NT : Archive : Document of the Month
Document of the Month
Document of the Month
This page is designed to display scanned images of documents, photographs and items from the NT Archive collection. The page is updated every month.
The use of primary sources is an important aspect of all serious research and helps to develop the analytical skills of students. We hope these documents will stimulate interest in the wide range of work done at the National Theatre and encourage research into the collection. Unless otherwise stated all images are National Theatre copyright and must not be used without permission; click on the images to view larger versions. Footnotes are marked with an asterisk.
November 2006: In Memoriam Kenneth Mackintosh
It was with great sadness that the National Theatre received the news of the death of Kenneth Mackintosh on 29 October 2006. Kenneth Mackintosh started work for the National Theatre in February 1964, playing Lodovico in Olivier's Othello, and understudying Othello. He has been in continuous service at the NT ever since.
Before working at the National, he had been a familiar face on television, a leading man at Glasgow Citizens' Theatre and at Birmingham Repertory Theatre. During the war, he was shot down near Cologne in August 1941, and captured. In Stalag Luft III, he helped build, and ran, a theatre with 300 seats made from tea-chests. When we interviewed Kenneth in 2004 for the NT Oral History project he spoke about his early life, his introduction to acting at the The Little Theatre, Leicester, his internment and the conditions of the camp, and his work for the NT. He also loaned to us his copy of Wire Bound World a photographic record by a Canadian airman of the theatre the prisoners created in the camp; the book contains this description of him:
| 'The other Great name in the theatre taking second place to no one was Kenneth Mackintosh. Producer, Actor and Theatre Director. His patience and tact kept the road smooth for the fortnightly production. And his name on the credit title either as producer or actor, became a password to the best in Theatre.' |
The images below are from this book (click to enlarge):
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On returning to London after the war he organised a revue titled Back Home that played at the Stoll Theatre featuring ex-airforce officers. From this success came the invitation to join the Glasgow Citizens' Theatre where he stayed for several years before embarking on a career as a leading actor in repertory companies throughout the country and in television and radio productions. In 1963 he returned to the Citizens' Theatre to play the lead in Macbeth. The following year he joined the National Theatre to play leading and supporting roles with Olivier's company, notably in Three Sisters, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, A Flea in Her Ear – and in 1968 was asked to become an Assistant Producer, then a new role, responsible for monitoring the production, and taking understudy rehearsals.
In 1974, when Peter Hall was Director of the NT, he was made Senior Staff Director, and continued to act as well, his final appearance here being as Signor Vanni in John Dexter's 1980 production of Galileo.
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In recent years, he has been Consultant Staff Director, and when performances at the NT began to be audio described in 1993, he was recruited to support the describers, work he has been doing ever since, until his recent illness. His experience and advice will be much missed by everyone who knew and worked with him. He would have been 87 on 19 November.
Archival Website of the Month:This month we take a look at the Theatre Voice website. This is an audio-driven forum for lively and incisive debate about theatre in London and beyond. The site contains a growing archive of audio files, transcripts and contributor's comments. The audio content includes interviews, lectures, reviews and discussions and includes contributions from many of the great figures of theatre today.
Links to document related sites:
