00:02So I feel very proprietorial about the Waterloo Road and here and so I've played all three theatres here and
00:12I've got so many memories I wouldn't know where to start.
00:18Well, when you speak to a lot of young people I do have great hope.
00:23I've just met a little girl who is doing her show at school and is very, very excited about it
00:31and as long as that goes on and people see shows that they want to see and that they, you
00:38know, they see people and they enjoy it or maybe they don't enjoy it but at least it promotes a
00:43conversation and that is exciting and wonderful.
00:46This building has been a beacon of creativity for 50 years and we are celebrating that and the stories that
00:53have started here and now travel all over the world.
00:56So the National Theatre is a crucible of creativity and one of the joys for us is that the work
01:02that we make here travels not just locally but nationally and internationally.
01:05We work in every local authority in every region of the UK and now in 184 countries around the world.
01:13It's also an amazing space to train young people who are the practitioners and the artists of the future.
01:19About 6,000 young people a year train in this building and we're thrilled to celebrate 50 years of that
01:25and 50 more years to come.
01:26The wooden installation stories start here. 50 stories for 50 years was inspired by the amphitheater setting of the Oliver
01:34Theatre.
01:35Facing the National Theatre on Queen's Walk, visitors can sit and listen to personal stories celebrating the building and the
01:42people connected to it.
01:44I'm incredibly optimistic about the future of British theatre. There is no end to the creativity and talent of the
01:50artists that are coming through our doors.
01:52The trick and the joy for us is to figure out how to make that ambition possible.
01:58We need to fund our buildings. We need to fund the work. We need to open up to new audiences.
02:03I've got so many stories and memories attached to this building which I love. It feels like my theatre home
02:10truly.
02:10I've done quite a lot of plays here. Six or seven or eight maybe. I can't remember.
02:17And I did give a story as part of the beautiful installation.
02:22I think we're very privileged in this country to have theatres subsidised.
02:28So there's no pressure for commercial gain and there's no pressure to...
02:34You can have the right to fail sometimes.
02:37So I hope that the future involves continued, serious, proper, full support from the government, from the Arts Council.
02:50We have a great Mayor, Sadiq Khan, who is so supportive of the arts.
02:54I guess.
02:59You
