The Greeks: Radical Reinvention

Dry exhibition at the National Theatre looking at how they had performed Greek plays and how the theatre itself had been influenced by Greek theatre.

I say dry as it was very text and av based. It would have benefited from a few more set models or costumes. The av wasn't displayed in an engaging way. It grouped 5 or 6 clips or interviews into a loop which took a lot time to watch while standing up in ear phones. I'm sure the content was excellent but it wasn't conducive to lingering.

My favourite section looked at how the Olivier space is based on a Greek theatre design and how Sir Peter Hall, the first director, and Sir Denys Lasdun, the architect, visited theatres in Greece together for inspiration.

The display marked the production "Bachaae" which I was there to see and really enjoyed. With that hindsight I realised I had got more form the display than I thought as I understood more about the work particularly about the role of music and movement in it.

Closes February 2026

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