NT : Go Backstage : Departmental Glossary : Nicholas Hytner
Nicholas Hytner
Biography
Nicholas Hytner became Director of the National Theatre in April 2003.
Nicholas Hytner was born in Manchester, and educated at Manchester Grammar School and Cambridge University, where he read English. His first theatre productions were at the Northcott Theatre, Exeter. He then directed a series of productions at the Leeds Playhouse, and in 1985 became an Associate Director of the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. His productions included Shakespeare's As You Like It, Marlowe's Edward II, Schiller's Don Carlos, Wycherley's The Country Wife and Robin Glendinning's Mumbo Jumbo.
He has directed three productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company: Measure For Measure (1987), The Tempest (1988) and King Lear (1990).
From 1990 to 1997 he was an Associate Director of the National Theatre, where he has directed Ghetto by Joshua Sobol (1989), The Wind in the Willows adapted by Alan Bennett (1990), The Madness of George III by Alan Bennett (1991), The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar (1992), Carousel by Rodgers and Hammerstein (1992), The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh (1997), The Winter's Tale (2001), and Mother Clap's Molly House by Mark Ravenhill (2001). Since becoming Director of the National, he has directed Shakespeare's Henry V (2003); His Dark Materials, based on the novels by Philip Pullman, adapted by Nicholas Wright (2003/4); Alan Bennett's The History Boys (2004) for which he won a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director; David Hare's Stuff Happens (2004); a revival of His Dark Materials (2004/5); Shakespeare's Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 (May 2005); and Southwark Fair by Samuel Adamson (February 2006).
Other London work has included: Miss Saigon at Drury Lane in 1989, on Broadway in 1991, and worldwide; Volpone by Ben Jonson at the Almeida Theatre in 1990; The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, with Maggie Smith at the Aldwych Theatre in 1993; The Lady in the Van by Alan Bennett, with Maggie Smith at the Queen's Theatre in 1999; Cressida by Nicholas Wright, with Michael Gambon at the Albery Theatre in 2000, and Orpheus Descending by Tennessee Williams, with Helen Mirren at the Donmar Warehouse in 2000.
He is an Associate Director of Lincoln Center Theater, New York, where he directed Carousel in 1994 and Twelfth Night in 1998. He directed The Sweet Smell of Success on Broadway in 2001.
His first feature film, The Madness of King George, was released in 1994 by the Samuel Goldwyn Company. It was nominated for four Academy Awards and won both the BAFTA and Evening Standard awards for best British film. He has since directed The Crucible, nominated for two Academy Awards, The Object of My Affection, and The History Boys.
His first opera productions were for Kent Opera, for which he directed Britten's The Turn of the Screw, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and Tippett's King Priam. Other opera productions include, for English National Opera: Wagner's Rienzi, Handel's Xerxes, Mozart's The Magic Flute and Verdi's The Force of Destiny; for Glyndebourne: Mozart's La Clemenza Di Tito and recently, Cosi Fan Tutte; for the Paris Opera: Handel's Giulio Cesare; for the Theatre du Chatelet, Paris: Janacek's The Cunning Little Vixen; for the Geneva Opera: Mozart's Le Nozze Di Figaro; and for the Bavarian State Opera, Munich: Mozart's Don Giovanni.
He has received, in addition to the BAFTA and Evening Standard awards for best British film, many other awards including three Olivier Awards, two Evening Standard Awards, the London Critics' Circle Award, a Drama Desk Award, and a Tony. He was Visiting Professor of Theatre at Oxford University in 2000.
May 2006