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You start with a vision, and you deliver a compromise. You want a play to be challenging, ambitious, nuanced and complicated. You also want it to sell tickets. You want to make art, and you know you’re in show business. These are some of the balancing acts that the National Theatre, and this book, is about.
This is the inside story of twelve years at the helm of Britain’s greatest theatre. It is a story of lunatic failures and spectacular successes such as The History Boys, War Horse and One Man, Two Guvnors; of opening the doors of the National Theatre to a broader audience than ever before, and changing the public’s perception of what theatre is for. It is about probing Shakespeare from every angle and reinventing the classics. About fostering new talent and directing some of the most celebrated actors of our times. Its cast includes the likes of Alan Bennett, Maggie Smith, Mike Leigh, Daniel Day-Lewis, Michael Gambon and Helen Mirren.
Intimate, candid and insightful, Balancing Acts is a passionate exploration of the art and alchemy of making theatre.
Author: Nicholas Hytner.
Paperback Published May 2018 Originally published in hardback May 2017, 320 pages.
Reviews:
“Hytner is indisputably one of the best theater directors in the world…his approach to Shakespeare and the classics is compelling and nuanced…His grasp of low comedy is equally impressive…[Hytner writes] fully realized scenes that are funny and immediate and ring true.”
—Alex Witchel, The New York Times Book Review
“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…The elements Hytner so adroitly strived for in his stewardship of the National is manifested throughout this memoir…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.”
–Library Journal *starred review
“A detailed and stimulating look at the state of the art. [Hytner] is candid as he shares fun and intimate stories of working with such luminaries as Arthur Miller, Helen Mirren, Magie Smith, Tom Stoppard…He wasn’t always able to achieve his goals, and those failures are given just consideration and make for a captivating narrative.”
–Publisher’s Weekly
“[A] witty memoir…the many backstage stories, as well as [Hytner’s] reminiscences about his flirtation with Hollywood, make this an entertaining read…a pleasant peek behind the scenes during a transformative period of British theater history.”
–Kirkus Reviews