From Imelda Staunton to David Oyelowo, stars reveal their most memorable moments backstage at the National Theatre

In the 50 years since the National Theatre opened its Brutalist doors to London’s Southbank, those concrete corridors, lobbies, and stages – described by architect Denys Lasdun as ‘glowing caves of light’ – have played host to as much drama, secrets, and stories offstage as onstage. This October, to mark the institution’s 50th anniversary, some of its leading lights have shared their personal tales of life at the NT for a celebratory installation.

Stories Start Here: 50 Stories for 50 Years is a wooden structure inspired by the Olivier Theatre’s iconic amphitheatre seating. The installation invites visitors to sit and listen to stories about the National Theatre from the likes of Imelda Staunton, Lesley Manville, David Oyelowo and Hugh Jackman, some of whom shared their memories of the cultural powerhouse with Tatler ahead of the anniversary celebration.

Take Staunton, whose roles at the National Theatre include her Olivier-nominated turns as Sally Plummer in Follies and Lucy Lockit in The Beggar’s Opera. Perhaps her most personally significant performance at the NT, however, was in the 1982 revival of Guys and Dolls, during which she struck up a romance with Jim Carter, now her husband of over 40 years.

‘We love the National Theatre. Meeting on the first day of rehearsals for Guys and Dolls in 1982 changed our lives both personally and professionally,’ the pair shared with Tatler ahead of the opening of Stories Start Here.

‘The Olivier Theatre in particular holds a special place in our hearts. There’s a curious area just offstage left and right called ‘The Slips’. It’s an odd no-man’s-land between front of house and backstage and rarely used except for making entrances during shows. Not wishing our developing romance to be the subject of gossip – theatre companies are fuelled by gossip – we would often meet in the slips after rehearsals to spend some quiet time together.’

The only person to discover their secret, the pair revealed, was legendary stage manager John Rothenberg, who ‘coughed discreetly, retired gracefully and had a twinkle in his eye thereafter.’

A slightly less successful romance is at the heart of David Oyelowo’s earliest memory of the NT. Before he was the Emmy- and Golden Globe- nominated star of Silo, Selma, and Les Misérables, he was a teenage boy hoping to find love in the theatre’s hallowed halls.

‘I first walked into the National at the age of 15 for what I thought was a date. I realised something was up when we walked through the stage door and not the foyer. The girl who took me along was actually inviting me to join the youth theatre there,’ he recalls: ‘It’s how becoming an actor began for me, and I never looked back.’

‘I have so many formative memories there. Shows I’ve seen, shows I’ve been in, people who shaped me and my career. It’s a place I go to dream and get lost in. Literally sometimes! The minute you decide to go to the administrative floors, or costume and make-up, getting lost in that maze of corridors is inevitable.

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‘Story is how we understand who we are, what we are and what we want. The National is my cathedral of story. I’ve learned a lot about humanity from what I’ve seen there.’

One person who knows a great deal about putting on shows at the National Theatre is James Graham. The three-time Olivier Award-winning playwright behind Dear England, which premiered at the NT in 2023, describes the Olivier stage – ‘the Wembley of Theatre’ – as an ‘intimidating place to whack a new play – it seems to scream “sacred space”, even though it’s only 50 – a baby in English theatre years.’

‘To me there’s no better stage on earth. It’s the Wembley of theatre. Inspired by the ancient amphitheatre at Epidaurus,’ Graham continues. ‘Lasdun wanted it to mirror that sense of a civic space, too. Theatre as a forum where public crowds would gather, listen, debate – exactly as in ancient Greece.

‘We sometimes forget that theatre came before democracy, because it brought citizens and tribal factions from across different regions together, in proximity. You could say that modern democracy began as a story that we told ourselves in spaces like the Olivier: a space that demands big questions of who we are, our systems of power. Like the Houses of Parliament just across the river, which we brought over here in replica, for the play This House. Or the football stadiums of Dear England, which brought new audiences to the National, its main character declaring that “England needs a new story. And we, together, are going to write one…”’

Over 50 years of groundbreaking productions – marked with this new installation as well as the new Sir Denys Lasdun Mechanical & Electrical Apprenticeship, which aims to invest in the next generation of craftspeople – the National Theatre is continuing to write Britain’s story.