The National Theatre's Chain Play, written by twenty-five different playwrights in 25 scenes, published over 25 days on the internet and in honor of the 25th anniversary (yesterday) of the National taking up residence in its South Bank home, got a platform performance on the stage of the Olivier theatre at 2:30 PM Oct. 26.
All tickets for the one-off performance of the specially commissioned play were sold, which suggests that the internet is an effective marketing tool for theatres.
The scenes, posted daily on the internet, were all uncredited - readers were expected to guess, from the style of writing, who wrote them. On Oct. 26, the authorship of each scene was finally credited.
The National Theatre's website is: www.nationaltheatre.org.uk
—by Paul Webb Theatrenow
