2nd House (UK)

British Theatre (1x5)

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Some views of the British Theatre Introduced by Melvyn Bragg In the spring of 1975 the new National Theatre opens on London's South Bank. It will have cost £10-million. Meanwhile, less than five per cent of the population ever find their way into a theatre at all. Tonight 2nd House looks at the British Theatre, the people who go to it and those who don't. ' There's No Business ... ' For most people, theatre means entertainment, in the form of a West End show. Certainly it does to the BIRCHWOOD METHODIST CHURCH THURSDAY CLUB on their outing to the new musical Pippin, and to Pippin's presenter, ROBERT STIGWOOD, Australian millionaire and producer of such hits as Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar.-Stigwood is giving th,e people what they want, and his record seems to prove it. The National Theatre - do we want it? BENEDICT NIGHTINGALE, New Statesman critic, takes a sceptical look at a 100-year-old dream, and PETER HALL, the National's new director, and KENNETH TYNAN discuss plans for the theatre's future. The Other Vic For the people of Stoke-on-Trent, theatre means their subsidised repertory theatre, the Victoria. Under the direction of PETER CHEESEMAN, the Vic tries to solve the age-old problem of meeting the needs of a local community, all of whom pay for the theatre but few of whom want to go. Whatever Happened to the Popular Theatre? For the sceptic, theatre has a lot of questions to answer. It's expensive and much talked about, but still runs a poor third to television and films as a popular medium. KEITH DEWHURST, playwright and journalist, argues that English Theatre has lost the knack of being both popular and serious, and asks what we can do to bring the two halves together again. Film directors SHELDON LARRY. DENNIS MARKS Assistant editor TONY STAVEACRE Editor BILL MORTON.