ABSTRACT
Between 1960 and 1980 British theatre was transformed, thanks not only to the influence of Bertolt Brecht, but also, and more importantly, to the establishment of two very large companies, each heavily subsidised by the state, the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1949 the National Theatre Act committed the government to spend up to 1,000,000 to construct a national theatre on the south bank of the Thames. From Hall's point of view, a London theatre was a necessity to pre-empt the likely creation of a national theatre, or perhaps even to stake a claim to it for Stratford if the government proved unwilling to support two national theatres. Olivier was already unofficially the director-designate of the National Theatre, and the two men discussed a possible merger. There was a sense that the company was pre-empting a National Theatre by vigorously creating its own national identity.
