THE ROYAL NATIONAL THEATRE

Registered charity 224223 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q511108 · Wikipedia · also known as THE NATIONAL, THE NATIONAL THEATRE

The National Theatre is central to the creative life of the UK. In its three theatres on the South Bank in London it presents new plays and classics from the world repertoire. It extends its reach through live broadcasts into cinema, UK and International tours and deepens audience engagement through its education programme. It looks after the wider health of theatre through R&D at the NT Studio.

Objects

TO PROMOTE AND ASSIST IN THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION SO FAR AS SUCH PROMOTION AND ASSISTANCE SHALL BE OF A CHARITABLE NATURE AND IN PARTICULAR, SO FAR AS OF A CHARITABLE NATURE, TO PROCURE AND INCREASE THE APPRECIATION AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE DRAMATIC ART IN ALL ITS FORMS AS A MEMORIAL TO WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.

Area of benefit: NOT DEFINED

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Lambeth, London, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported an operating deficit of £1.6m for the year, resulting in a negative unrestricted operations fund balance of £5.3m. However, the trustees confirm that the charity has sufficient liquidity and resources to continue as a going concern, with total group funds increasing to £88.9m. The organization is actively working towards a break-even position by 2027/28 while managing significant capital infrastructure needs.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by BDO LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

• Reserves position vs the charity's own policy moved from "below" (FY2024) to "above" (FY2025).

Comparing this charity’s FY2024 and FY2025 accounts as analysed by this site.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
• Campaigns and political activity policy and procedures
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

UK research funding (UKRI Gateway to Research)

• Open Access Smart Capture: Immersive accessibility in theatre —
• Universal Performance Space —
• Open Access Smart Capture: Immersive accessibility in theatre —

Property (HM Land Registry)

9 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (2 freehold); recorded price paid £87k. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Trustpilot: National Theatre scores 2.0/5 from 26 reviews (source) — reviews usually concern the charity’s shops or services, not its charitable performance.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 30/03/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~8.8 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 2.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (46% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 2.8% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• SIR DAMON MARCUS BUFFINIchair · trustee of 2 other charities
• Amanda Kate Pritchard
• Baroness Beeban Kidron
• Cate Blanchett
• Dame Marit Mohn · trustee of 1 other charity
• Deborah Weinstein
• Francesca Mary Robinson
• James Matthew Graham
• LUKE BRADLEY-JONES
• Louise Elizabeth Charlton
• Melanie Jane Richards CBE
• Sarah Maria Wiggins · trustee of 1 other charity
• Simon Minty · trustee of 1 other charity
• Tim Score

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: China · Germany · Netherlands · Northern Ireland · Scotland · United States

Income and spending

Common questions

Shared trustees with funders

Register facts shown side by side: a person serves as trustee of both this charity and a funder whose accounts record grants to it. Shared trusteeship is lawful and common; well-run charities manage it through declared-interest procedures.

• Dame Marit Mohn — trustee here and at THE MOHN WESTLAKE FOUNDATION
• Sarah Maria Wiggins — trustee here and at THE ROYAL NATIONAL THEATRE FOUNDATION
• Simon Minty — trustee here and at THE ROYAL NATIONAL THEATRE FOUNDATION

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Grants marked “Unverified read” were flagged by automated checks as possibly misread from the funder’s filed accounts. They are listed, but left out of the totals, counts and funder relationships this site computes.

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE ROYAL NATIONAL THEATRE FOUNDATION.

• THE ROYAL NATIONAL THEATRE FOUNDATION income £394k
• NEWCASTLE THEATRE ROYAL TRUST LIMITED income £16.3m
• NATIONAL DRAMA income £28k
• REGENT'S PARK THEATRE LIMITED income £8.7m
• NORTHERN STAGE (THEATRICAL PRODUCTIONS) LIMITED income £3.8m
• SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE THEATRE COMPANY income £1.8m

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.