Kenneth Tynan theatre critic until mid-1963 when he joined the National Theatre. In 1963, Laurence Olivier became the British National Theatre Company's first artistic director. Tynan had been highly dismissive of Olivier's achievements as artistic director of the Chichester Festival Theatre, which had opened in 1962, but he recommended himself for the role of literary manager. Olivier was initially outraged by Tynan's presumption but Olivier's wife, Joan Plowright, convinced him that Tynan would be an asset at the National Theatre Company, then based at the Old Vic theatre. When he became the National Theatre's literary manager, Tynan ceased to be the theatre
National Theatre of Northern Greece National Theatre of Northern Greece The National Theatre of Northern Greece in Thessaloniki was founded in 1961 by Sokratis Karantinos, its first director. The Drama School and the Dance Theatre are integral parts of the National Theatre. The first base of the institution was the Royal Theatre (Thessaloniki) but in 1962 was transferred to the current building. NTNG’s present institutional framework was established in 1994, with an Artistic Director and a seven-member Board of Directors who run the Theatre, which is subsidized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (Greece). With four indoor theatres and two open-air theatres, NTNG is