NT Talks

A panel discussion with contributions from artist Larry Achiampong, writer and academic Margaret Byron, Matthew Ryder (Deputy Mayor for Social Integration, Social Mobility, Community Engagement), Sharon Watson (Artistic Director, Phoenix Dance Theatre) and chaired by presenter Brenda Emannus which explores issues of race, immigration and culture: exploring immigration in and before the 1940's with SS Empire Windrush and the continuing impact in contemporary arts and culture in the UK.

An event inspired by the new production of Nine Night by Natasha Gordon.

The writer and director discuss their production of Nine Night.

Natasha Gordon is a London-born actress and writer of Jamaican descent. She has performed at Tricycle Theatre, Royal Court, Young Vic and RSC. Nine Night is her first play.

Roy Alexander Weise won the James Menzies-Kitchen Young Director award in 2016 and his credits include The Mountaintop at the Young Vic, Dead Don’t Floss at the NT, The Ugly One at Park Theatre and Primetime at the Royal Court.

A panel event to launch Oberon’s new book Reasons to be Graeae, celebrating the first 38 years of the UK’s first disabled-led theatre company. Several of the books contributors including Jenny Sealey, Jack Thorne, Alison Halstead, Nicola Miles-Wildin, Rufus Norris and Daryl Beeton* will be talking about their involvement with Graeae over the last four decades, as well as taking questions.

To read the transcript of this event visit: http://graeae.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Graeae-Launch-260418-draft-note.pdf

To mark the publication of his new book, Year of the Mad King: The Lear Diaries, Antony Sher will be discussing his experiences of returning to Shakespeare’s King Lear after more than 30 years to perform the title role.

Sher kept a diary, capturing every step of his personal and creative journey to opening night. Year of the Mad King: The Lear Diaries is Sher’s account of researching, rehearsing and performing one of Shakespeare's greatest roles. His honest, illuminating and witty commentary provides an intimate, first-hand look at the development of his Lear and the production as a whole. Chaired by Sue MacGregor.

Studies show that mainstream and social media influence our daily decisions; what to buy, how to vote and even how to treat people or view society. We're increasingly relying on social networks as our source of news – is this trend reducing the power and influence of owners of the major news outlets?

A panel discusses what can be done to reduce the impact of fake news, and ensure reporting is unbiased; leaving consumers, voters and viewers to form their own opinions. Panellists include Claire Fox (Academy of Ideas), Janine Gibson (Buzzfeed), and Fatima Manji (Channel 4), chaired by Tazeen Ahmad.

1606, while a very good year for Shakespeare (he wrote Macbeth, King Lear and Antony and Cleopatra), was a fraught one for England. The plague had returned. There was resistance to the new king's desire to turn England and Scotland into a united Britain. Fear and uncertainty across the land exposed deep divisions in the aftermath of a failed terrorist attack that came to be known as the Gunpowder Plot. Join James Shapiro to explore how Shakespeare’s plays responded to the tumultuous events of 1606.

James Shapiro, who teaches English at Columbia University in New York, is author of several books, including 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare (winner of the BBC4 Samuel Johnson Prize in 2006), 1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear, as well as Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? He also serves on the Board of the Royal Shakespeare Company. This talk will be chaired by Mark Lawson.

Join the director and designer as they reflect on their new production of John. Chaired by Dan Rebellato.

Chloe Lamford’s work spans theatre, installation, music and opera nationally and internationally. She is associate designer at the Royal Court, and regularly designs for the National Theatre and the Young Vic, amongst others. Recent designs for NT include Amadeus and Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour.

James Macdonald was associate and deputy director of the Royal Court (1992 – 2006), and has directed productions at Donmar Warehouse, Almeida, Hampstead Theatre, Royal Court, in the West End, and in New York he has worked for Public Theater, Lincoln Center, NYTW and for MTC on Broadway. For NT has directed Dido Queen of Carthage, The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other and Exiles.

Ian Hislop, editor of Private Eye looks back on 2017 with regular guests Craig Brown, Lewis Macleod, Jan Ravens and John Sessions.

Private Eye is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986.

London is the theatre capital of the world. From world-famous musicals to West End shows, from cutting-edge plays to Shakespeare in its original staging, from outdoor performance to intimate fringe theatre, the range and quality is unsurpassed.

Critic Michael Coveney and photographer Peter Dazeley will be joined by Mark Rylance and Rosemary Squire as they discuss some of the 46 theatres profiled in their new book London Theatres published by Frances Lincoln, with stories of the architecture, productions and personalities that have defined these buildings.

Chaired by Rachel Tackley.

One of the world's best-known theatre directors discusses his new book Tip of the Tongue and his work in the arts, chaired by Richard Eyre.

In Tip of the Tongue, Peter Brook takes a charming, playful and wise look at topics such as the subtle, telling differences between French and English and the many levels on which we can appreciate the works for Shakespeare. Brook also revisits his seminal concept of the 'empty space', considering how theatre - and the world - have changed over the span of his long and distinguished career.

The actors reflect on the challenges and rewards of performing in Follies, chaired by Matt Wolf.

Philip Quast originated the role of Javert in Les Misérables (Australia), and played Georges Seurat in the National Theatre’s production of Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George. Quast has won the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical three times – the most of any actor to date.

Janie Dee originated the role of Jacie Triplethree in Ayckbourn’s Comic Potential, a role written ‘with Janie in mind’, and won multiple awards for it. At the NT, Dee has played Julie in Johnny on a Spot, Helen of Troy in The Women of Troy, and won an Olivier Award for her performance in Carousel.

Norwegian Ambassador H E Mona Juul and her husband Terje Rød-Larsen played key roles in the Oslo Accords, which are featured in J.T. Rogers' Oslo, which runs in the Lyttelton Theatre in September.

H E Mona Juul has been Norway's ambassador to the UK since August 2014.

The writer and director talk about their new production, Mosquitoes. Chaired by Dan Rebellato.

Following her success with Chimerica, the world premiere of Kirkwood’s newest play is directed by Rufus Norris, Director of the National Theatre.

The actors reflect on the challenges and rewards of performing in Mosquitoes, chaired by Miranda Sawyer.

Colman is perhaps best known for her on-screen appearances, including That Mitchell and Webb Look, Peep Show, Broadchurch, Twenty Twelve, The Night Manager, and films including Hot Fuzz, The Iron Lady, and The Lobster. Williams' previous NT appearances include Waste, Happy Now?, Love's Labour's Lost, and Richard III, and films include Emma, The Sixth Sense, An Education, and The Ghost Writer.

George Monbiot is a bestselling UK-based author and columnist known for his writing on environmental and political issues and activism.

Here he will focus on the issue of common land as a starting point for a wide-ranging discussion, as DC Moore's new play, Common, plays at the National.

Monbiot co-founded The Land is Ours a landrights campaign for Britain in 1995 and his latest book is How Did We Get into This Mess? Politics, Equality, Nature.

A panel discussion exploring 'The Reality Gap'; the distance between what established politicians tell voters and the perceived realities of everyday people in the US and UK. The discussion is in association with Squint theatre company and will be chaired by Squint Artistic Director Andrew Whyment, with contributions from a panel of expert political commentators including BBC Newsnight's Gabriel Gatehouse, Sarah Churchwell and David Goodhart.

2016 was a year of political change on both sides of the Atlantic. Squint theatre company were up close to events in America, travelling over 4,000 miles interviewing voters from across the political divide to research their forthcoming production. On the week of the UK's general election, they have brought together expert political commentators to discuss how cognitive dissonance, broken promises and the erosion of trust led to the election of Donald Trump.

Squint is a London-based theatre company that asks big questions about the world through exhilarating and provocative new work. Their distinctive, ensemble-driven productions collide new writing, music, movement and multimedia to create visceral and highly visual experiences. Squint research journalistically, develop collaboratively and rehearse playfully. squintonline.com

Nicholas Hytner reveals the inside story of his 12 years at the helm of the National. This is a story about actors, writers and directors; about directing new plays like The History Boys and One Man, Two Guvnors; films like The Madness of King George; about probing Shakespeare from every angle and reinventing the classics; and about coming up time and again against the challenge of reconciling art and commerce. With candour, intelligence, humour and insight borne from experience of extraordinary successes and lunatic failures, he explores the biggest questions facing the creative industries right now.

Chaired by Simon Russell Beale.

Alan Bennett reads the introduction to the playscript of People as well as a poem by Philip Larkin, entitled The Explosion.

This is a recording of a live Platform event from November 2012.

This film explores the role of women in Ancient Greek society and the representation of female identity in Antigone, Women of Troy and Medea.

Dr Lucy Jackson, Teaching Fellow at King's College London & Knowledge Exchange Fellow at the Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH) looks back over these recent Greek productions at the National Theatre, featuring Helen McCrory and Jodie Whittaker.

For background detail on Greek theatre productions at the National Theatre, see our online exhibit: https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/u/0/exhibit/greek-tragedy-at-the-national-theatre/wRnC0fJ0

With recent productions of King Lear at the Old Vic, the Donmar’s trilogy of The Tempest, Henry IV and Julius Caesar, and our own Twelfth Night in mind, a panel questions the reasons for, and challenges of, swapping the gender for some of Shakespeare’s key roles, and whether this makes them more relevant or accessible for today’s audience. What can an actress bring to these roles – and is there any fundamental difference in the way they must be played?

Guests include Maria Aberg, Samuel Barnett, and Harriet Walter, whose new book, Brutus and Other Heroines, is an exploration of the Shakespearean canon through the eyes of ‘a self-identified feminist actor’, as she describes herself.

Chaired by Genista McIntosh.

The live recording of readings from A Poem For Every Night of the Year, including joyous, magical, dramatic and humorous poems in the journey through history and human experience.

Allie Esiri’s new anthology is a journey through a calendar year, highlighting key moments and dates with a poem for every night, by writers such as Maya Angelou, Robert Burns and Benjamin Zephaniah.

With guest readers Kate Duchêne, Hattie Morahan, Giles Terera and Samuel West.

Playwright David Hare discusses his new play, The Red Barn, adapted from Georges Simenon’s novel La Main, with John Simenon, who reflects on his father’s literary legacy.

La Main is published as The Hand by Penguin Classics on 6 October, part of its long-term project to bring the Belgian writer to a British audience.

Bryony Kimmings, director of this Complicite co-production, A Pacifist's Guide to the War on Cancer, talks to comedian Jenny Eclair about the new musical as it arrives at the National.

https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/a-pacifists-guide-to-the-war-on-cancer

On this date in 1976, the National Theatre’s new building on the South Bank was officially opened by Her Majesty The Queen.

Paule Constable (lighting designer and NT Associate), Richard Pilbrow (Laurence Olivier’s lighting director and theatre consultant), and Steve Tompkins (co-founder of Haworth Tompkins Ltd, architects on the NT Future project) explore the process of the architectural design of the three NT theatre spaces, and celebrate the creativity of the theatre designer over the last 40 years with the practical experiences of working onstage.

Chaired by Gavin Henderson, Principal of The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

As her memoir, Touching Lives, is published, Sue Laurie reflects on thirty years of learning, training and teaching the Alexander Technique – an integral part of the inner workings of the National Theatre and RSC.

She talks about the huge impact that Alexander Technique has on voice, body and mind for actors, directors and puppeteers, and her own indomitable passion for theatre with actor Michelle Terry (NT: Cleansed, London Assurance) and director Ian Rickson (NT: Evening at the Talk House, The Red Lion), who calls her work ‘invaluable during rehearsal… almost imperceptible yet with palpable results’.

As the Chichester Festival Theatre’s trilogy of Chekhov’s Platonov, Ivanov, and The Seagull comes to the National, director Jonathan Kent discusses the productions with Genista McIntosh.

#YoungChekhov

The director and writer discuss this new musical, Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, and its journey to the National.

#OurLadies
https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/our-ladies-of-perpetual-succour

The timeless Shakespearean characters of Lear and Rosalind are given a voice through the different and unorthodox approach of their biographers, in two newly-published books.

Michael Pennington, who played King Lear in New York and is currently touring the UK, takes us on a journey through the play from the point of view of Lear himself, commenting on its motives and themes in Lear’s own words, in King Lear in Brooklyn.

Angela Thirlwell explores the fictitious life and the many after-lives of Shakespeare’s progressive heroine Rosalind, and her perennial influence on drama, fiction and art, using interviews with actors and directors in Rosalind: A Biography of Shakespeare’s Immortal Heroine.

The former Director of the National Theatre talks to Abigail Rokison-Woodall about his enormous contribution to the history of Shakespeare at the NT.

In her forthcoming new book, Shakespeare in the Theatre: Nicholas Hytner, she looks at his career through his Shakespeare productions as a whole, including those of Henry V, Much Ado about Nothing, Timon of Athens and Othello at the National.

Simon Russell Beale and Simon Lovestone look at how memory and ageing are explored in Shakespeare’s play, King Lear, and discuss how the situations experienced by the characters might be mirrored today.

Part of the Shakespeare400 Partnership, coordinated by King’s College London.

A series of discussions on the issues raised by the play, Another World.

https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/another-world-losing-our-children-to-islamic-state

Lorraine Hansberry's Literary Executor and Director of her Literary Trust, Joi Gresham, joins director Yaël Farber and dramaturg Drew Lichtenberg to discuss the playwright’s work and legacy, and this new production of her play, Les Blancs.

http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/les-blancs
#LesBlancs

This is a recording of a live platform event.