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Music
The collection of scores for NT productions is open for researchers to consult. Music in plays at the National varies from incidental music intended to underscore the mood of a piece to grand song and dance numbers for musicals. To achieve sympathy between the action, the text and the music the director and composer must work closely: 'It's not like writing a movie score. You don't want to overstate it. In theatre you have to be more detached and subtle, to try to gauge the music so it sits very lightly with the production, and enhances it.' Composer John Cameron in Hamlet Observed: The National Theatre at Work by Jonathan Croall. Visit the Music Department in Backstage for profile of the department and how it works, by composer Paddy Cunneen. You can download a list of Musicals at the National from our Past Productions page. BacchaiBacchai - Peter Hall and Harrison Birtwistle. Photograph Manuel Harlan.
The rhythms I've set for the choruses are like an armature, a framework which you can them embellish. You have to begin with that, this is one of the rules you have to accept. The rhythm of the verse is the only way you can anchor the spoken word to music, in a one-to-one relationship. Once you've taught the actors a skeleton, using two or three beats and the rhythm, you can replace those beats with something else, even a full symphony orchestra, and it won't worry them at all. In the end the music should be very simple. It doesn't need to be complex. Harrison Birtwistle quoted in Peter Hall's Bacchai: The National Theatre at Work by Jonathan Croall. Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt - Conor Linehan in rehearsal at the piano L-R Adam Jones, Anthony Renshaw, Victor Power, Craig Conway, Ruari Conaghan. Photographer Ivan Kyncl. Schweyk in the Second World War
Schweyk in the Second World War, Dominic Muldowney (Music Director.) Photograph Michael Mayhew.
Muldowney took over as Director of Music during Richard Eyre's tenure. Dominic has composed the music for over 100 shows at the National.
Page from Marc Wilkinson's score for Peter Shaffer's The Royal Hunt of the Sun (Old Vic, 1964).
Marc Wilkinson was the Director of Music when the National started out at the Old Vic in 1963. He has scored over 100 plays and many films including film versions of National Theatre productions. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Hugh Quarshie (Levee). Photograph Richard Mildenhall.