Contemporary theatre in Britain

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CONTEMPORARY THEATRE IN BRITAIN

UNIT 2

London is one of the leading world centres for drama and theatre. Contemporary playwrights like Tom Stoppard and Harold Pinter enjoy considerable success both in Britain and overseas. Peter Brook, Sir Peter Hall and Trevor Nunn also enjoy international reputations, while many British performers such as Lord Olivier, Vanessa Redgrave, Glenda Jackson or Sir John Gielgud are household names all over the world.

Britain has about 300 theatres which can seat between 200 and 2,300 people. Most theatres are owned either municipally or by non-profit-distributing organizations; some of the theatres, however, are privately owned.

In London there are a hundred or so West End and suburban theatres. 12 of these are permanently occupied by subsidized companies. The National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the English Stage Company are the three most important of these 12 subsidized companies. The National Theatre stages a wide range of modern and classical plays in its three auditoriums in the South Bank arts complex. The Royal Shakespeare Company produces plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries as well as modern drama in its two auditoriums in the City's Barbican Centre, while also performing in Stratford-upon-Avon. The English Stage Company produces the works of the most talented new playwrights at the Royal Court Theatre.

1. Laurence Olivier was the first artistic director of the Royal National Theatre, in 1963

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