Past productions 1963-1970
The first performances by the National Theatre took place in 1963 at the Old Vic. Listed here are productions from 1963 to 1970.
1963
HAMLET
by William Shakespeare
Director Laurence Olivier
Old Vic 22 October 1963
SAINT JOAN
by Bernard Shaw
Director John Dexter
Old Vic 30 October 1963
UNCLE VANYA
by Anton Chekhov
translated by Constance Garnett
Director Laurence Olivier
Old Vic 19 November 1963
THE RECRUITING OFFICER
by George Farquhar
Director William Gaskill
Old Vic 10 December 1963
1964
HOBSON'S CHOICE
by Harold Brighouse
Director John Dexter
Old Vic 7 January 1964
ANDORRA
by Max Frisch
translated by Michael Bullock
Director Lindsay Anderson
Old Vic 28 January 1964
PLAY
by Samuel Beckett
and
PHILOCTETES
by Sophocles,
adapted by Keith Johnstone
Director William Gaskill
Old Vic 7 April 1964
OTHELLO
by William Shakespeare
Director John Dexter
Old Vic 21 April 1964
THE MASTER BUILDER
by Henrik Ibsen
adapted by Emlyn Williams
Director Peter Wood
Old Vic 9 June 1964
THE DUTCH COURTESAN
by John Marston
Director William Gaskill & Piers Haggard
Old Vic 13 October 1964
HAY FEVER
by Noël Coward
Director Noël Coward
Old Vic 27 October 1964
THE ROYAL HUNT OF THE SUN
by Peter Shaffer
Director John Dexter & Desmond O'Donovan
Old Vic 8 December 1964
1965
THE CRUCIBLE
by Arthur Miller
Director Laurence Olivier
Old Vic 19 January 1965
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
by William Shakespeare
Director Franco Zeffirelli
Old Vic 16 February 1965
MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN
by Bertolt Brecht
translated by Eric Bentley, lyrics translated by W H Auden,
music by Paul Dessau
Director William Gaskill
Old Vic 12 May 1965
ARMSTRONG'S LAST GOODNIGHT
by John Arden
Devised by John Dexter & William Gaskill
Proscenium production Albert Finney
Old Vic 12 October 1965
LOVE FOR LOVE
by William Congreve
Director Peter Wood
Old Vic 20 October 1965
TRELAWNY OF THE WELLS
by Arthur W Pinero
Director Desmond O'Donovan
Old Vic 17 November 1965
1966
A FLEA IN HER EAR
by Georges Feydeau
translated by John Mortimer
Director Jacques Charon
Old Vic 8 February 1966
MISS JULIE
by August Strindberg
translated by Michael Meyer
Director Michael Elliott
and
BLACK COMEDY
by Peter Shaffer
Director John Dexter
Old Vic 8 March 1966
JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK
by Sean O’Casey
Director Laurence Olivier
Old Vic 26 April 1966
A BOND HONOURED
by John Osborne
(based on Lope de Vega)
Director John Dexter
(presented with Black Comedy, as above)
Old Vic 6 June 1966
THE STORM
by Alexander Ostrovsky
adapted by Doris Lessing
Director John Dexter
Old Vic 18 October 1966
1967
THE DANCE OF DEATH
by August Strindberg
translated by C D Locock
Director Glen Byam Shaw
Old Vic 21 February 1967
ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD
by Tom Stoppard
Director Derek Goldby
Old Vic 11 April 1967
THREE SISTERS
by Anton Chekhov
translated by Moura Budberg
Director Laurence Olivier
Old Vic 4 July 1967
AS YOU LIKE IT
by William Shakespeare
Director Clifford Williams
Old Vic 3 October 1967
TARTUFFE
by Molière
translated by Richard Wilbur
Director Tyrone Guthrie
Old Vic 21 November 1967
1968
VOLPONE
by Ben Jonson
Director Tyrone Guthrie
Old Vic 16 January 1968
OEDIPUS
by Seneca
adapted by Ted Hughes from
translated by David Anthony Turner
Director Peter Brook
Old Vic 19 March 1968
EDWARD II
by Bertolt Brecht, after
Christopher Marlowe
translated by William E Smith and Ralph Manheim
Director Frank Dunlop
Old Vic 30 April 1968
TRIPLE BILL
The Covent Garden Tragedy
by Henry Fielding
Director Robert Lang
A Most Unwarrantable Intrusion
by John Maddison Morton
Director Robert Stephens
In His Own Write
by John Lennon, Adrienne Kennedy, Victor Spinetti
Director Victor Spinetti
Old Vic 18 June 1968
THE ADVERTISEMENT
by Natalia Ginzburg
translated by Henry Reed
Director Donald MacKechnie & Laurence Olivier
Old Vic 24 September 1968
HOME AND BEAUTY
by W Somerset Maugham
Director Frank Dunlop
Old Vic 8 October 1968
LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST
by William Shakespeare
Director Laurence Olivier
Old Vic 19 December 1968
1969
“H” or Monologues at Front of Burning Cities
by Charles Wood
Director Geoffrey Reeves
Old Vic 13 February 1969
THE WAY OF THE WORLD
by William Congreve
Director Michael Langham
Old Vic 1 May 1969
MACRUNE’S GUEVARA
by John Spurling
Director Frank Dunlop & Robert Stephens
and
RITES
by Maureen Duffy
Director Joan Plowright
Old Vic 30 May 1969
BACK TO METHUSELAH
by Bernard Shaw
Director Clifford Williams with Donald MacKechnie
Old Vic, Part I: 31 July,
Part II: 1 August 1969
THE NATIONAL HEALTH
by Peter Nichols
Director Michael Blakemore
Old Vic 16 October 1969
THE WHITE DEVIL
by John Webster
Director Frank Dunlop
Old Vic 13 November 1969
THE TRAVAILS OF SANCHO PANZA
by James Saunders
Director Donald MacKechnie & Joan Plowright
Old Vic 18 December 1969
1970
THE BEAUX' STRATAGEM
by George Farquhar
Director William Gaskill
Old Vic 8 April 1970
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE
by William Shakespeare
Director Jonathan Miller
Old Vic 28 April 1970
HEDDA GABLER
by Henrik Ibsen
translated by Michael Meyer
Director Ingmar Bergman
Cambridge Theatre 29 June 1970
THE IDIOT
by Simon Gray
adapted from Dostoevsky's novel
Director Anthony Quayle
Old Vic 15 July 1970
CYRANO
by Edmond Rostand
adapted by Patrick Garland
Director Patrick Garland
Cambridge Theatre 27 October 1970
MRS WARREN'S PROFESSION
by Bernard Shaw
Director Ronald Eyre
Old Vic 30 December 1970
