The National Theatre has announced that it will delay the opening of the Dorfman Theatre until autumn 2014. The world-leading institution instead hopes to extend the tenure of its temporary venue The Shed.
The NT has applied for planning permission to keep the striking red theatre in its current location outside the South Bank venue until March 2017.
The Shed opened in April last year. It was built as a temporary replacement for the Cottesloe Theatre, which was due to undergo building work and reopen as the Dorfman Theatre at the beginning of 2014. Due to a delay with the work, the newly refurbished space will now open later in the year.
Forthcoming productions at The Shed include the return of Nadia Fall’s Home, an adaptation of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake entitled riverrun and award-winning play Chewing Gum Dreams.
The Shed is expected to be programmed until July 2014, with a decision on the 225-seat venue’s future beyond that date to be made in March.