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Rehearsal Photographs
'Rehearsals usually take place behind closed doors, and what goes on in these rooms is private, protected from the public gaze. Directors and actors are involved in creating something together and, until the results are ready to be exposed on stage, visitors are not welcome. But for most productions there is a day when the photographer assigned to the production comes in and some record of the process is made.'From In Rehearsal at the National: Rehearsal Photographs 1976-2001, complied and edited by Lyn Haill, with a preface by Trevor Nunn, available from the NT bookshop. Hamlet
by William Shakespeare, director Richard Eyre. Opening Olivier Theatre, 16 March 1989.
Daniel Day Lewis, Jeremy Northam and Peter Lindford. Photo John Haynes.
"When I rehearsed Hamlet with Daniel Day-Lewis there was universal consensus in the rehearsal room that we were watching a performance of great delicacy and great danger"
Richard Eyre Utopia and Other Places, 1993
by Tony Harrison, director Tony Harrison. Opening Olivier Theatre, 27 March 1990. Produced by the NT Studio, The Trackers of Oxyrhnchus had its one performance world premiere at the ancient stadium at Delphi, 12 July 1988.
Barrie Rutter and Tony Harrison during rehearsals at Delphi. Photo Sandra Lousada.
"The play is part of my slow burning revenge against the teacher who denied me an opportunity to read poetry and take part in plays because of my accent. We chose Salts Mill [where the production visited in April 1990] because we needed a venue where the ghost images of the past were strong. Clogs are one of the principal expressions of the rhythm of life and the gear the satyrs into action."
Tony Harrison to Trevor Bates Daily Telegraph, 23 February 1990.
by David Hare, director Richard Eyre. Opening Lyttelton Theatre, 20 June 1997
Richard Eyre, David Hare and Judi Dench. Photo John Haynes.
"I don't understand people who live without fiction… if you are an artist, you may feel that it is nobler to live without fiction. You wonder what would happen if you put everything into your real life…I believe you are what you do. We all have this desire to be exempt."
David Hare to Kate Kellaway Observer, 3 August1997.
by Oscar Wilde, director Steven Berkoff. Opening Lyttelton Theatre, 7 November 1989.
Steven Berkoff, Photo Nobby Clark.
"Wilde deals with eternal themes of needs, loves and desire. It is the most naked stripping down of himself. I cannot see any writer now who dares to strip himself bare."
Steven Berkoff to David Lister Independent, 16 August 1989.
by Ken Campbell, director Colin Watkeys. Opening Cottesloe Theatre, 7 October 1993. Jamais Vu performed with Furtive Nudist and Pigspurt as "The Bald Trilogy"
Ken Campbell. Photo Mark Douet.
"So I've got some sink plungers and I go in to see Richard Eyre, and he says, “Right, whats it going to be about?”, and I don't know because I've used up all my life on the other two shows. So its going to be about what happens next, I suppose. So he wanted to know about structure. So I told him I was thinking of basing it on a sink plunger."
Ken Campbell to Kate Bassett The Times, 5 October 1993.
The Oresteia, trilogy by Aeschylus in a version by Tony Harrison, director Peter Hall, music Harrision Birtwistle. Opening Olivier Theatre, 28 October 1981.
Stuart Hopps (movement director), Peter Hall and members of the Company. Photo Nobby Clark.
"If you're true to the mask, it becomes what you are, and you become what it is. In a way, its even more revelaing than the face. Its like a magnifying glass, it makes everything bigger, it exposes all falseness earlier."
Peter Hall quoted in Peter Hall's Bacchai: The National Theatre at Work by Jonathan Croall