A BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, the 2003 to 2015 director of the National Theatre reflects on his time in the post, emphasising the role that compromise has played in this tenure.

Nicholas Hytner was director of the National Theatre from 2003 to 2015, where he directed plays by - among many others - Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Alan Bennett and Richard Bean and produced more than two hundred different shows. He brought in a new community of artists, introduced National Theatre Live cinema broadcasts around the world, and established £10 ticket seasons which - by radically reducing ticket prices - filled the National with large new audiences. Before running the National, he worked widely in the West End and on Broadway; and in opera - in London, Paris, Munich and New York. His films include The Madness of King George, The History Boys, The Lady in the Van, and The Crucible with Daniel Day-Lewis. The Bridge Theatre, the London home of the new company he has formed with Nick Starr, opens in 2017.