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
New Vic Theatre New Vic Theatre The New Vic Theatre is situated in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. It was purpose-built as a theatre in the round and opened in 1986, replacing a converted cinema, the Victoria Theatre, Hartshill, Stoke-on-Trent. In the early 1960s Stephen Joseph was searching for a permanent base for his "Studio Theatre" company, which specialised in theatrical productions "in the round", that is with audience on all sides. He found it in a disused cinema in Hartshill, Stoke, which was converted to theatrical use and opened as a playhouse on 9 October 1962. The first resident director was Peter Cheeseman, and he