About Kenneth Tynan
The award is named after Kenneth Tynan (1927 – 1980), who was the first literary manager/dramaturg in the United Kingdom.
In 1963, giving up his role as a critic for The Observer, Kenneth Tynan joined Laurence Olivier at the National Theatre, as the theatre’s first literary manager. With this move the profession of the dramaturg was born in the United Kingdom.
“His appointment challenged traditional British management structures assigning artistic and managerial responsibility to actor-managers, and in post Tynan provided a model of literary management that continues to be appropriated and refashioned by theatre companies throughout the United Kingdom. (…) his impact on the theatre industry itself has been extraordinary.”
(Mary Luckhurst: Dramaturgy: A Revolution in Theatre, Cambridge University Press, 2006)
Tynan worked as a literary manager for the National Theatre for a decade (1963 – 1974). Following the dictum that a national theatre should deliver “a spectrum of world theatre” Tynan focused on “‘reviving classical drama, introducing foreign plays, presenting new plays, looking after recent plays of merit which otherwise might rust in oblivion” (Tom Stoppard) Also Tynan was not afraid to put “his own taste on the line, matchmaking between text and director and between author and muse.” (Tom Stoppard) He worked tirelessly in the rehearsal room, advised on programming, contributed to the development of new plays (Stoppard’s Jumpers for instance). He pushed Olivier into more adventurous selections, and persuaded him to play the title role in Shakespeare’s Othello (something the actor had always been reluctant to do, yet the role later earned him a great success). His work was central to the hight reputation of the National Theatre.
“The variety of the repertoire and the experimentation in its playing in these early years at the National owed a great deal to Tynan’s catholic tastes and his influence on Olivier: amongst many other achievements Tynan commissioned Robert Graves’ brilliant adaptation of Much Ado about Nothing for Franco Zeffirelli’s 1965 production and brought Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead from the fringe of the 1966 Edinburgh Festival to the stage of the National Theatre.”
(Source: the National Theatre’s website:
http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/8843/history-of-the-nt/kenneth-tynan.html)
Tynan recognized the importance of clearly communicating the theatre’s artistic vision to the outside world. He played a huge role in “destroying the old system of censorship, formal and informal” as well as breaking down linguistic inhibitions on the stage and in print”. (Source: Paul Johnson: Intellectuals, 1988)
Clearly Tynan’s commitment and passion paid off. During his 10-year tenure at the National Theatre of the 79 plays that were staged, more than half were undisputed critical and box office hits. Thirty two of these were Tynan’s ideas; 20 were chosen with his collaboration.
Tynan’s work as a dramaturg was invaluable, and as such, he made an immeasurable contribution to British theatre.
Posted by Hanna S at 08:29 PM in Kenneth Tynan Award
