is fully visible to actors from the stage's centre. Designed in the 1970s by
Richard Brett and
Richard Pilbrow and a prototype of current technology, the drum revolve and a multiple "sky hook" flying system were initially very controversial and required ten years to commission, but seem to have fulfilled the objective of functionality with high productivity.
Lyttelton Theatre Named after
Oliver Lyttelton, the National Theatre's first board chairman, it can accommodate an audience of 890 and has a
proscenium arch design with flat side walls and seating arranged in long straight rows on two raked tiers. The proscenium arch is adjustable in width and there is an orchestra pit lift. The Lyttelton has been criticised for its lack of warmth, partly arising from the fact that the upper level audience is invisible to those on the lower level (and, of course, vice versa).
Dorfman Theatre Named after
Lloyd Dorfman (philanthropist and chairman of
Travelex Group), the Dorfman is "the smallest, the barest and the most potentially flexible of the National Theatre houses . . . a dark-walled room" with a capacity of 400. It was formerly known as the Cottesloe Theatre (named after
Lord Cottesloe, Chairman of the South Bank Theatre Board). The Cottesloe was the smallest of the National's three theatres and, but for pressure exerted by
Peter Brook and
Peter Hall, might easily have been omitted. It sits below the stage of the Olivier in a space initially planned for a third theatre which had been cancelled earlier in the design process. It was designed by
Iain Mackintosh and Theatre Projects Consultants. It was the most influential of the modern 'courtyard' theatres, with its extremely simple, rectangular form and the audience on three shallow tiers, it could be readily adapted to proscenium, end stage, thrust, in-the-round, traverse or promenade form. The Cottesloe closed on 23 February 2013 to undergo major refurbishment and reopened as the Dorfman Theatre on 30 September 2014 as part of the National's
NT Future redevelopment. The enhanced
Temporary Theatre The Temporary Theatre, formerly called The Shed, was a 225-seat black box theatre which opened in April 2013 and featured new works. It closed in May 2016, following the refurbishment of the Dorfman Theatre. In 2015 British artist
Carl Randall painted a portrait of actress
Katie Leung standing in front of The Shed as part of the artist's "London Portraits" series, where he asked various cultural figures to choose a place in London for the backdrop of their portraits. Leung explained she chose The Shed as her backdrop because she performed there in the 2013 play
The World of Extreme Happiness, and also because "... it's a temporary theatre, it's not permanent, and I wanted to make it permanent in the portrait".
Architecture The style of the National Theatre building was described by architecture historian
Mark Girouard as "an aesthetic of broken forms" at the time of opening. Architectural opinion was split at the time of construction. Even enthusiastic advocates of the
Modern Movement such as
Nikolaus Pevsner found the
Béton brut RAAC concrete both inside and out overbearing. Most notoriously, the future
Charles III described the building in 1988 as "a clever way of building a nuclear power station in the middle of London without anyone objecting".
John Betjeman, a man not noted for his enthusiasm for
brutalist architecture, wrote to Lasdun stating ironically that he "gasped with delight at the cube of your theatre in the pale blue sky and a glimpse of St Paul's to the south of it. It is a lovely work and so good from so many angles...it has that inevitable and finished look that great work does." and
Somerset House. The building's main construction material is a pale
concrete, intended to complement the colour of the stone of
Waterloo Bridge and
Somerset House. The concrete was cast in formwork made from rough wooden planks, and the imprint of the wood was left in place so that it is visible on the building's internal and external surfaces. In 2023, following concern in the UK about the widespread use of reinforced
autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) leading to sudden building failure, the theatre discovered that, whereas most of the building had been constructed using traditional reinforced and post-tensioned concrete, RAAC had been used in some backstage areas, and concluded that it was safe for the time being. Despite controversy about its design, the theatre has been a Grade II*
listed building since 1994. Although the theatre is often cited as an archetype of
brutalist architecture in England, since Lasdun's death the building has been re-evaluated as having closer links to the work of
Le Corbusier, rather than contemporary monumental 1960s buildings such as those of
Paul Rudolph. The carefully refined balance between horizontal and vertical elements in Lasdun's building has been contrasted favourably with the lumpiness of neighbouring buildings such as the
Hayward Gallery and
Queen Elizabeth Hall. It is now in the unusual situation of having appeared simultaneously in the top ten "most popular" and "most hated" London buildings in opinion surveys. A recent lighting scheme illuminating the exterior of the building, in particular the
fly towers, has proved very popular, and is one of several positive artistic responses to the building. A key intended viewing axis is from
Waterloo Bridge at 45 degrees head on to the fly tower of the Olivier Theatre (the largest and highest element of the building) and the steps from ground level. This view is largely obscured now by mature trees along the riverside walk but it can be seen in a more limited way at ground level.
Foyers and interior spaces The National Theatre's foyers are open to the public, with a large theatrical bookshop, restaurants, bars and exhibition spaces. The terraces and foyers of the theatre complex have also been used for ad hoc, short seasonal and experimental performances and screenings. The riverside forecourt of the theatre is used for regular season of open-air performances in the summer months. The Clore Learning Centre is a new dedicated space for learning at the National Theatre. It offers events and courses for all ages, exploring theatre-making from playwriting to technical skills, often led by the NT's own artists and staff. One of its spaces is The Cottesloe Room, so called in recognition of the original name of the adjacent theatre. The dressing rooms for all actors are arranged around an internal light-well and air-shaft and so their windows each face each other. This arrangement has led to a tradition whereby, on the opening night (known as "Press Night") and closing night of any individual play, when called to go to "beginners" (opening positions), the actors will go to the window and drum on the glass with the palms of their hands. Backstage tours run throughout the day and the Sherling High Level Walkway, open daily until 7.30 pm, offers visitors views into the backstage production workshops for set construction and assembly, scenic painting and prop-making. ==NT Future==