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Category: Archive

Archive Unboxed: Celebrating Wole Soyinka’s 90th birthday
A group of people on stage in colourful attire, set against a dark background. They are surrounded by props like baskets and cloths hanging above them. The scene conveys a sense of community or celebration.

Archive Unboxed: Celebrating Wole Soyinka’s 90th birthday

Nobel Prize-winning writer Wole Soyinka is celebrating his 90th birthday! During this Black History Month, the National Theatre Archive would like to spotlight two of Soyinka’s plays, Death and the King’s Horseman and his adaptation of Euripides’ The Bacchae – honouring his extraordinary career across novels, poetry, and drama.

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In Search of Greek Theatre: four new films released
Performers on stage wear tattered, monochromatic costumes and eerie, white masks, their bodies contorted in expressive, dramatic poses. The lighting is dark, creating a haunting and theatrical atmosphere.

In Search of Greek Theatre: four new films released

The In Search of Greek Theatre series explores stories and objects from the National Theatre’s Archive to learn more about Greek Theatre in performance. Four new films have now been released.

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Reintroducing: The Black Plays Archive
The writer Winsome Pinnock during rehearsals for her play, Leave Taking, in 1995 - holding a hot drink whilst someone points a pencil at a script

Reintroducing: The Black Plays Archive

To celebrate its ten year anniversary in 2023, the Black Plays Archive launched a new website! Read all about this online catalogue of the first professional production in the UK of plays written by Black British, African, and Caribbean playwrights.

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Archive Unboxed: The House of Bernarda Alba and translation

Archive Unboxed: The House of Bernarda Alba and translation

Read about the history of Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba at the National Theatre, from translation to performance featuring material from our Archive.

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Founding the National Theatre

The movement to found the National Theatre

Founded in 1963 with Laurence Olivier as its first Director, the movement to found the National Theatre was over 100 years in the making.

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Archive Unboxed: Peter O'Toole in Hamlet, 1963
Actor Frank Finlay as Gravedigger and Peter O'Toole as Hamlet, holding a skull, on stage at the National Theatre, 1963

Archive Unboxed: Peter O'Toole in Hamlet, 1963

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