Balancing Acts

September 1, 2017
A celebrated director shares his memories from his years as the head of one of the world's most famous theater companies.Hytner was already an accomplished figure--in the 1990s, he directed the original stage productions of Miss Saigon and The Madness of George III--when, in 2003, he became artistic director of London's National Theatre. He left in 2015 and has now written this witty memoir, his debut book, most of it devoted to that period. "You start with a vision, and you deliver a compromise," he writes. "And you're pulled constantly in different directions." Throughout, Hytner describes the many compromises (the balancing acts of the title) that he and his company of actors and writers--among his collaborators were Alan Bennett, Alex Jennings, Frances de la Tour, and Maggie Smith--had to make, one of which was figuring out what to do when government cuts to arts funding meant that "a huge potential audience...could no longer afford the arts." In response, he innovated, pioneering the idea of corporate-sponsored, inexpensive seats and putting on a range of programming, from classics such as The Importance of Being Earnest to more challenging fare like Bennett's The History Boys; England People Very Nice, a raucous "comic odyssey through four waves of immigration to London"; and, most notoriously, Jerry Springer: The Opera. Though the tone of the book is inconsistent, ranging from stream-of-consciousness to gossip to near-scholarly readings of Shakespeare, the many backstage stories, as well as the author's reminiscences about his flirtation with Hollywood, make this an entertaining read. Among the anecdotes: Harold Pinter's profane tirade at a restaurant because Hytner didn't revive the playwright's Celebration and the story of producer Cameron Mackintosh pushing a composer off a piano stool to show him how to perform a song only for Mackintosh to remember that he didn't know how to play the piano. For fans of the stage, this is a pleasant peek behind the scenes during a transformative period of British theater history.

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September 18, 2017
One of the most highly regarded British directors of stage, opera, and screen (Henry V, Miss Saigon, The History Boys), Hytner chronicles his 12-year tenure as artistic director at the National Theatre in this detailed and stimulating look at the state of the art. He is candid, at times self-critical, as he shares fun and intimate stories of working with such luminaries as Arthur Miller, Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Tom Stoppard, and director John Gielgud (“I thought as I sat at John Gielgud’s lunch table, I’m two degrees of separation from Oscar Wilde, I’m eating lunch with someone who knew his lover, his director, his actors”). He produced 20 shows a year for a multistage theater and here reflects on the learning curve he experienced with each project, walking a “tightrope” between classical and contemporary performances. He discusses his experience making Shakespeare current, adapting musicals for mixed audiences, commissioning plays by new playwrights, and dramatizing edgy literature for young theatergoers, as with his well-received stage adaptation of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. His advocacy for creative and audience diversity, gender- and color-blind casting, televised plays, low ticket prices, and state-funded arts education is passionate and articulate. He wasn’t always able to achieve his goals, and those failures are given just consideration and make for a captivating narrative.

October 15, 2017
Hytner, artistic director of London's National Theatre from 2003 to 2015, has had an illustrious career. Hytner's credits span from championing some of the most iconic new plays, including Miss Saigon, The History Boys, and One Man, Two Guvnors, to directing opera and film, among them The Madness of King George, The Crucible, and The History Boys. Hytner spends much of his time here focusing on his tenure at the National Theatre, examining each season's strengths and weaknesses, then detouring to meditate on the responsibilities a major theater like the National Theatre should have to its audience and to students and youth in the form of arts education. Aspiring artistic directors will find much to learn from Hytner's methodical poring over of his choices as artistic director as he considers the need to balance classic pieces with new ones, to showcase a diversity of political positions, and to be creative about box-office realities and artistic risks. Arts leaders in general will have something to gain from Hytner's endless energy for developing new work and navigating the challenges facing today's cultural sector.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

June 1, 2017

Who better to take us behind the scenes of London's National Theatre than its Tony Award and Laurence Olivier Award-winning former director? Here, he stages Shakespeare, commissions new plays, and works with the likes of Derek Jacobi, Helen Mirren, and Tom Stoppard.

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Starred review from September 15, 2017

London's Royal National Theatre, comprised of the venue triumvirate of the Olivier, Lyttelton, and Dorfman (formerly Cottesloe) Theatres, boasts a lineage of theatrical royalty. Sir Lawrence Olivier and Sir Peter Hall served as artistic directors of the National; Hytner's 12-year tenure saw unprecedented growth in audience development and artistic expression, success that has distinguished the National since 1963. This exquisitely written memoir of Hytner's time running the National (2003-15), when he produced more than 100 new plays, is a revelatory exegesis of finding balance at all levels of artistic, technical, philosophical, and commercial production. The pages sparkle with luminaries with whom the author has worked, including Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren, Kenneth Branagh, Alan Bennet, Daniel Day-Lewis, Tom Stoppard, and Harold Pinter. The elements Hytner so adroitly strived for in his stewardship of the National is manifested throughout this memoir--the importance of new play development and classical, especially Shakespearean, theater; weighing working in film vs. theater; the relationship of producer with director, producer with playwright, producer as director with actor; and the precarious calibration of artistic and commercial achievement. VERDICT An unqualified rave for this title. The theater crowd is the obvious audience for this book, but the intelligence, wit, and humor throughout expands the scope of readership to anyone interested in the arts. Well done, Sir Nicholas. [See Prepub Alert, 5/15/17.]--Barry X. Miller, Austin P.L., TX

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.