The National Theatre General Thread

No Motive and the Cue which is a shame, hopefully they will announce that for later next year, because I was there the day they were filming it.
Glad to get a chance to see Vanya.

It went all silent about the new Artistic Director. Does anyone know anything, apart that it seemed that Indhu Rubasingham could have been offered the job?

Carrie Cracknell is directing a play at the NT next year, according to an interview in The Stage. (Sorry if this is already known)

Yes NT Live had a very good start to 2023 but has now gone totally quiet for the second half of the year. Latest announcement is underwhelming. Trotting out Skylight again 10 years later is not exciting.

Also would love to see The Normal Heart again - I’m guessing there’s a rights issue here?

Just got the email stating that priority booking starts on November 2nd for Nye, Dear Octopus, London Tide, Til The Stars Come Down and Underdog:The Other Bronte. Also mentions that they are having some 6.30 pm performances.

Love the idea of a 6:30 show. A standard 10pm finish usually gets me home for just after 11. Getting home that little bit earlier helps a lot.

The earlier start especially for longer plays is an excellent idea provided people have time to get there.

Michael Sheen as Nye Bevan could be an outstanding performance given his ability with historic real life people. Nye's wife Jennie Lee was a long serving Arts Minister in Harold Wilson's 1960's Government who I assume Sharon Small will portray in the play.

I'd always assumed early starts (and therefore finishes) were for the benefit of families with kids who need to get to bed sooner.

I find even the current typical 19:30 start quite a challenge. 19:30 is fine if you're retired or have flexible working arrangements, but for a typical office-hours job, you're going to be leaving the office at 17:30 at the earliest. (If it's like most professional jobs I've had where you're not expected to depart until work is complete, it's more likely an hour or so later.)

There's no chance of eating any dinner before a show, and it's a-wing-and-a-prayer as to whether traffic will allow you to get straight from work to the theatre in time.

I look on enviously at both those who have the luxury of earlier starts, and at those Halcyon days depicted in archive theatre posters where Coward's latest three-act and two-interval drama notes a start time of 20:30 or even 21:00.

I like the idea of the 6.30pm starts. Maybe not appealing for those who work late or want to eat beforehand, but they must have identified a market among the many people working within easy reach of the Southbank, solo theatregoers who might prefer to go straight to a play without the social time beforehand, people who have long journeys home afterwards.