Facts and figures for 2020/21

The National Theatre will always continue to create and share unforgettable stories with millions of people across the UK and around the world - whether on our stages on London’s South Bank, on tour, in schools, on cinema screens, or streaming at home.

While the 2020/21 financial year was difficult for everyone, we also learned that theatre has the power to bring us together, even at moments when we have to be apart. The National Theatre teams worked incredibly hard - delivering projects with deep commitment, a passion for theatre and a huge capacity for innovation. Here are some of the highlights:

National Theatre at Home productions were viewed 15 million times in 173 countries – our free YouTube series of 16 plays started in April 2020, including our productions of One Man, Two Guvnors, Barber Shop Chronicles, Twelfth Night, and Frankenstein.
The Olivier Theatre reopened in October with Clint Dyer and Roy Williams’ Death of England: Delroy and in November with Dick Whittington by Jude Christian and Cariad Lloyd.
280,000 people watched these productions for free on YouTube, after returning restrictions closed both productions at short notice.
Community members in Doncaster, Hornchurch and London continued to work with our Public Acts programme to create short musical film, We Begin Again, a podcast series, Stories to Get Us Through and a storytelling cabaret The Magic of Wild Heather.

We temporarily transformed the vast stage of the Lyttelton theatre into a film studio where our planned production of Romeo & Juliet was entirely reimagined for screen.
Connections, the National Theatre’s annual youth theatre festival had the largest cohort in the programme’s history, with 12,000 young people taking part.
Perspective by 16-year-old Mackenzie Wellfare was selected as the winner of New Views, our playwriting competition in May 2021. We were able to produce and film this play onstage in the Dorfman Theatre with a professional company, directed by Audrey Sheffield.
The National Theatre Archive stored 91 terabytes of data that capture the rich history of the National Theatre for future generations.
There were 1.2m views of our productions on National Theatre Collection, our education streaming service made available in class and at home. By April 2021, 71% of all UK state secondary schools had signed up to use the service.