David Hare: National Theatre is too focused on West End transfers

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David Hare. Photo: BBC

David Hare has accused the National Theatre of "angling for the West End" rather than focusing on presenting truly artistic productions.

The two-time Olivier award-winning playwright claimed that the London-based organisation was failing to "present the world’s drama" in favour of "semi-commercial" shows.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s This Cultural Life with broadcaster John Wilson, Hare discussed the health of British theatremaking compared to the early days of his career, whether playwrights could still live on their writing, and the state of regional venues.

He also claimed artistic directors in theatres outside of London did not feel "free" to champion work by writers as they once did thanks to the pressures on the buildings they lead.

Hare said: "I would say that if they believe that a particular writer was the writer who that region should be hearing, or the whole of the country should be hearing, it’s very, very hard for them to back that single writer to the degree that we once backed John Osborne or Edward Bond or Harold Pinter as the voices of their time. That kind of backing is what’s missing at the moment."

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He went on to reiterate criticism he has voiced about the National Theatre’s failure to present enough work, saying: "I would also add that once the National Theatre drops repertory, which it appears to have done, you really are eroding the culture in a profound way.

"The National Theatre is meant to present the world’s drama. And it doesn’t at the moment. It does semi-commercial runs, angling for the West End, one play after another. That’s not repertory theatre. That’s not art theatre."

A spokesperson for the National Theatre said: "The National Theatre today stages more new plays and new adaptations than at any point in its history, written by a larger and broader pool of playwrights than ever before, across all three theatres. The move to ‘straight runs’ rather than playing in repertory has been a necessary change in the post-Covid financial climate but this has not changed the number of productions staged each year – which has stayed the same.

"In Rufus Norris’ forthcoming final season four world premieres by playwrights Suzie Miller, Shaan Sahota, David Lan and David Eldridge sit alongside the UK premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s last musical Here We Are, Michael Abbensetts’ Alterations (a seminal work from the Black Plays Archive based at the National Theatre), and three of the NT’s most celebrated productions, Nye, London Road and Dear England, all of which will have the writer in the room and the latter of which won the Olivier Award for Best New Play last year. The National Theatre’s commitment to writers and new writing is steadfast."

Hare premiered his play Plenty at the National Theatre in 1978. It soon transferred to Broadway and was adapted into a film in 1985 starring Meryl Streep.

His other plays include Skylight, Amy’s View, and more recently Straight Line Crazy. He has also written for film, with his adaptation of the Bernhard Schlink novel The Reader receiving an Oscar nomination in 2008.