NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE

Recorded live on London’s West End, Ian McKellen’s breathtaking King Lear returns to cinemas. Jonathan Munby directs this contemporary retelling of Shakespeare’s tender, violent, moving and shocking play.

Considered by many to be the greatest tragedy ever written, King Lear sees two ageing fathers – one a King, one his courtier – reject the children who truly love them. Their blindness unleashes a tornado of pitiless ambition and treachery, as family and state are plunged into a violent power struggle with bitter ends.

Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) makes her West End debut in the UK premiere of Suzie Miller’s award-winning play.

Tessa is a young, brilliant barrister. She has worked her way up from working class origins to be at the top of her game; defending; cross examining and winning. An unexpected event forces her to confront the lines where the patriarchal power of the law, burden of proof and morals diverge.

Prima Facie takes us to the heart of where emotion and experience collide with the rules of the game.

Justin Martin directs this solo tour de force, captured live from the intimate Harold Pinter Theatre in London’s West End.

A production from Empire Street Productions.

PAST EVENT

A witch hunt is beginning in Arthur Miller’s captivating parable of power with Erin Doherty (The Crown) and Brendan Cowell (Yerma).

Raised to be seen but not heard, a group of young women in Salem suddenly find their words have an almighty power. As a climate of fear, vendetta and accusation spreads through the community, no one is safe from trial.

Lyndsey Turner (Hamlet) directs this contemporary new staging, designed by Tony Award-winner Es Devlin (The Lehman Trilogy). Captured live from the Olivier stage at the National Theatre.

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Katherine Parkinson (The IT Crowd) and John Heffernan (Dracula) lead the cast in Shakespeare’s romcom of sun, sea and mistaken identity.

The legendary family-run Hotel Messina on the Italian Riveria has been visited by artists, celebrities and royalty. But when the owner’s daughter weds a dashing young soldier, not all guests are in the mood for love.

A string of scandalous deceptions soon surround not only the young couple, but also the adamantly single Beatrice and Benedick.

Following his award-winning productions of Romeo & Juliet, Twelfth Night and Antony and Cleopatra, director Simon Godwin returns with this irresistible comedy, broadcast live from the National Theatre stage.

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Ralph Fiennes (Antony & Cleopatra) leads the cast in David Hare’s (Skylight) blazing account of the most powerful man in New York, a master manipulator whose legacy changed the city forever.

For forty uninterrupted years, Robert Moses exploited those in office through a mix of charm and intimidation. Motivated at first by a determination to improve the lives of New York City’s workers, he created parks, bridges and 627 miles of expressway to connect the people to the great outdoors.

Faced with resistance by protest groups campaigning for a very different idea of what the city should become, will the weakness of democracy be exposed in the face of his charismatic conviction?

Broadcast live from the Bridge Theatre in London, Nicholas Hytner directs this exhilarating new play.

A production from Bridge Theatre. 

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An extraordinary new production of Shakespeare’s most enduring tragedy, directed by Clint Dyer with a cast that includes Giles Terera (Hamilton), Rosy McEwen (The Alienist) and Paul Hilton (The Inheritance).

She’s a bright, headstrong daughter of a senator; elevated by her status but stifled by its expectations. He’s refugee of slavery; having risen to the top of a white world, he finds love across racial lines has a cost.

Wed in secret, Desdemona and Othello crave a new life together. But as unseen forces conspire against them, they find their future is not theirs to decide.

Othello is filmed live on the Lyttleton stage of the National Theatre.

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Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) makes her West End debut in this 21st century retelling of Anton Chekhov’s tale of love and loneliness.

A young woman is desperate for fame and a way out. A young man is pining after the woman of his dreams. A successful writer longs for a sense of achievement. An actress wants to fight the changing of the times. In an isolated home in the countryside, dreams lie in tatters, hopes are dashed, and hearts broken. With nowhere left to turn, the only option is to turn on each other.

Following his critically acclaimed five-star production of Cyrano de Bergerac, Jamie Lloyd brings Anya Reiss’ adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s classic play to stage. Filmed live in London’s West End.

A production from the Jamie Lloyd Company.

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David Tennant (Doctor Who) makes a much-anticipated return to the West End in a blistering reimagining of one of Britain’s most powerful, political plays.

As the world faces its Second World War, John Halder, a good, intelligent German professor, finds himself pulled into a movement with unthinkable consequences.

Olivier Award-winner Dominic Cooke (Follies) directs C.P. Taylor’s timely tale, with a cast that also features Elliot Levey (Coriolanus) and Sharon Small (The Bay). Filmed live at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London.

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David Harewood (Homeland) and Zachary Quinto (Star Trek) play feuding political rivals in James Graham’s (Sherwood) multiple award-winning new drama. 

In 1968 America, as two men fight to become the next president, all eyes are on the battle between two others: the cunningly conservative William F. Buckley Jr., and the unruly liberal Gore Vidal. 

During a new nightly television format, they debate the moral landscape of a shattered nation. As beliefs are challenged and slurs slung, a new frontier in American politics is opening and television news is about to be transformed forever. 

Jeremy Herrin (All My Sons) directs this blistering political thriller, filmed live in London’s West End. 

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Written and performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag, Killing Eve) and directed by Vicky Jones, Fleabag is a rip-roaring look at some sort of woman living her sort of life. Following a box-office record-breaking run in cinemas in 2019, the one-woman show returns to cinemas to the big screen this summer.  

Fleabag may seem oversexed, emotionally unfiltered and self-obsessed, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. With family and friendships under strain and a guinea pig café struggling to keep afloat, Fleabag suddenly finds herself with nothing to lose. 

The hilarious, award-winning play that inspired the BBC’s hit TV series Fleabag, was captured live on stage from London’s West End in 2019. 

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