Today is a mixed bag of the gems that are coming out of The National Theatre in the UK as party of its 50th anniversary celebrations.

Firstly another in the Scene Changes discussions, this one about lighting design and the role of the lighting designer. Again really interesting and gives you a great idea about the profession and how technology has advanced theatre lighting. Featured on this panel are lighting designers Paule Constable (War Horse, The Light Princess), Richard Pibrow (Three Sisters), Natasha Chivers (Sunday in the Park with George) and Paul Pyant (The Wind in the Willows). Something I didn’t know was that the job of the lighting designer came from the US and until then, the director had been in charge of lighting a show.

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Secondly, the second part of the radio documentary, The Road to the National Theatre – Whose National Theatre, from BBC Radio 4. The first part is in my post National Debt

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And finally from the Apple App Store which charts the history of the theatre through its productions from 1963 to today. It includes interactive timelines, production materials, costume designs, technical images, annotated scripts, video interviews and so on. Really informative and you could spend a good afternoon working your way through it. A useful resource. Click the image on the left for more information.

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