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Articles
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Articles |
Goodbye 2001! - The National CompaniesIt's been a mixed year for both the major national companies, the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Both have achieved major box office and artistic success, but both have also experienced considerable criticism. The artistic directors of both companies came under fire, albeit for different reasons. For a considerable time, Trevor Nunn has been the target of criticism about his style of leadership at the South Bank, being attacked for his not "grooming" an assistant director, for the debacle over the closure of the ensemble company, and for his personally profiting from the West End transfers of the major NT successes, especially the musicals. This year there was outrage when, after Nunn announced that he would step down at the end of his contract, the theatre said it would not invite applications for the post of artistic director but would approach directly those the Board felt were "suitable". The real vitriol of the year, however, was unleashed on the RSC's Adrian Noble and his plans for changing the entire structure of the company, which include the end of the repertory company as we have known it for so long and the company's withdrawal from its London "home", the Barbican. Insiders' reports from Stratford portrayed real anger among the rank and file of the company, directed against Noble and other known supporters of the moves, including Gergory Doran. In fact, it has been a somewhat troubled year for the RSC, with two threatened strikes by BECTU, the backstage union, narrowly averted. On the other hand, both companies have had successful years artistically. The RSC's This England sequence - Richard II, Henry IV Pt.1 and Pt.2, Henry V, all three parts of Henry VI, and Richard III, plus a rehearsed reading of "prequel" Edward III, only lately attributed to Shakespeare - was hailed by both critics and audiences alike, but the much-hyped Tantalus, a mammoth production, did not get the critical or audience acclaim that was expected. The National's successful revivals of classic musicals continued, with My Fair Lady being a major box office smash both on the South Bank and at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. "Straight" plays also garnered considerable, if not equivalent, success. Articles Indices:
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