Nicholas Hytner

Nicholas Hytner
Occupation(s)	Theatre director and producer

Nicholas Hytner (born 7 May 1956) is an English producer and director, and is widely regarded as the most prolific and accomplished theatre director of his generation on either side of the Atlantic. He has been the artistic director of London's National Theatre since 2003.

Biography

Hytner was born in Manchester, England to a Jewish family, the son of the barrister Benet Hytner QC. He attended Manchester Grammar School and read English at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. In the early 1980's he worked at Exeter University's Northcotte Theatre, and in the theatre department. He later became an Associate Director at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre, where he worked between 1985 and 1989. Hytner first found himself working regularly at the National Theatre in London between 1989 and 1997.

Hytner's directorial work includes The Country Wife, Edward II, Don Carlos, Ghetto, Miss Saigon, Orpheus Descending, a 2-part adaptation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, Alan Bennett's The History Boys, Carousel, Southwark Fair and The Alchemist.

Hytner has also directed movies, such as The Crucible, The Madness of King George, The Object of My Affection and Center Stage. Openly gay, Hytner strived to avoid stereotypical gay characters in The Object of My Affection. The film was later criticized by some gay critics as a "commercial whitewash."

Hytner is also a sucsessful opera director with his production of Xerxes winning the Laurence Olivier Opera Award in 1985. Xerxes and his production of The Magic Flute are both still in the English National Opera repertory. He has also directed opera for Kent Opera, Covent Garden, Glyndebourne, Paris Opera, Théâtre du Châtelet, Grand Théâtre de Genève and Bavarian State Opera.

The National Theatre

Hytner was appointed director of the National Theatre in London in April 2003. He made drastic changes at the National, choosing much more political and controversial pieces than his predecessors, but he was famously quoted upon being appointed the job that he himself was "a member of all sorts of interesting minorities". He also introduced a very successful plan called the Travelex GB£10 Season, which, as the name suggests, offers up a number of tickets at a greatly reduced price.

Hytner's film version of the very successful stage play The History Boys was released in 2006.

Work

Screen

• The Madness of King George (1994)
• The Crucible (1996)
• The Object of My Affection (1998)
• Twelfth Night, or What You Will (1998)
• Center Stage (2000)
• The History Boys (2006)

Theatre

• Miss Saigon (11 April 1991 – 28 January 2001)
• Carousel (24 March 1994 – 15 January 1995)
• Twelfth Night (16 July 1998 – 30 August 1998)
• Sweet Smell of Success (14 March 2002 – 15 June 2002)
• Jumpers (25 April 2004 – 11 July 2004)
• The History Boys (23 April 2006 – 1 October 2006)

External links

• Please use a more specific IBDB template. See the documentation for available templates.
• Nicholas Hytner at the BFI's Screenonline

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