Losing the National Theatre habit

What an entitled attitude. It perfectly encapsulates what is wrong with Norris.

Tanya Ronder has seemingly built her career by working with Norris

www.unitedagents.co.uk/tanya-ronder

She has done a lot of adaptations but very few of her 'original' works have made much of a mark beyond their original productions.

There is no reason at all why a properly functioning National Theatre Literary department should pay her more than occasional attention.

The fact that Norris believes she is owed more shows exactly why this sort of nepotism has to be prevented from continuing to corrupt our public theatre organisations.

Even if Tanya Ronder was the world's greatest playwright, she should be working elsewhere. There is no place for nepotism in spending public money. That's the price you pay for accepting a powerful job in a subsidised company.

It's a similar thing to MP's now being banned from employing their spouses. The spouse might be the perfect person for the job in terms of qualifications, experience and skills, but it's just inappropriate to employ them.

I think we have good reason to query Norris's judgement on this, given the disaster (and waste of money) that Hex turned out to be. I wonder if there's also a problem with quality control at the NT - people with the power to say "this isn't working". Manor also had close family members working together and apparently nobody to point out its problems.

RuNo? RuNope!





I’m surprised by the comments and replies from the tweet regarding RuNo’s remark. I thought that while the National only selects the best of the best, they are more inclusive when it comes to auditions. Wasn’t it not long ago where they had the likes of Cate Blanchett, Andrew Garfield, and Bryan Cranston performing at the NT and their shows were hits? I don’t think talent pool is a problem.

When RuNo said that, I was thinking if the NT favors certain actors and creatives of which kind of production do they want to do. (Like in the case of The Normal Heart, Ben Daniels was in discussion to prepare for the play for like five or seven years before they finally staged it, and invited some actors to read parts with him even if it wasn’t an official audition)

How can the guy who wrote Hex talk about talent?

He stands behind Manor

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/netflix-amazon-keeping-stars-out-of-national-theatre-sz3fkl7tq

Some thoughts from actor Jon Dryden Taylor. He recently performed at the National as an understudy for Richard Cant and Robert Bowman in The Normal Heart.




And the accusations too that NT is focusing too much on big name drama schools to open auditions. Wasn’t it not long ago where they had open auditions for recent graduates?

www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/blog/meetings-national-theatre-casting-department-recent-graduates

They announced they were going to. Are there any figures as to how many graduates were actually given auditions, and which drama schools they came from? Obviously they can’t see everyone who applied, but how did they decide who to see and who not to see?

I have to say that I agree with Rufus Norris with regard to "Most actors who would sell a theatre are now attached to some kind of contract with Netflix or Amazon." We're seeing a great deal of British actors who began in theatre become big names in Hollywood: Jessie Buckley, Josh O'Connor, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Andrew Scott, etc. It's understandable theatres like the National want them to star in shows at their theatres. However, they are being snapped up by film studios and streaming sites: Jessie Buckley and Josh O'Connor have multiple film projects lined up, Phoebe has signed a $20-million-a-year deal with Amazon and Andrew Scott is filming The Talented Mr Ripley for Showtime which is only going to boost his Hollywood profile. These are just a few examples but it's a very real thing that's happening. It seems the mentality is when your stardom is growing you don't go back (to theatre), you keep moving (to film and TV).

I was shocked when it was announced that Jodie Comer was doing Prima Facie. I know her career didn't begin in theatre but it's the opposite thing an actor of her stature would do especially after doing films like The Last Duel and Free Guy. I expected her to continue doing these high paying/ profile increasing films or series not a play. I assume it's because she wanted the challenge which is another thing... The actors are calling the shots now more so than before because they're needed to sell out a show, see Cabaret (and all the discourse on that thread about above the title/ refunds/ star vs. show). Eddie Redmayne only returned to the stage after 10 years because playing the Emcee was one of his dream roles. After it, he may not act on stage again for another 10 years. This pattern is applicable to many stage actors who become stars, award nominees, winners, etc. 

Obviously, pay and scheduling are factors too. Actors don't want to be doing eight shows a week being paid thousands or hundreds of thousands (depending on their profile) for however many months when they can be paid millions for 6 months of filming which requires far less work. I think what Norris said about actors is true...

Oops! How embarrassing, I totally forgot lol. Everyone can just ignore that part... 

What I should have said was "actors who primarily work in Britain." Anyway, the sentiments still apply...

I agree on this - almost all the actors, established and newcomers, I had down as theatre 'must sees' 4 or 5 years ago are now doing TV or film instead, most for US companies. Jodie Comer has had to turn down a scheduled but covid-delayed Napoleon film to do Prima Facie, but with covid messing up schedules too, can actors committed to Netflix or Amazon series take any time out for theatre now? Still, it must be a great time to be an actor or anyone else with screen skills - I've got a relative who works on the technical side of filmmaking and he's always busy now going all over the place c/o the big streamers.