Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Making our organisation a place where everyone is welcome.
At the National Theatre, we are committed to an inclusive culture where everyone feels they belong and where everyone is responsible for making this happen. To produce the world’s best theatre, we need to work with the world’s best theatre-makers.
Our ambition is a culture in which people feel valued, can be themselves and feel that their voices are heard. We are committed to making and sharing stories that reflect the nation and the world we live in. Fundamental to this is the belief that equity, diversity and inclusion makes theatre better, leads to innovation and in doing so, expands our reach.
Our values represent the expectations we have for ourselves and each other, they guide our day-to-day decisions and the way we behave.
- Make a positive impact. Striving to make the world a better place through theatre.
- Bring your passion. Applying energy and expertise to achieve the highest standard.
- Collaborate to create. Bringing ideas to life through teamwork and forging connection.
- Empower each other. Working to build and uphold an inclusive and equitable culture.
- Act with confidence. With the courage to make clear, intentional decisions that support our shared vision.
To aid our commitment to ensuring the diversity of the UK on our stages, in our workforce, and in our audience reach, in 2016, we set a number of publicly available targets to monitor our progress. The information below relates to our progress on diversity for the 2023/24 financial year.
We have also introduced a Culture Department and a new Culture Action Plan.
On our stages
The National Theatre is a place where artists can make their best work. We believe these artists should be a reflection of the diversity of this country.
To achieve this, we’ve set the following targets to increase diversity on our stages:
- 50% of living writers on NT stages will be female
- 50% of directors working on NT stages will be female
- 20% of on-stage work will be written or adapted by global majority writers
- 20% of directors working on NT stages will be from the global majority
- A minimum of 25% of performers will be from the global majority
Our progress
In the 2023/24 financial year, in our theatres:
- 53% of living writers were female.
- 44% of directors were female*
- 48% of performers were female
- 18% of writers were from the global majority*
- 22% of directors were from the global majority
- 37% of performers were from the global majority
*Targets are one of a variety of tools used to help turn the dial on the inherent imbalance in our industry. They are very helpful to remind us of how far we’ve come and how far we still need to go. They measure progress and highlight areas that require us to work harder.
Our workforce
By March 2020 we were on track to meet our targets relating to staff. Sadly, reductions made to our workforce due to the financial impact of COVID, have temporarily had a negative impact on representation in some areas of the organisation.
We remain absolutely committed to ensuring we build back with a more diverse workforce, with the following aims:
- We will sustain a gender balanced workforce.
- 20% of our workforce will be from the global majority.
- We will maintain a gender pay gap below 5%.
Our progress
In the 2023/24 financial year, across our workforce:
- 57% of our staff were female
- 18% of our staff were from the global majority
- Our gender pay gap was under 5%
We are a Disability Confident Committed employer
As an employer, we have made the following commitment to increase accessibility in our workplace.
- Ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible.
- Communicating and promoting vacancies through a range of channels.
- Offering an interview to disabled people who meet the minimum criteria for the job.
- Anticipating and providing reasonable adjustments as required.
- Supporting any existing employee who acquires a disability or long term health condition enabling them to stay in work.
- At least one preset activity which will make a difference for disabled people.
Find out how you can join our workforce. Explore our current vacancies, apprenticeships, work placements or volunteering opportunities.
Our audience reach
We believe that theatre is for everyone. We aim to share our work as widely as possible, attract diverse audiences, and to keep a significant portion of our tickets at an accessible price.
As part of our 2018-2023 business plan, we’ve set several aims to help us to continue to widen our audience on the South Bank, as part of a wider audience development plan to help us reach new audiences right across the UK through touring, participation activity and broadcast.
- A minimum of 20% of bookers to be under 35 each year.
- To increase audiences from the global majority in our theatres to 10%.
- To maintain the proportion of first time bookers at 30% or above.
Our progress
In the 2023/24 financial year, on the South Bank:
- 16% of bookers were under 35
- 12% of our audience were from the global majority
- 14% of bookers were buying tickets for the first time
Supporters
With thanks to the MAP Fund, whose support makes this work possible.