Nicholas Hytner: By Alan Bennett

Some thoughts:

His rehearsals are sometimes lessons; they are never lectures.

He has no sense of entitlement. As director of the National Theatre he has found himself drafted on to prestigious committees and in quite august company. He doesn’t take this as his due but is delighted by it.

He likes risk and is always up for it. The dodgiest parts of my stuff – the talking furniture in The Habit of Art, the porn scene in People – are what gets him going.

He delights in spectacle and is not afraid of being popular. I’m not sure if I said this or someone else (I hope a well-wisher) but there is in his character an iron streak of tinsel.

And he gives lovely parties. ...

From The Guardian - from the National Theatre programme for Man And Superman.

Mr Hytner has now left the National...