John Langley charts the development of the National Theatre?s bookshop.
The National Theatre?s first major hit at its new home on the South Bank was Peter Shaffer?s ?Amadeus? in 1979; for month after month, it filled the Olivier Theatre before transferring to the West End for a further sell-out run. Finally, eighteen months after its first night, Shaffer?s ground-breaking play was published by Penguin. These days, such a delay would be unthinkable. Virtually every new play produced in London will be in print for the critics to take home on opening night, and this has everything to do with the market that the National Theatre (NT) Bookshop has helped to open up.
The shop was born in a cloakroom cubicle at the Old Vic, which managed to squeeze a few play texts in between the coats and briefcases. For the South Bank, Denys Lasdun designed two stalls of roughly equal size that sat in the Olivier and Lyttelton foyers, and which were joined by a Cottesloe branch a few years on. The shops are now in their third generation, and the main NT bookshop ? now a glazed retail unit of 112 square metres, sitting in a new foyer reclaimed from an exterior roadway, with the help of a Lottery grant ? is clearly the head of the family. It is open from 10am to 11pm, and is wholly owned and managed by the NT. The stock comprises some 2,000 plays, a further 1,500 books on theatre in all its manifestations, and yet another 1,000 items including everything from Venetian carnival masks to souvenir pens and pencils.
The primary focus is always the National?s repertoire, and, predictably, new scripts generate the heaviest sales. So far, for example, we have sold over 13,000 copies of Alan Bennett?s ?The History Boys?, a level of turnover that entitles us to discounts from the publisher that compare favourably with the high street chains. At the other end of the scale, Strindberg?s ?A Dream Play?, in the small Cottesloe auditorium, has generated sales of 700 copies ? a remarkable achievement for Caryl Churchill?s new version of this rarely performed piece. Texts are stocked alphabetically both by author and, in the case of current London productions, by venue ? a handy reference point for visitors who are planning trips to other theatres. In this way a West End hit like ?Festen? can clock up sales of 500 texts and upwards for the Bookshop.
The National Theatre Bookshop represents not only a significant income stream ? and an extensive reference source for playgoers and drama students ? but also an important educational opportunity. Over the years, the NT Publications Department ? either alone or in association with other publishers ? has produced an extensive range of titles on all aspects of the work we do. The current production of ?Henry IV?, for example, is accompanied by Bella Merlin?s rehearsal study ?With the Rogue?s Company?, the latest in the series ?The National Theatre At Work?. Later this year, we will be co-publishing with Faber a collection of transcripts of early evening talks by five major playwrights. All these titles are available exclusively at the NT.
Part of the National?s mission statement is ?to re-energise the great traditions of the British stage and to expand the horizons of audiences and artists alike?. The NT Bookshop is an active and vital component of this ambition.
John Langley is Theatre Manager at the National Theatre. t: 020 7452 3456;
e: bookshop@nationaltheatre.org.uk