I was trying to write a blog contrasting quantitative and qualitative approaches to research and posed the example question “Why has Nick Hytner been good for the National Theatre?”.  Quantitatively, one would look at revenue and audience numbers, but the post was entirely hijacked by my instinctive (and more qualitative) reaction, so it seemed better just to concede and share this:

Why has Nick Hytner been good for the National Theatre?

The History Boys; the number of times Simon Russell Beale has appeared on stage there in the last ten years;  Jerry Springer; Every Good Boy Deserves Favour; Mother Courage; Iphigenia in Aulis; The Life of Gallileo; One Man Two Guvnors;  War Horse; The Pitmen Painters; Henry V; the number of times Alex Jennings has appeared on stage there in the last ten years; Jumpers; The Curious Incident of the Dog;
Stuff Happens; Much Ado About Nothing; Henry V; Antigone; Collaborators; The Habit of Art; The Alchemist; The Bible; NT Live – my goodness, just the NT Live initiative on its own! The CAST OF THE HISTORY BOYS, launching Jamie and Sam and Russell and James; the number of times Rory Kinnear has appeared on stage there;  getting Danny Boyle to do Frankenstein; Stuff Happens; Hymn & Cocktail Sticks; His Dark Materials; The Revenger’s Tragedy…

I know this list is severely limited by my inability to go and see everything I would like to have seen, and by my faulty memory.   Selfishly, my overwhelming reason for being grateful to Nick Hytner is his timing:  when he started as Artistic Director at the National, my children were 8 and 10.  They have grown up experiencing the most amazing theatre imaginable.  I have been able to take them to Greek tragedy because, although I knew they would find it demanding, I knew that the production would hold them:  the acting would be fantastic, it would be direct and engaging.   They have seen things which were utterly breathtaking and imaginative (the stage versions of War Horse and His Dark Materials knock any film interpretations for six). They have watched drama unfold, happening right there in front of their eyes.  They are lucky enough to know that live performance is one of the most exciting things around.

There will be lots in the press, I have no doubt, about Nick Hytner’s legacy as he leaves the National.   Some of it lives in my house.