Celebrating original, ambitious and unexpected theatre as the NT says goodbye to the ‘Red Box’

The National Theatre announces the closure of its Temporary Theatre, inviting audiences to join its final, celebratory Platform event on 4 May.

In 2013 the National Theatre (NT) took an opportunity to launch a brand-new theatre at its home on the South Bank. The aim was to present work by new and emerging artists, creating work that was original, ambitious and unexpected. What unfolded was the critically acclaimed Temporary Theatre.

Three years on and the NT’s Temporary Theatre has staged progressive, experimental and award-winning work that has struck a chord with audiences and critics alike. The Temporary Theatre has enabled the NT to work with a greater diversity of writers, artists and directors than ever before, and has reflected the political, cultural and economic times in which we live.

Deputy Artistic Director Ben Power, who led the artistic programming of the space, said ‘The programming in The Temporary Theatrehas allowed the National Theatre to take risks, celebrating emerging writers and directors as wellas musicians, comedians, dancers andestablished theatre-makers taking newapproaches. Experimentationis essential to theatre’s continuing evolution and by combining a new spirit ofadventure with the NT’s renownedhigh standards we have attempted to meet our original vision of a space for exciting, transformative and cutting-edge work.’

Originally conceived as a year-long project, the Temporary Theatre exceeded all expectation and has taken on a life of its own. Writer and actor Michaela Coel, who has appeared in three shows at the Temporary Theatre, is emphatic about what the immersive space offered her as an actor and performer: ‘I talk directly to the audience. You’re looking at people dead in the eye. You can see people look away or yawn.’ Nadia Fall said of her experience directing Home in the Temporary Theatre: ‘It’s up close and personal. You have to pare everything back.’

Susannah Clapp, the Observer’s theatre critic noted: ‘This is a building that opens your heart before you get into the auditorium. It’s a building that enables invention.’

The recently renovated Dorfman Theatre has taken on the mantle of staging experimental, progressive theatre, bringing the Temporary Theatre’s ethos into the NT’s permanent stages and ensuring that the diversity of work is maintained.

To celebrate the life of the Temporary Theatre, the NT invites audiences to join the last Temporary Theatre Platform event on Wednesday 4 May:

Temporary Theatre: A Celebration

4 May, 6.15pm (45mins), Temporary Theatre, free (booking required)

Whether you call it The Shed or the Temporary Theatre, the National’s award-winning 4th space closes its doors on 13 May. NT Director Rufus Norris and Deputy Artistic Director Ben Power, and writer and actor Michaela Coel (Home, Chewing Gum Dreams, Blurred Lines) are among the guests looking back on the ground-breaking, challenging and unexpected productions in the iconic red box since 2013, and the National’s plans for continuing this work in the future. Chaired by Matt Trueman.

Temporary Theatre key facts

o  The Temporary Theatre has staged 32 plays since its launch in 2013 (with Home, Brainstorm and Romeo and Juliet staged twice). The Theatre launched with Tanya Ronder’s Table, directed by Rufus Norris, and closes with Nicolas Kent and Gillian Slovo’s Another World: Losing Our Children to Islamic State.

o  156,340 audience members have attended performances in the Temporary Theatre since 2013.

o  764 performances have been staged in the Temporary theatre.

o  The Temporary Theatre has seen 91% capacity attendance since its launch.

o  34% of audiences that have attended performances at the Temporary Theatre have been under-35.

o  The Temporary Theatre has won eight, prestigious design awards including: Blueprint Best Sustainable Project Award and RIBA London Regional Award. It also won the 2013 Peter Brook Empty Space Award for Best Theatre.

o  The Temporary Theatre occupies Theatre Square, at the front of the National Theatre, on the South Bank.

o  The 225-seat auditorium is made of raw steel and plywood, while the external rough-sawn timber cladding refers to the National Theatre's iconic board-marked concrete; its corner towers complementing the bold geometries of the iconic NT building.

Ends

Notes to Editors

1.  The final performance in the Temporary Theatre will be Another World: Losing our Children to Islamic State at 7.45pm on Saturday 7 May.

2.  For images click here, and further information contact: or call: 0207 452 3236.

3.  To book tickets to the final Platform event, click here.

4.  The Temporary Theatre, based in Theatre Square on the South Bank, provided a third NT stage during the Cottesloe Theatre's closure (a core part of NT Future redevelopment). The Cottesloe reopened as the Dorfman Theatre in September 2015.

The National Theatre is dedicated to making the very best theatre and sharing it with as many people as possible. We produce up to 30 productions at our home on the South Bank in London each year, ranging from re-imagined classics – such as Greek tragedy and Shakespeare – to modern masterpiecesand new work by contemporary writers and theatre-makers. The work we make strives to be as open, as diverse, as collaborative and as national as possible. Equally we are committed to education, with a wide-ranging Learning programme for all ages in our new Clore Learning Centre and in schools and communities across the UK.

The National’s work is also seen on tour throughout the UK and internationally, and in collaborations and co-productions with regional theatres. Popular shows transfer to the West End and occasionally to Broadway. The National Theatre Live programme of cinema broadcasts is now regularly available in over 2,000 cinemas in 55 countries around the world.

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