National Theatre Live Explained

National Theatre Live is an initiative operated by the Royal National Theatre in London. It broadcasts live, by satellite, performances of their productions (and those of other theatres) to cinemas and arts centres around the world.

About

I grew up in Manchester in the 60s. If I had been able to see Olivier's National Theatre at my local cinema, I would have gone all of the time.

— Nicholas Hytner, director of the Royal National Theatre.^[1]

The programme began its pilot season in June 2009 with a production of Phèdre, starring Helen Mirren, which screened live in 70 cinemas across the UK. Two hundred more venues eventually showed the production internationally, resulting in a combined audience of around 50,000 people for this one performance.^[2] The second production, All's Well That Ends Well, showed at a total of around 300 screens,^[3] and today, the number of venues that show NT Live productions has grown to around 700.^[4]

With the exception of a Saturday matinee for Nation, a Monday evening showing for London Assurance, and a Tuesday evening showing for A Streetcar Named Desire, all National Theatre Live productions have been broadcast on a Thursday evening, to avoid conflicting with cinemas' weekend schedules. Most venues screen the productions live as they are broadcast, but because of the time differences in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States venues in those countries show the recorded production some days later. Many venues also offer repeat screenings of popular productions which they term 'Encores'.

Most productions broadcast are plays performed in repertory at the Royal National Theatre, but works by other companies have been included. A Disappearing Number by Complicite was broadcast live from the Theatre Royal, Plymouth on 14 October 2010. The Donmar Warehouse's production of King Lear, starring Derek Jacobi was broadcast live from Covent Garden on 3 February 2011. In the summer of 2013, a broadcast of Macbeth starring Kenneth Branagh and Alex Kingston was broadcast live from the Manchester International Festival on 20 July 2013. A Streetcar Named Desire starring Gillian Anderson was broadcast live from the Young Vic on 16 September 2014.

Live broadcasts

Live performances are broadcast live from the National Theatre (unless noted). They are certified differently from feature films.

Season 1

• Phèdre – 25 June 2009
• All's Well That Ends Well – 1 October 2009
• Nation – 30 January 2010
• The Habit of Art – 22 April 2010
• London Assurance – 28 June 2010

Season 2

• A Disappearing Number – 14 October 2010
• Hamlet – 9 December 2010
• Fela! – 13 January 2011
• King Lear – 3 February 2011
• Frankenstein – 17 & 24 March 2011
• The Cherry Orchard – 30 June 2011

Season 3

• One Man, Two Guvnors – 15 September 2011
• The Kitchen – 6 October 2011
• Collaborators – 1 December 2011
• Travelling Light – 9 February 2012
• The Comedy of Errors – 1 March 2012
• She Stoops to Conquer – 29 March 2012

Season 4

• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – 6 September 2012
• The Last of the Haussmans – 11 October 2012^[5]
• Timon of Athens – 1 November 2012^[6]
• The Magistrate – 17 January 2013^[7]
• People – 21 March 2013^[8]
• This House – 16 May 2013^[8]
• The Audience – 13 June 2013^[8] (broadcast from the Gielgud Theatre in the West End)
• Macbeth – 20 July 2013^[8] (broadcast from the Manchester International Festival)

Season 5

• Othello – 26 September 2013^[9]
• Coriolanus – 30 January 2014^[8] (broadcast from the Donmar Warehouse)
• War Horse – 27 February 2014 – (National Theatre production broadcast from the New London Theatre in the West End)
• King Lear – 1 May 2014^[10]
• A Small Family Business – 12 June 2014^[11]
• Skylight – 17 July 2014^[12] (broadcast from Wyndham's Theatre in the West End)

Season 6

• Medea – 4 September 2014^[13]
• A Streetcar Named Desire – 16 September 2014^[14]
• JOHN – 9 December 2014^[15]
• Treasure Island – 22 January 2015
• Behind the Beautiful Forevers – 12 March 2015^[16]
• A View from the Bridge – 26 March 2015 (The Young Vic production broadcast from Wyndham's Theatre in the West End)
• The Hard Problem – 16 April 2015^[17]
• Man and Superman – 14 May 2015
• Everyman – 16 July 2015^[18]

Season 7

• The Beaux' Stratagem – 3 September 2015
• Hamlet – 15 October 2015 (broadcast from the Barbican Theatre)
• Of Mice and Men – 19 November 2015 (broadcast from the Longacre Theatre on Broadway, New York)
• Jane Eyre – 8 December 2015
• Les Liaisons Dangereuses – 28 January 2016 (broadcast from the Donmar Warehouse)
• As You Like It – 25 February 2016
• Hangmen – 3 March 2016 (Royal Court production broadcast from Wyndham's Theatre in the West End)

Season 8

• The Deep Blue Sea – 1 September 2016
• The Threepenny Opera – 22 September 2016
• No Man's Land – 15 December 2016 (broadcast from Wyndham's Theatre in the West End)
• Amadeus – 2 February 2017
• Saint Joan – 16 February 2017 (broadcast from the Donmar Warehouse)
• Hedda Gabler – 9 March 2017
• Twelfth Night – 6 April 2017
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead – 20 April 2017 (broadcast from The Old Vic)
• Obsession – 11 May 2017 (broadcast from the Barbican Theatre)
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – 18 May 2017 (broadcast from the Harold Pinter Theatre in the West End)
• Peter Pan – 10 June 2017 (performance was captured during its run at the National Theatre over the Christmas 2016/17 season)
• Salomé – 22 June 2017
• Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches – 20 July 2017
• Angels in America, Part Two: Perestroika – 27 July 2017
• Yerma – 31 August 2017 (broadcast from The Young Vic)

Season 9

• Follies – 16 November 2017
• Young Marx – 7 December 2017 (production broadcast from the Bridge Theatre)^[19]
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – 22 February 2018 (The Young Vic production broadcast from the Apollo Theatre)^[20]
• Julius Caesar – 22 March 2018 (production broadcast from the Bridge Theatre)^[21]
• Macbeth – 10 May 2018

Season 10

• Julie – 6 September 2018^[22]
• King Lear – 27 September 2018^[23] (Chichester Festival Theatre production broadcast from the Duke of York's Theatre)
• Allelujah! - 1 November 2018^[24]
• The Madness of George III – 20 November 2018^[25] (broadcast from the Nottingham Playhouse)
• Antony & Cleopatra – 6 December 2018^[26]
• The Tragedy of King Richard the Second – 15 January 2019^[27] (broadcast from the Almeida Theatre)
• I'm Not Running – 31 January 2019^[28]
• All About Eve – 11 April 2019^[29] (broadcast from the Noël Coward Theatre)
• All My Sons – 14 May 2019^[30] (broadcast from The Old Vic; due to a competing Broadway production then under way, North American streaming was postponed until a later date)
• Small Island – 27 June 2019^[31]
• The Lehman Trilogy – 25 July 2019^[32]

Season 11

• Fleabag – 12 September 2019 (a Soho Theatre production, broadcast from the Wyndham's Theatre)
• A Midsummer Night's Dream – 17 October 2019 (broadcast from the Bridge Theatre)^[33]
• Hansard – 7 November 2019^[34]
• Present Laughter – 28 November 2019 (broadcast from The Old Vic)^[35]
• Cyrano de Bergerac – 20 February 2020 (broadcast from Playhouse Theatre)
• The Welkin – Cancelled due to UK theatre closures relating to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic^[36]
• Leopoldstadt – Cancelled due to UK theatre closures relating to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic^[37]
• Jack Absolute Flies Again – Cancelled due to UK theatre closures relating to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic^[38]

Season 12

• Leopoldstadt – 27 January 2022 (broadcast from the Wyndham's Theatre)^[39]
• The Book of Dust – 17 February 2022 (broadcast from the Bridge Theatre)^[40]
• Henry V – 21 April 2022 (broadcast from the Donmar Warehouse)
• Straight Line Crazy – 26 May 2022 (broadcast from the Bridge Theatre)
• Prima Facie – 21 July 2022 (broadcast from the Harold Pinter Theatre)
• Much Ado About Nothing – 8 September 2022
• Jack Absolute Flies Again – 6 October 2022
• The Seagull - 3 November 2022 (broadcast from the Harold Pinter Theatre)

Season 13

• The Crucible - 26 January 2023
• Othello - 23 February 2023
• Life of Pi - 30 March 2023 (broadcast from the Wyndham's Theatre)
• GOOD - 20 April 2023 (broadcast from the Harold Pinter Theatre)
• Best of Enemies - 18 May 2023 (broadcast from the Noël Coward Theatre)

Season 14

• Dear England - 25 January 2024
• Vanya - 22 February 2024 (broadcast from the Duke of York's Theatre)
• The Motive and the Cue - 21 March 2024
• Nye - 23 April 2024

See also

• Metropolitan Opera Live in HD
• Royal National Theatre
• List of Royal National Theatre Company actors

External links

• Official website

Notes and References

1. Web site: National Theatre Live What is it? How does it work? . National Theatre Live . https://web.archive.org/web/20101229061938/https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/45470/national-theatre-live/what-is-it-how-does-it-work.html . 29 December 2010 . dead . 24 February 2018.
2. Web site: Previous production: Phèdre . https://web.archive.org/web/20101229203701/https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/52918/productions/previous-production-phdre.html . 29 December 2010 . dead . 24 February 2018.
3. Web site: All's Well That Ends Well - Productions - National Theatre . 31 January 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20101229203631/http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/52899/productions/alls-well-that-ends-well.html . 29 December 2010 . dmy-all .
4. Web site: UK Venues - Venues & Booking - National Theatre . 31 January 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101228225657/http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/52955/venues-amp-booking/uk-venues.html . 28 December 2010 . dead . dmy-all .
5. Web site: The Last of the Haussmans . National Theatre Live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120604174442/http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/70220/productions/the-last-of-the-haussmans.html . 4 June 2012 . dead . 24 February 2018 . dmy-all .
6. Web site: Timon of Athens . National Theatre Live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120613174453/https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/70224/productions/timon-of-athens.html . 13 June 2012 . dead . 24 February 2018.
7. Web site: The Magistrate . National Theatre Live . 24 February 2018.
8. Web site: National Theatre -. www.nationaltheatre.org.uk. 15 June 2018.
9. Web site: Othello . 24 July 2017 . National Theatre Live . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20170707165638/http://ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/40168-othello . 7 July 2017.
10. Web site: King Lear – National Theatre Live. ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk. 15 June 2018.
11. Web site: A Small Family Business – National Theatre Live. ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk. 15 June 2018.
12. Web site: Skylight – National Theatre Live. ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk. 15 June 2018.
13. Web site: Medea – National Theatre Live. ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk. 15 June 2018.
14. Web site: A Streetcar Named Desire – National Theatre Live. ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk. 15 June 2018.
15. Web site: JOHN . National Theatre Live . 27 May 2016.
16. Web site: Behind the Beautiful Forevers . National Theatre Live . 27 May 2016.
17. Web site: The Hard Problem – National Theatre Live. ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk. 15 June 2018.
18. Web site: Everyman . National Theatre Live . 27 May 2016.
19. Web site: Young Marx – The Bridge Theatre. bridgetheatre.co.uk. en-US. 21 April 2017.
20. News: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – National Theatre Live. ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk. en. 12 October 2017.
21. News: NT Live on Twitter. Twitter. 21 April 2017. en.
22. Web site: Julie – National Theatre Live. ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk. 15 June 2018.
23. Web site: King Lear – National Theatre Live. ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk. 15 June 2018.
24. Web site: Allelujah!. ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk. 2019-01-27.
25. Web site: The Madness of George III – National Theatre Live. ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk. 15 June 2018.
26. Web site: Antony & Cleopatra - National Theatre Live. ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk. 2018-10-04.
27. Web site: The Tragedy of King Richard the Second - National Theatre Live. ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk. 2018-10-04.
28. Web site: David Hare's 'I'm Not Running', National Theatre, Lyttelton review: An absorbing, flawed evening. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/im-not-running-dave-hare-play-national-theatre-cast-tickets-last-night-a8576961.html . 18 June 2022 . subscription . live. 2018-10-10. The Independent. en. 2019-07-07.
29. Web site: NT Live. www.facebook.com. en. 2019-01-23.
30. Web site: All My Sons. ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk. 2019-01-27.
31. Web site: NT Live. www.facebook.com. en. 2019-01-23.
32. Web site: The Lehman Trilogy. ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk. 2019-04-02.
33. Web site: A Midsummer Night's Dream. ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk. 2019-05-24.
34. Web site: Hansard. ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk. 2019-05-24.
35. Web site: Present Laughter. ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk. 2019-05-24.
36. Web site: The Welkin. ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk. 2020-02-17.
37. Web site: Leopoldstadt. ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk. 2020-03-10.
38. Web site: Jack Absolute Flies Again. ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk. 2020-02-20.
39. Web site: Powster. Leopoldstadt Official Website 25 November 2021. 2021-10-28. Leopoldstadt Official Website 25 November 2021. en.
40. Web site: Powster. The Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman, prequel to His Dark Materials trilogy. Gripping adaptation by Bryony Lavery, directed by Nicholas Hytner. 2021-10-28. The Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman, prequel to His Dark Materials trilogy. Gripping adaptation by Bryony Lavery, directed by Nicholas Hytner. en.