Balancing Acts Behind the Scenes at the National Theatre
It was billed as the inside story of 12 years at the helm of Britain’s greatest theatre. It sounded a bit high brow.
The small confession that my friend warned I should never, ever repeat is that we once abandoned a production of The Taming of the Shrew by the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford on Avon for a Big Mac and a large fries in the local McDonald's.
To be fair, it was after a week of watching wonderful RSC productions – Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet – my cup, you might say, had overfloweth.
We even sneaked a peek at Patrick Stewart – aka Captain Luc Picard – rehearsing back stage in the Swan Theatre.
This radio book of the week, Balancing Acts, offered a good gander behind the curtain of the National Theatre as written and read by director Nicholas Hytner, the man who was at the helm.
There were stories of his first production - Henry V.
It was 2002, they went into rehearsal as Bush and Blair took the decision to go to war with Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
“The audience, force fed by the news media on UN resolutions and dodgy dossiers, caught on instantly,” Hytner recalls.
There was the story of casting Frankenstein – director Danny Boyle “started circling around Benedict Cumberbatch”.
But had he enough animal in him to play the creature? The goggling eyes, twitches and various birth pangs said it all at the audition.
There was the story of Maggie Smith taking Hytner to John Gielgud’s house – he even has an aviary - for lunch to get a bit of advice with The Importance of Being Earnest.
“The funniest play in the English language was refusing to take wings and I’d have taken help from the theatre cat,” said Hytner drily.
From Alan Bennett to Mike Leigh, Daniel Day Lewis to Michael Gambon and Helen Mirren – Hytner tells stories of directing some of the most celebrated actors of our time. Lunatic failures and spectacular successes – all are here.
And just feel the hairs prickle on the back of your neck when you hear the last lines from The History Boys.
Like the best of them, Hytner just leaves you wanting more.
