Hytner Reveals Impact of War Horse & Guvnors in NT Report
The National Theatre has today (3 October 2011) published its annual report for the year 2010-11. In addition to full financial statements for the South Bank institution, the report includes a review of the past year which saw 25 productions give 1,503 performances, plans for the NT Future redevelopment project of the NT Cottesloe and adjoining spaces, and statements by the National’s artistic director Nicholas Hytner and chairman John Makinson.
During a lunch session at the NT to launch the report, questions from the gathered journalists centred largely on the continuing commercial impact of War Horse and recent hit One Man, Two Guvnors.
Executive director Nick Starr revealed that revenues from War Horse, which is currently running in the West End and on Broadway and is being made into a film by Steven Spielberg, had made the large-scale staging of productions such as The Kitchen and Emperor and Galilean possible. One Man, Two Guvnors meanwhile has already taken nearly £2million in advance box office at the Adelphi Theatre.
Hytner then revealed that One Man, which he directed, is “very likely” to transfer to Broadway in April, and that a new cast is currently being sought to take the Richard Bean comedy to another West End venue following its limited run at the Adelphi.
In response to a question from Whatsonstage.com regarding the distribution of profits from these productions, Hytner revealed he voluntarily takes no money from any West End or Broadway transfer of his own National Theatre productions. He said this meant he could avoid accusations of a “conflict of interest” in his programming, and also means the funds get fed back to the theatre he has run since 2003.
Whatsonstage.com was live tweeting the event at @Whatsonstage using the event’s #NTReport hashtag – all coverage shown below.