Lyttelton - History
The Lyttelton Theatre is located within the National Theatre in South Bank, London. Its nearest underground station is Waterloo and its nearest train station is also Waterloo (with Waterloo East and Charing Cross as options as well).
The Lyttelton Theatre is part of the bigger Royal National Theatre which opened in the 1970s. It is named for Oliver Lyttelton, the first chairman of the National Theatre Board. The 890 seat venue is a proscenium theatre which offers great views of the stage from any seat. It is also adjustable meaning that all kinds of productions can be housed, from those that require a stage in its traditional location at the end of the auditorium, to a stage in the centre of the room.
The National Theatre as a whole was designed by Sir Denys Lasdun and was built in replacement to the National’s previous home at the Old Vic from 1963. It got the name the Royal National Theatre in 1988 but it is commonly referred to as simply the National Theatre. There had previously been demand for a national theatre as far back in 1847. Back then pamphlets were published that poured scorn over the theatre system in Britain. The makers of the pamphlets (The Shakespeare Committee) felt that there was too much emphasis on star power and the plays at the time were often censored in accordance with a ruling allowing Lord Chamberlain’s Office the ability to restrict shows. They wanted more serious theatre to replace this. Throughout the century the demand increased with the likes of Effingham William Wilson adding to the cries.
The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre was the first step towards gaining the National Theatre when it opened in Stratford upon Avon in 1879, then in 1904 an Academy of Dramatic Art was founded at Her Majesty’s Theatre. When The Great War came about in 1914, it interrupted the attempts of creating a Shakespeare
National Theatre at that time. This meant that it was not until after the Second World War that Parliament passed the National Theatre Act to allow the construction of such a venue.
However this was not the end of the story, particularly as two years after this in 1951 the Government decided that in the country in fact could not afford such a venture and began to suggest changes – despite the LCC offering to pay for half of the building work and cancel any rent. Eventually it was decided to open the National Theatre within the Old Vic theatre, so it opened in 1963 with a production of Hamlet. It stayed here for over ten years before work was finally complete on the new grounds where they are today. This took the form of the Olivier National Theatre, before the other two theatres – the Lyttelton and the Cottesloe followed. The theatre has since been made into a Grade II* listed building.
The Lyttelton is the middle theatre of the three with its capacity of 890. This is compared to the Olivier’s 1,160 and the Cottesloe’s 400.
