Hytner has the keys to the studio

When the National Theatre asked Nicholas Hytner to succeed Trevor Nunn as artistic director, he did not hesitate -- despite his lucrative career directing films. “This is the best possible job for me,” he said.

Hytner, 46, is returning to the scene of past glories. At the National, he memorably directed critical and commercial hits -- a brilliant revival of “Carousel,” Alan Bennett’s play “The Madness of George III” and “The Wind in the Willows.” In film, he adapted “The Madness of King George” (1994) to great acclaim, but his later films, including 1996’s “The Crucible” and 2000’s “Center Stage,” never enjoyed such success. For 15 months, Hytner was set to direct “Chicago,” but he quit in frustration when the project stalled.

He has hit the ground running at the National, with the provocative “Jerry Springer -- the Opera” the first big show under his aegis. “It’s a blast, isn’t it?” he asked a visitor, the day after a preview performance. “Audiences seem to love it, and they’re tickled by the notion that trash culture can be married to grand opera. And it really is an opera: beautiful choral voices, wonderful solo singers, and you can hear Bach, Handel, Puccini, Philip Glass, Benjamin Britten in the music. It’s a great show, it’s funny, but above all it engages with contemporary culture -- mostly to an audience that feels fresh to this place. Anyone will come here if they feel a show has something to say.”

That sounds like Hytner’s ideal for as many of his productions as possible: “This is the National Theatre, so the project is to examine what we mean by ‘national’ and by ‘theater.’ When [Laurence] Olivier started this place in 1963, there would have been a consensus about what was meant by both words. Now they beg all sorts of questions.”

Britain is now a more diverse, fragmented society, he noted. Tellingly, among Hytner’s early productions are “Scenes From the Big Picture,” an urban play by Owen McCafferty set in Northern Ireland, and Kwame Kwei-Armah’s “Elmina’s Kitchen,” dealing with three generations of Anglo-Caribbeans in East London. “We have three separate theaters here, and we put on 16 to 20 plays a year. Over the span of that repertoire, we can be truly national.

“We also need to ask what we mean by theater,” Hytner continued. “There are so many ways of making theater. I think ‘Jerry Springer -- the Opera’ pushes at the boundaries of what we understand as theater.”

Still, he will not be ignoring the classics: “I think we need to engage with Shakespeare at least once a year.” But he insists those presentations too must have modern resonance. Hytner himself will direct a new production of “Henry V” (with Adrian Lester as the king), about a charismatic leader committing his troops to war. Publicity materials for the play quote Shakespeare’s lines: “Now, if these men do not die well, it will be a black matter for the King that led them to it.” It is expected the production will stress parallels between Henry V and this year’s coalition leaders, George W. Bush and Tony Blair.

“To present this [play] as being relevant to a totally contemporary world seemed to be the only responsible way,” Hytner noted. “It would be utterly ducking what this theater is all about not to engage with that.”

He has no regrets about returning to theater. “I was happy making movies and proud of most of what I achieved,” he said. “But engaging with the movie business was hard. In this job now, the biggest perk for me is that I produce 16 plays a year and direct two of them myself. So I get to direct -- and I’m also the studio chief.”