WAR HORSE HELPS NATIONAL THEATRE ACHIEVE RECORD YEAR
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London Theatre Direct
The National Theatre's annual report for the year 2010/2011 has been published and revealed that War Horse took £13.9 million in the West End, up from £13.2 million in 2009/2010. The show has been seen by over 1.4 million people and averaged a very successful 97% attendance across the year.
The National Theatre's Executive Director has revealed that without the financial success of War Horse and One Man, Two Guvnors, the company would have struggled to stage shows including The Kitchen, Emperor and Galilean, London Road and cinema venture NT Live. The financial results of One Man, Two Guvnors do not appear on the report because its run began in May, however it was revealed that it had an impressive advance of £2 million in ticket sales for its run at the Adelphi Theatre later this year.
Director Nicholas Hytner added in his introduction to the annual report “At the National, large-scale commercial successes like War Horse (and our more recent One Man, Two Guvnors) are made possible through the kind of commissioning and development processes for which subsidy is essential. But they are merely part of a repertoire that embraces cutting-edge work that allows experimental artists to thrive, and serious investigations of the classical canon.”
The surplus from War Horse has been set aside for the company's redevelopment project NT Future which has raised £30 million towards its £70 million target.