National Theatre

The National Theatre building houses three separate auditoria:

The Olivier Theatre (named after the theatre’s first artistic director, Laurence Olivier), is the main auditorium, and was modelled on the ancient Greek theatre at Epidaurus; it has an open stage and a fan-shaped audience seating area for 1,160 people. An ingenious ‘drum revolve’ (a five-storey revolving stage section) extends eight metres beneath the stage and is operated by a single staff member. The drum has two rim revolves and two platforms, each of which can carry ten tonnes, facilitating dramatic and fluid scenery changes. Its design ensures that the audience’s view is not blocked from any seat, and that the audience is fully visible to actors from the stage’s centre. Designed in the 1970s and a prototype of current technology, the drum revolve and a multiple ‘sky hook’ flying system were initially very controversial and required ten years to commission, but seem to have fulfilled the objective of functionality with high productivity.

If you would like to read more about Laurence Olivier from Wikipedia.
About Laurence Olivier

The Lyttelton Theatre (named after Oliver Lyttelton, the National Theatre’s first board chairman) has a proscenium-arch design and can accommodate an audience of 890.
- The Cottesloe Theatre (named after Lord Cottesloe, chairman of the South Bank Theatre board) is a small, adaptable studio space, designed by Iain Mackintosh, holding up to 400 people depending on the seating configuration. The Cottesloe is to be renamed the Dorfman Theatre (after Lloyd Dorfman, philanthropist and chairman of Travelex Group) in 2013 after a redevelopment of the National Theatre, known as “NT Future”.
As well as seeing shows, you can attend talks, listen to music, take backstage tours, view exhibitions, enjoy outdoor performance during the summer months, browse and shop in our Bookshop, sit and relax in our foyers or terraces, and have a cup of coffee, a snack, lunch, or dinner

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Listing Details

Address: South Bank, London,SE1 9PX,United Kingdom
Phone: Waterloo
Website: http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/,http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/
Email: boxoffice@nationaltheatre.org.uk
Get there by bus: 1, 4, 26, 59, 68, 76, 139, 168, 171, 172, 176, 188, 243, 341, 521, X68
Get there by tube/train: The closest tube stations are Waterloo (on the Northern, Bakerloo & Jubilee lines), Southwark (on the Jubilee line) or walk over the Hungerford Bridge from Embankment (on the Northern, Bakerloo, District and Circle lines).
Wheelchair access: Yes
Additional information: The Lyttelton/Olivier main entrance is at ground, riverside level facing the river. the Cottesloe theatre entrance is some 80m round the corner of the building. In the main building the levels are connected by lifts, including the under ground parking and the upper walkway. Several mezzanine levels are reached by steps, but there are now slow platform stairlifts to bypass these. All three theatres have infrared hearing systems using headsets. Alternatively, for people with a hearing aid T switch necklace type sensors can be provided, giving you your own induction loop. Both system work anywhere in the theatre. Oliver The box office is on a meaaznin, reached via 11 steps up from level 1 or 23 steps down from Level 2. While there are stairlifts, using them is a hassle, and you can arrange to pick up Oliver tickets at the Lyttelton box office on the ground floor. The theatre is an amphitheatre on two levels, linked by the main lifts. Three chair spaces in the rear stalls accessed by lift on Level 2. the bar is also on this level. Accessible toilet outside the rear stalls. Lyttelton Box office and foyer on the ground floor. A tranditional proscenium arch theatre, also on two levels. Level access on the ground floor to rear stalls where there are four chair spaces. Accessible toilet off the foyer, next to the Ladies. to the right of this, there is a lift to circle(level 2), bypassing 22 steps up. Cottesloe Ramped entrance, bypassing 5 steps up, 100m to the left of the Olivier/Lyttleton main entrance. It is alongside the IBM building. Step free to foyer and box office. A small studio-style theatre where a variety of layouts are used. The auditorium has three seating levels. There are steps to both higher and lower seating levels. Adapted toilet on the right inside front entrance. In the Natioanl Theatre, the Mezzanine Restaurant has lift access via the glass lift opposite the Long Bar or is 13 steps down from Level 1 with plat form stairlift. Accessible toilet adjacent to the restaurant. the Terrace Cafe(bistro style) has lift access via the glass lift. the Circle Cafe is between levels 2 and 3 and you would need to use a platform stairlift to bypass the 22 steps up and down to get there. The Lyttelton Long Bar is on the ground floor with level access and sometimes has free entertainment of one kind or another, often prior to evening performances. Backstage tours of the theatre are organised three itimes a day, and we are told that they are step free and accessible.