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Post by RafaelA on Aug 2, 2016 11:58:42 GMT
On the National Theatre website they mention their archives offer screening facilities. Has anybody used these? What can you access? How do you go about accessing it?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2016 13:26:02 GMT
On the National Theatre website they mention their archives offer screening facilities. Has anybody used these? What can you access? How do you go about accessing it? They have a filmed production of everything they have put on since 1995. U email them at least 24 hours b4 u wanna watch but they prefer a week. It's not in the national building but in the building to the left of the Old Vic. I did a playwrighting course with the national recently and the archive people came for a chat. They seemed really nice and helpful. U can access programmes and posters etc of the productions too |
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3 posts
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Post by RafaelA on Aug 2, 2016 14:33:02 GMT
So you can watch screenings free of charge so long as you email them in advance? Seems to good to be true ahaha
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433 posts
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Post by DuchessConstance on Aug 2, 2016 14:48:24 GMT
Yes, they have a room off their office with a bunch of desks and computer screens, you watch it there. Not like a cinema screening.
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923 posts
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Post by Snciole on Aug 2, 2016 15:15:04 GMT
I've been there a few times. They provide headphones and I recommend ordering materials to do with the production, like production notes and costumes as well as rehearsal and production photographs.
They kept forgetting to take out closed documents when I visited so I ended up finding out the cast of London Assurance and Rory Kinnear's Hamlet's vital statistics!
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4,156 posts
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Post by kathryn on Aug 2, 2016 17:05:21 GMT
Yes, I've used the archive. One thing to note is that it's not open on weekends.
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2,389 posts
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Post by peggs on Aug 2, 2016 18:33:17 GMT
Can you order more than one play? I mean could you try and maximise your day and travel costs by seeing more than one play if you could stomach sitting at a computer screen for that long?
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433 posts
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Post by DuchessConstance on Aug 2, 2016 19:25:26 GMT
Yes, you can order as many as you like.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2016 20:24:37 GMT
They kept forgetting to take out closed documents when I visited so I ended up finding out the cast of London Assurance and Rory Kinnear's Hamlet's vital statistics! Oops! Obviously the NT don't force their staff to take data protection courses... |
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2,389 posts
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Post by peggs on Aug 2, 2016 21:07:58 GMT
Yes, you can order as many as you like. Darn it, that's what I should have been doing this week whilst off work, right when do I next have a weekday off, better get emailing, there is so much I'd like to see of things I missed and just heard about it. |
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Post by mikey on Aug 2, 2016 21:29:06 GMT
Wow, this sounds cool. I'd never heard of this before. Is the video quality generally decent?
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433 posts
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Post by DuchessConstance on Aug 2, 2016 21:35:02 GMT
Much older ones not so much, but I've seen newer screenings that are NT Live quality, multi-camera with close ups.
I found David Tennant's phone number in one NT Archives box! Presumably he doesn't still have the same number he had in 1995.
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82 posts
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Post by mikey on Aug 2, 2016 21:45:44 GMT
This place sounds like a stalker's dream haha. Thanks for letting me know - I'll definitely have to swing by one afternoon!
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471 posts
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Post by mistressjojo on Aug 3, 2016 3:36:45 GMT
Much older ones not so much, but I've seen newer screenings that are NT Live quality, multi-camera with close ups. I found David Tennant's phone number in one NT Archives box! Presumably he doesn't still have the same number he had in 1995.
You never know with Mr Tennant, he doesn't seem to throw out any of his wardrobe!
I watched The Pillowman at the NT archives. The quality was not great, single fixed camera & the odd sound glitch. But as they are meant for research & not general cinematic viewing, it's good enough.
The staff were very friendly & brought me lots of other things to look through as well without asking - call sheets , prompt books etc.
I found amongst the wardrobe notes instructions for the same Mr Tennant - something like 'do not enter dressing room straight away after show as David strips straight off to shower' ! (He was covered in blood at the end of the play)
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2,389 posts
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Post by peggs on Aug 3, 2016 20:15:24 GMT
Is there a list of shows they have available or do you need to know what you want to see i.e. find a record of what's they've done at the nt and chose?
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471 posts
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Post by mistressjojo on Aug 3, 2016 22:42:34 GMT
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2,389 posts
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Post by peggs on Aug 3, 2016 22:57:42 GMT
Thanks, right so just have to search through for videos then, that'll keep me nicely occupied for some time.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2016 7:40:13 GMT
Much older ones not so much, but I've seen newer screenings that are NT Live quality, multi-camera with close ups. I found David Tennant's phone number in one NT Archives box! Presumably he doesn't still have the same number he had in 1995. haha I found Daniel Craig's, again alas assuming he no longer resides at the same address... Re: catalogue, if there's something in particular you're looking for it's always worth emailing and asking just in case something is mis-labelled/not listed properly, as the archivists will possibly know about it and/or know if it's elswhere. The NT archive folks have always been very lovely too. |
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Post by Snciole on Aug 5, 2016 8:43:54 GMT
They kept forgetting to take out closed documents when I visited so I ended up finding out the cast of London Assurance and Rory Kinnear's Hamlet's vital statistics! Oops! Obviously the NT don't force their staff to take data protection courses... Ha! I know, the only comfort is that I am sure Simon Russell Beale's seat has got much smaller since London Assurance. I've never had my seat measured. I dread to think |
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2,389 posts
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Post by peggs on Aug 25, 2016 19:26:20 GMT
Am booked in to go on tuesday following the helpful advice on here, I've clearly never paid any attention to what is beside the old vic but assuming this can't be too hard to find?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2016 20:12:56 GMT
It's easy, literally the next building to the left of The Old Vic, u can't miss it. What u watching?
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1,504 posts
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Post by foxa on Aug 25, 2016 20:31:16 GMT
Am booked in to go on tuesday following the helpful advice on here, I've clearly never paid any attention to what is beside the old vic but assuming this can't be too hard to find? As above - super easy to find - you can stare at the Groundhog Day posters from your window. Funnily enough, though I'd been there for an event before, I went to do some proper research for the first time last week and it was great. I asked to see information on the 2002 'A Streetcar Named Desire' production and any other Williams material they had. They had about 8 boxes of stuff for me (2 on Streetcar, 6 on other productions), plus had loaded both the archive film of the Glenn Close production and the 2014 Gillian Anderson one (which they had because it was NT Live, even though it was at the Young Vic) onto a PC so that I could watch them side by side for comparison. SO helpful. (And Gillian Anderson's performance really holds up on film - if you didn't see it on stage I highly recommend seeing the NT Live version.) A few things worth knowing: You can't photograph anything. You can't have any food or drink in there. No pens, just pencils or laptops (they will give you a wifi password if you need it.) Phones on silent. A friend and I were talking about the wonderful free research facilities in London - like the British Library and the NT Archive - and he said, 'Yeah you suddenly think, I'm happy to be paying taxes for this.' |
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Post by rumbledoll on Aug 25, 2016 21:04:37 GMT
I've been doing it for 4,5 years now - rather surprised it's not widely known. TBH recording's quility (especially pre 2005) is very poor (not unlike V&A archive which has plenty of fab close-ups & 3 cam stuff), but it's better than nothing I suppose  |
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2,389 posts
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Post by peggs on Aug 25, 2016 21:43:13 GMT
Thanks for all the info, literally no water/food/pens with you at all, or not allowed out of your bag? Sounds most interesting, I requested a range of stuff on The Duchess of Malfi and Mourning Becomes Electra. I'm not researching anything i'm just interested. I'd love to access the British library properly, i've visited the general public bit but haven't yet worked out what they have that I could request as basically it's the idea of just lots of books that I find interesting.
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1,504 posts
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Post by foxa on Aug 25, 2016 22:02:54 GMT
They don't look in your bags, so fine in there.
If you do go to the British Library soon it's worth checking out the Shakespeare in Ten Acts exhibition on there for the next week or so. It costs (£10/£12, I think) but is jam-packed with interesting stuff. There's a white room dedicated to Peter Brook's The Dream; a Tempest room; rooms dedicated to various groups of actors, etc. Lots of amazing first folios, a few pages of ms from Henry VIII thought to be in Shakespeare's hand. There's a computery thing that compares three different early editions of a play, showing how stage instructions were added. I didn't have much time, so only spent about 45 minutes there, but easily could have taken a couple of hours.
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