A vigorous reaction against the mainstream of theatre erupted in the late 1960s, stimulated by a wave of political protest around the world, visits by French and American avant-garde companies, an upsurge of “alternative culture,” and an abolition of the lord chamberlain’s powers of censorship (1968). Following the example of the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, a profusion of “fringe” theatres sprang up in converted cellars, warehouses, and the back rooms of pubs. Rock music, Dada, and Antonin Artaud were inspiration for groups such as the People Show, Pip Simmons Theatre Group, and Ken Campbell’s Road Show. Other companies—Foco Novo, Portable Theatre, 7:84, Belt & Braces, and CAST—were more politically motivated. From these came several major dramatists, including Howard Brenton, David Hare, Trevor Griffiths, and David Edgar, all of whom became assimilated into mainstream theatre (while maintaining their socialist edge) by the end of the 1970s. Although most fringe plays quickly disappeared without a trace, several successfully transferred to London’s West End. Indeed, through the turn of the 21st century, the fringe continued to provide an important stimulus for the British theatre.

National theatres

The rise of fringe theatres and the abolition of censorship resulted in a decline in the fortunes of the English Stage Company, which, ironically, had been one of the most active organizations in the campaign to end censorship. Although that company continued to play a prominent role in British theatre, its reputation was eclipsed by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) and the National Theatre (renamed in 1988 the Royal National Theatre). Peter Hall formed the RSC in 1961 as a reorganization of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon. The following year, he was supported by two codirectors, Peter Brook and Michel Saint-Denis, and the company opened a permanent London base at the Aldwych Theatre to explore modern and classical plays while concentrating on Shakespeare at Stratford. During this period, Brook established himself as one of the finest English directors of the century, with memorable productions of King Lear (1962) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1970). In 1982, under the artistic directorship of Trevor Nunn and Terry Hands, the company left the Aldwych and moved into the newly built Barbican arts complex in the City of London, while retaining the Stratford theatre and touring regionally.

The first attempts to set up a permanent national theatre in London were made in the 19th century, though it was not until 1962 that Olivier formed the National Theatre company, which was temporarily housed in the Old Vic. After delays by successive governments, work began in 1969 on the National Theatre building (housing three separate theatres), situated on the South Bank in London. It finally opened in 1976 under Hall’s directorship.

In the decades after their founding, these two companies provided lavish reassessments of classical plays featuring the best actors of the day and commissioned large-scale works that no other companies could afford: John Robert Whiting’s Devils (1961) and Peter Shaffer’s Royal Hunt of the Sun (1964), for instance, both broke away from the formula of the well-made play and instead leaned toward the epic theatre of Brecht; and David Edgar’s dramatization of Charles Dickens’s novel Nicholas Nickleby in 1980, despite being more than eight hours in length, proved a huge success in London and in New York City. Notwithstanding their emphasis on classical works, at the turn of the 21st century both companies retained a strong commitment to contemporary drama and continued to nurture Britain’s leading contemporary dramatists, including Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard, and Alan Ayckbourn.

In the late 1990s, South Bank and neighbouring Bankside became an important area for cultural development in London. The area was anchored by the Royal National Theatre and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, a reconstructed Elizabethan-style outdoor theatre that opened in 1997 and featured both the repertoire of Renaissance London theatres reinterpreted for a modern audience and contemporary plays.

Government subsidies

State aid for the British theatre began with the formation of the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA) in 1940. From this, the Arts Council of Great Britain was created in 1946 to provide “State support for the arts, without State control.” It soon became instrumental in developing vital arts communities in London and throughout Great Britain, in fostering generations of new dramatists, and in supporting fringe, touring, community, and repertory theatres. Its budget increased substantially from the early 1960s, and an explosion in new theatrical works during the 1960s and ’70s was in part the result of the funding priorities of the Arts Council. Beginning in the early 1980s, however, successive governments favoured only the largest companies. In the 1990s—when the Arts Council of Great Britain was split into individual councils for England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland—competitive funding through profits from the National Lottery was an even more important source of funds for theatrical companies, which increasingly sought sponsorship from the private sector to overcome revenue shortfalls.

Regional theatre

In the provinces theatre is traditionally divided into touring, repertory, and amateur companies. Large theatres in the main cities are visited by touring companies, and at Christmastime most of them stage an elaborate pantomime that often runs for three or four months. After a lean period in the 1950s when it competed with television, repertory theatre (also known as regional theatre) found new life with the building of many fine civic playhouses, some equipped with additional studio theatres for experimental work. Improved conditions, longer runs, and increased subsidies resulted in higher artistic standards. At the end of the 20th century, the repertory theatres remained a valuable testing ground for actors, directors, and dramatists, often supplying new plays and productions for the West End. The National Youth Theatre, founded in 1956, also gave many prominent actors their first experience in theatre throughout the second half of the century. Most professionals graduate from drama schools, some of the most important being the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), the Central School of Speech and Drama (part of the University of London), and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.