National Service: Diary of a Decade

by Richard Eyre

During the 10 years from 1987 to 1997 that he was director of the Royal National Theatre, Richard Eyre kept a diary—a record that disarmingly captured a life at the heart of British cultural and political affairs. The powerful and the famous inevitably strut and fret upon its pages, but  National Service  is also a moving personal journey, charted faithfully by a fiercely self-aware and frequently self-doubting individual. The job of grappling with a giant three-headed monster as complex as the Royal National Theatre is laid before us. So are good gossip, brilliant insights into personalities and relationships, and a sense of the ridiculous, which Eyre is powerless to suppress. Like other consummate diarists such as Alan Clarke and Kenneth Tynan, Richard Eyre has a voice and point of view that jolt the reader into fresh understanding—and are instantly compelling.

Genres: Theatre, Memoir, Nonfiction, Plays, History, Biography, Biography Memoir

448 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another one for theatre geeks! Interesting and honest.

[Jinjer]

Director of the Royal National Theatre
Recommended by John Lithgow (The Trinity Killer!)

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richard Eyre served as the Director of the National Theatre in London from 1987 to 1997. This book contains excerpts from the diaries he kept during those years.

Fascinating, funny, thought-provoking and eye-opening. Richard Eyre tells of his struggles to keep one of the best known theatres in the English-speaking world afloat. This tome is a real who's-who of the British theatre and the British political scene. He knows everyone.

I was astonished at his tirelessness. He had to go from casting meetings to rehearsals to theatre planning boards to fundraising events day after day after day. I don't know how his family survived intact but it's a testament to him that it did.

He comes across as an extremely likable guy yet he doesn't seem to pull his punches, even when discribing friends. He writes about several blow-ups he has with people yet more often than not, he's able to make up with them later. Very mature, compassionate and understanding. Of course he may have cherry-picked the entries to show that, but since it happens several times and he seems to have remained friends with most of the folks he worked with (with several others coming specifically to him for projects), I'd like to believe that his good-guy portrait of himself is pretty close to the truth.

I was in London during a portion of his tenure and was able to see the National's productions of Stanley, Mary Stuart, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, An Inspector Calls,and John Garbriel Borkman. I also caught Ian McKellen in Richard III and Enemy of the People on tour, both of which started out at the National. It was fascinating to hear what went into the making of these productions. Also lots of new plays by Hare, Stoppard, Bennett, etc., are mentioned in their premiere readings or performances.

The only problem I had was the complex funding system Eyre has to wade through to get money for the theatre. Not being English (or maybe just not understanding financial realities well), I was a bit confused by the different officials and organizations involved with supporting the National. A very small problem (and mine, not Eyre's) in an extremely good read.

I borrowed this copy, but I intend to buy my own. Highly, highly recommended.

[Lizzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Richard Eyre has one of the best cultural jobs in the world - or so it appears. How different it is when inhabited from the inside, as we are able to do in reading his diaries. Constant anxiety, racing around, sweating, worry. A warning about what happens when you reach the summit. Better to be on the slopes?

[Sue Wagner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book makes me want to keep a journal of my work everyday - although, I'm sure that would be unpublishable!

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books on the theatre. Gives an inside look at an artistic director's life running a large, world class theatre. He brushes against the great theatre artists of our time.