David Farnor | On 11, Jun 2020

A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Amadeus have joined the National Theatre at Home line-up, as the theatre continues its run of weekly digital theatre streams.

With theatres across the UK shutting their doors during the coronavirus pandemic, audiences have been turning to streaming theatre services and initiatives to keep up with culture – you can read our guide to digital theatre here.

The National Theatre, which has been beaming recordings into cinemas under the brand NT Live for years, has been meeting that demand with weekly streams from its archive every Thursday night. Each production streams live at 7pm UK time and is then available on-demand for a week after.

After star-studded outings such as Coriolanus, Frankenstein and Twelfth Night, the productions have now been viewed more than 12 million times, and the final plays in the run promise equally spectacular theatrics to keep audiences entertained, including Gwendoline Christie in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. There will be five more plays taking the total to 15 weeks, wrapping up on 16th July with the legendary play Amadeus, performed on stage with a live orchestra.

Here’s the final line-up:

Small Island

This epic and resonant production of Andrea Levy’s Orange Prize-winning novel traces the tangled history between Jamaica and the UK through WWII to 1948 – the year when HMT Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury.

18th June

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Immerse yourself in this summer fiesta of feuding fairies, mistaken identity and moonlit magic, starring Gwendoline Christie.

25th June

Les Blancs

An African society prepares to drive out its colonial present and claim an independent future. Lorraine Hansberry’s powerful final play confronts the hope and tragedy of revolution.

2nd July

The Deep Blue Sue

Behind the fragile veneer of post-war civility burns a brutal sense of loss and longing. Helen McCrory and Tom Burke feature in Terrence Rattigan’s play.

9th July

Amadeus

Peter Shaffer’s iconic play, with live orchestral accompaniment on-stage, follows Italian composer Salieri (Lucian Msamati), who is seized by obsessive jealousy for a young prodigy, Mozart (Adam Gillen).

16th July

 

Mark Gatiss in The Madness of George III joins National Theatre line-up

5th June 2020

Mark Gatiss will tread the digital boards this month with his starring role in The Madness of George III the latest to get the National Theatre at Home treatment.

After the Donmar Warehouse’s Coriolanus streamed last week, with Mark Gatiss stealing scenes in a production dominated by Tom Hiddleston, the National Theatre is bringing out another Gatiss gem from its archive of NT Live recordings.

Filmed live at Nottingham Playhouse, Alan Bennett’s classic play about power and identity examines the fine line between a King and a man. It’s 1786 and King George III is the most powerful man in the world. But his behaviour is becoming increasingly erratic as he succumbs to fits of lunacy. With the King’s mind unravelling at a dramatic pace, ambitious politicians and the scheming Prince of Wales joining forces to undermine the power of the Crown and expose the fine line between a King and a man. Gatiss is joined by Adrian Scarborough (Gavin and Stacey) in the play, which was performed back in 2018.

The recording will be available to stream from Thursday 11th June on the National Theatre’s YouTube channel, where it will be free for one week.

For the full line-up and reviews, click here.

 

Tom Hiddleston’s Coriolanus joins National Theatre at Home line-up

7th May 2020

Tom Hiddleston’s Coriolanus and Gillian Anderson’s A Streetcar Named Desire will be available to watch online for free this spring, as the plays join the National Theatre at Home line-up.

The National Theatre, which has been beaming recordings into cinemas under the brand NT Live for years, has been meeting that demand with weekly streams from its archive every Thursday night. Each production streams live at 7pm UK time and is then available on-demand for a week after.

The series hasn’t shied away from the NT’s most star-studded recordings, kicking off in April with James Corden in One Man Two Guvnors, Tamsin Greig as Malvolia in Twelfth Night, Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo in Antony and Cleopatra and – last week – Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller in Danny Boyle’s Frankenstein. The latter, which saw Cumberbatch and Miller alternate roles between Viktor and the Creature, racked up more than 2.1 million views and 965k views respectively, after they streamed back-to-back on Thursday and Friday night. The coming weeks will see the Young Vic’s unique A Streetcar Named Desire, which saw Gillian Anderson play Blanche DuBois opposite Ben Foster and Vanessa Kirby (21st May), and Tom Hiddleston’s little-seen Coriolanus, performed in intense close-up at the Donmar Warehouse (4th June). They will be joined by This House, by Quiz writer James Graham (28th May), and The Barber Shop Chronicles from Leeds Playhouse (14th May).

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