More About the Olivier Theatre
The Olivier opened on 4 October 1976 with Marlowe's Tamburlaine the Great, directed by Peter Hall with Albert Finney in the title role, about three weeks before the Queen formally opened the building around it on 25 October. It is named after Laurence Olivier, the National Theatre's first Director, who ran the company through its years at the Old Vic before it had a building of its own.
It is built as an amphitheatre: a fan of seats in two tiers wrapped around an open stage, with no proscenium arch and no frame of any kind between the audience and the actors. It is generally said to have been modelled on the ancient Greek theatre at Epidaurus. The result is a theatre holding around 1,100 people that feels closer than its size suggests.
The drum revolve
Under the stage sits the machine this theatre is known for among people who work in it. Three semi-circular segments make up the drum revolve, and two of them drop right down to the ground floor of the building, where they can be swapped for one another. A set turns out of sight, goes down, and a completely different one comes back up and revolves into place. The auditorium sits three floors up, which is what gives the drum somewhere to go.
What plays here
The Olivier takes the National's biggest work: classics on a large scale, new plays with large casts, and the Christmas show. Because the stage is open on three sides and the seats wrap round it, the Circle looks down over the whole stage, including the drum revolve, and is a proper choice rather than the cheap option.
The productions people still ask about
Guys and Dolls, 1982. Richard Eyre's production, and the first musical the National ever staged.
His Dark Materials, opening 20 December 2003. Nicholas Hytner's adaptation of the Philip Pullman novels, in two parts.
War Horse, 2007. The premiere, before it ran for years in the West End and around the world, and became a film.
Small Island, 2019. Rufus Norris's staging of the Andrea Levy novel, adapted by Helen Edmundson.
More recently, Ballet Shoes played here in 2024 and 2025 and goes out on tour from 19 August 2027, including a run at Sadler's Wells.
The building around it
The Olivier is one of three theatres inside the National Theatre on the South Bank, alongside the Lyttelton and the Dorfman. The story of the building itself, its architect and its listing, is in our National Theatre guide.
About FAQs
Who is the Olivier Theatre named after?
Laurence Olivier, the first Director of the National Theatre. He led the company from 1963, through the years when it played at the Old Vic and had no building of its own, and the largest of the three auditoriums in the building it eventually got carries his name.
When did the Olivier Theatre open?
On 4 October 1976, with Tamburlaine the Great. That was about three weeks before the official opening of the National Theatre building itself on 25 October, which is why the Olivier's own anniversary and the building's do not quite line up.
Why does the Olivier Theatre have no proscenium arch?
Because it was built as an amphitheatre rather than as a conventional playhouse, with the audience wrapped in a fan around an open stage. There is no frame, no front curtain in the usual sense and nothing separating the stage from the auditorium, which is what lets a production spill forward and be watched from three sides at once.