Dramatic exchanges: the lives and letters of the national theatre

There has been always as much drama offstage as on at the National Theatre, and much of it is to be found in the letters, telegrams, scribbled notes and colourful postcards of its main players.

This book brings together for the first time eight hundred of the most inspiring, dramatic and amusing letters from the life of Britain's most beloved theatre: from Laurence Olivier's gracious rejection letters to Peter Hall's combative memos; from Helen Mirren's impassioned defence of theatrical innovation to a Tory politician's brutal telegram damning a play; from fantastical good luck missives to long conspiratorial letters.