Read Nicholas Hytner's introduction to the NT 50th anniversary gala

There are at least 50 different versions of this show. We have two hours to
put 50 years on stage, two hours to conjure up an impression of what the
National Theatre has achieved. Although we’ve tried to cover as much as
possible by seeking out short scenes from as many plays as possible, I’m
horrified by how much we’ve had to leave out. So it may be easiest to start
by saying what this evening is not.

It’s not a compendium of the best things the
National has done over the last 50 years.
“Best” is best left to the arts pages. And
in any event, many of our most famous
productions of the classical repertoire were
celebrated for performances by actors who
are no longer with us. So our classical work
is – inevitably – less present than it should be.
Nor have we tried to represent only the
most influential or important plays to have
started life on our stages. Many of them
defy any attempt to lift out a short scene
that is enjoyable, or comprehensible, out of
context, and we’ve made the assumption
that tonight’s television audience shouldn’t
have to know anything about the plays
from which the show is put together.

So it seemed impossible, for instance, to
find a four- or five-minute scene from Patrick
Marber’s Closer, which is devastating in its
entirety. And the same problem ruled out
Michael Frayn’s Democracy, Pam Gems’
Stanley, David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen
Ross, Christopher Hampton’s Tales From
Hollywood, Nicholas Wright’s Vincent In
Brixton. The shortest extract that does
justice to Harold Pinter’s Betrayal (a play
that attracts any number of superlatives)
lasts 12 minutes; the same is true of Lucy
Prebble’s The Effect, and even the shortest
story from Martin McDonagh’s amazing play
The Pillowman is surprisingly long – though
none of them felt like it in performance.
Peter Shaffer’s The Royal Hunt of the Sun
has a cumulative power that would be
diminished by the presentation of a bleeding
chunk. You could fill an entire evening with
scenes by our most prolific writers – Pinter,
Shaffer, David Hare, Tom Stoppard (the
only playwright to have given us a new play
in each decade of our half century), Alan
Ayckbourn, Howard Brenton, Alan Bennett.
All of them have written major plays which
aren’t represented tonight.

Although the structure of tonight’s show
is loosely chronological, it isn’t trying to
tell the full story of the National Theatre.
We have collaborated with the BBC on a
historical narrative – Adam Low and Martin
Rosenbaum’s documentary Arena: The
National Theatre, shown over the last couple
of weeks on BBC4, will soon be available on
DVD. It’s terrific. I recommend it.

And although tonight’s staggering cast
list is testament to how deep-rooted is
the affection for the National amongst the
acting profession, we can’t do full justice
to even the most luminous performances
that have graced our stages. A precarious
idea brought into life by Sir Laurence Olivier,
the 20th century’s greatest actor,
has at some point embraced almost all of
the great actors that have followed in his
wake. But even the most powerful of stage
performances survive only in the memory of
those who saw them. For those who were
there, tonight’s re-creations are maybe best
seen as theatrical madeleines – enough to
prompt a shiver of recollection. For those
who weren’t, maybe they can give an idea of
what the fuss was about.

That there has been too much to choose
from is the fault of Laurence Olivier and his
successors – Peter Hall, Richard Eyre and
Trevor Nunn. The flow of memorable work
has never stopped. But I hope the scenes
we’ve chosen give some idea of the range of
our work, of the way we’ve always sought to
play the past and the present against each
other, of our determination to reflect the
nation on our stages, and of our appetite for
new ideas and new forms. And I hope the
evening is a reminder of the pre-eminence of
our actors, writers, directors and designers
– and that its scale and complexity (both
considerable) demonstrate that they are
supported by stage and technical teams
second to none.

Though a few minutes of the show come
from the video archive (from televised
studio adaptations of NT productions, from
publicity material, from footage shot for
awards ceremonies), most of it is live. The
more recent the production, the easier it’s
been to get together the original cast –
most of the second half of tonight’s show
is played by the actors who first played
their parts, sometimes – it has to be said
– when they aren’t any longer entirely age
appropriate. (Eight history boys in their mid-30s may require the suspension of your
disbelief.) But all the actors in the show have
been members of the National Theatre at
some point in the last 50 years, and you’ll
see – decade by decade – how astonishing
is their collective distinction.

Download the full programme here

I want to single
out only the small band who were part of Sir
Laurence Olivier’s National Theatre company
when it first took up residence at the Old Vic
50 years ago. Dame Joan Plowright went
last week to the Old Vic itself to record a
speech from Saint Joan, which she played
there in 1963; Dame Maggie Smith will
give a speech from The Beaux’ Stratagem;
Charles Kay will appear in a scene from The
National Health in the same role he created
45 years ago, and Sir Michael Gambon
and Sir Derek Jacobi will take the roles in
No Man’s Land originally played by their
great predecessors Sir Ralph Richardson
and Sir John Gielgud. I couldn’t be happier
or prouder that they are here and that 50
years on, they are still carrying the torch.

My grateful thanks are due to the
playwrights who have allowed us to hack
small chunks out of their work. We have
tried to root tonight’s show in the way it
was staged by the directors and designers
who took care of its many different scenes
first time around. I am grateful to them, and
sorry that we shall sometimes – inevitably
– fall short of what they achieved. The
National Theatre’s physical surroundings
have changed since it took up residence
at the Old Vic in 1963, but its identity has
never been bound up in bricks and mortar
(or concrete). It has always been about who
works here. Tonight’s cast, and tonight’s
audience, are a small part only of who we’ve
been; and when the next celebration comes
round, in 2063, I have no doubt that there
will be as much to choose from as there has
been tonight.

See Also: Michael Coveney's blog on the National Theatre's 50th anniversary gala

Live from the National Theatre: 50 Years on Stage is viewable on BBC iPlayer until 9 November 2013