Short Course: Political Drama

As Britain is gripped by election fever, explore how new writing at the NT has held a mirror up to British politics and society.

Powerful, thrilling, demanding, hilarious and timely - political theatre can display all of these qualities and more. Plays such as The National Health (1969), Pravda (1985), The Absence of War (1993), Never So Good (2008), Her Naked Skin (2008), This House (2012) and Great Britain (2014) have taken audiences inside the Commons and Number Ten, tackled immigration and universal suffrage and presented an eclectic cast of MPs, media moguls and spin doctors.

In this three-week course, Dr Daniel Rosenthal, author of The National Theatre Story, will use material from the NT Archive - including photographs and film - to examine the production history of political dramas by playwrights such as Richard Bean, David Hare and Rebecca Lenkiewicz.

With guest speaker Jeremy Herrin, director of This House, Statement of Regret, The Absence of War, Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies.

Supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund