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
Tom Morris (director) Theatre. While at BAC, Morris established the Scratch Programme, The Sam Shepherd Festival, The Critics Up for Review, The British Festival of Visual Theatre, Playing in the Dark (which marked the launch of Vanishing Point and Sound and Fury and included the first scratch version of Complicite’s Mnemonic) and BAC Opera (which produced ). While at BAC he also wrote Ben Hur, Jason and the Argonauts and World Cup Final 1966 all with Carl Heap. In September 2009 Morris took over as Artistic Director of Bristol Old Vic theatre, overseeing the theatre's revival with Executive Director Emma Stenning. Morris and