Making theatre talked about, with joy, all around the world
I’ve lead a period of transformation at the National Theatre, since joining in late 2019. We’ve moved away from talking heads interviews and advert style graphics, into a social media world of entertaining video content, putting performances centre stage, with a down-to-earth and chatty tone of voice. I now firmly believe our social accounts are worthy of ‘the world’s greatest theatre’ (Time Out).
Launching TikTok
We couldn’t do everything on TikTok. I needed to set clear content priorities and indicators of success.
We’re here to inspire young people with the world of theatre.
In doing so, we hope they’ll learn things that help with their studies, subscribe to our streaming service with familiar faces they love, encounter incredible theatre careers, and buy our £10 tickets for 16-25 year olds.
It’s early days for us. I’ve built the account up to 85k followers and 2.6m likes in 6 months and we’re already seeing the uplift in web referrals.
@nationaltheatre Garlic! A mirror! Holy waterrr! A CRUCIFIX!! #AndrewGarfield #Theatre #WestEnd #AngelsInAmerica #NationalTheatre ♬ Garlic. A mirror. A crucifix. Angels in America NT - National Theatre
Defining our mission
The basis for all my work at the National Theatre has been defining who we are and how we interact with audiences online.
We make the National Theatre talked about, and talked to, positively, all around the world
We totally love theatre - and know lots about it - and hope you might too, through discovering out content
We are the National Theatre
We’re the theatre fan you respect and want to be best mates with.
because we’re chilled, humble and funny
we really, really love theatre
we love a good chat
we’re never mean, but can be gently sassy
we share our expertise generously - we’re never patronising
we’re trustworthy, truthful and impartial
we speak to you knowing you might not like theatre
we reference trends and know what’s going on in the world
Performance first
It make sense that people who love theatre, love seeing actual acting on social media.
Unlike in TV and Film, you don’t have a recording of your show to cut from, before it exists on stage. (You don’t even have a pic lock!) But this is the most important period of time for ticket sales.
So how do you give audiences a sense of the performance to come?
I’ve developed a first-look series of monologues, duologues and poetry, performed during rehearsals, intensely to the camera.
These give a sense of what the production, on stage, might become - without directors needed to worry that they are exactly accurate representations of the final scene.
Unlike interviews and rehearsal b-roll, these scenes and snippets tell stories and engage on social media with emotion. That makes them successful.