National Theatre Live relaunches new programming for the first time since February 2020 with exciting new programme of four productions in cinemas worldwide
The four productions are Leopoldstadt, The Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage, Hex and Henry V
The National Theatre today announces the return of National Theatre Live with a new programme of four productions to be broadcast to audiences worldwide in cinemas, starting in the UK and Ireland in January, and with tickets now on sale.
The productions are Tom Stoppard’s Olivier-Award winning play Leopoldstadt from Sonia Friedman Productions in the West End which will be broadcast to cinemas from January; Bryony Lavery’s adaptation of Philip Pullman’s The Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage from the Bridge Theatre in February; Tanya Ronder, Jim Fortune and Rufus Norris’ new musical Hex from the NT will be broadcast in March and the Donmar Warehouse’s production of Henry V starring Kit Harington will be in cinemas from April.
National Theatre Live has been broadcasting to cinemas for almost 12 years, and has sold 11 million tickets worldwide, presenting 88 shows, in 65 countries.
Lisa Burger, Executive Director and Joint Chief Executive of the National Theatre, said: “I am delighted to announce the return to cinemas of National Theatre Live with four new productions bringing the best of British theatre back into cinemas. Over the last year, while theatres and cinemas have been closed around the world, it’s been brilliant to share National Theatre Live recordings through National Theatre at Home. The audience response has shown us the huge appetite for these productions which now stretch back over 12 years. But it’s so great to be able to share theatre as a communal experience in cinemas once again. So, whether you come to watch a show live on the South Bank, visit a venue across the UK, book into your local cinema or tune in from home, there are now more ways than ever to experience the National’s work.”
Since March 2020, National Theatre Live has broadcast in cinemas with special encore screenings of Follies from 2 September 2021 and the NT’s feature film Romeo & Juliet was also broadcast to cinemas from 28 September 2021.
The NT’s next feature film Death of England: Face to Face will be in Curzon cinemas on Tuesday 2 November. The film will then be broadcast, for free, on Sky Arts at 9pm on Thursday 25 November (Freeview channel 11).
Sky Arts is the Headline Partner of National Theatre Live in the UK.
The new season of productions are:
Leopoldstadt
From Sonia Friedman Productions
Thursday 27 January in the UK
Thursday 27 January 2022 internationally (except US, Canada, Austria and Czech Republic)
Thursday 1 December 2022 – 30 June 2023 in Japan
A new play by Tom Stoppard
Directed by Patrick Marber
Tom Stoppard’s Olivier Award-winning new play Leopoldstadt is a passionate drama of love, family and endurance.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Leopoldstadt was the old, crowded Jewish quarter of Vienna, Austria. But Hermann Merz, a factory owner and baptised Jew now married to Catholic Gretl, has moved up in the world.
We follow his family’s story across half a century, passing through the convulsions of war, revolution, impoverishment, annexation by Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. A company of 40 actors represent each generation of the family in this epic, but intimate play.
The cast is Sebastian Armesto (Jacob/Nathan/Ludwig), Jenna Augen (Rosa), Rhys Bailey (Young Nathan), Cara Ballingall (Jana), Faye Castelow (Gretl), Joe Coen (Policeman/Zac), Felicity Davidson (Hilde), Mark Edel-Hunt (Civilian/Fritz), Clara Francis (Wilma), Arty Froushan (Leo), Ilan Galkoff (Pauli), Caroline Gruber (Emilia), Sam Hoare (Percy), Natalie Law (Hanna), Avye Leventis (Sally), Aidan McArdle (Hermann), Dorothea Myer-Bennett (Eva), Jake Neads (Mohel/Policeman), Aaron Neil (Ernst), Alexander Newland (Kurt), Macy Nyman (Hermine), Noof Ousellam (Otto), Sadie Shimmin (Poldi), Griffin Stevens (Aaron), Eleanor Wyld (Nellie).
The children’s cast is Rafael Shbero (Young Jacob), Ollie Kohn (Young Leo), Osian Salter (Heini), Noa Alberts (Young Rosa), Lexi Hudaly (Young Sally), Audrey Kattan (Bella) and Shoshana Shbero (Mimi).
Set designs are by Richard Hudson, with costume designs by Brigitte Reiffenstuel, lighting by Neil Austin, sound and original music by Adam Cork, and movement by Emily Jane Boyle. Casting is by Amy Ball CDG, with children’s casting by Verity Naughton.
Filmed live on stage in London’s West End, at the Wyndham’s Theatre.
The Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage
From the Bridge Theatre
Thursday 17 February 2022 in the UK
Thursday 7 April 2022 internationally
by Philip Pullman, adapted by Bryony Lavery
Directed by Nicholas Hytner
Set twelve years before the epic His Dark Materials trilogy, this gripping adaptation revisits Philip Pullman’s fantastical world in which waters are rising and storms are brewing.
Two young people and their dæmons, with everything at stake, find themselves at the centre of a terrifying manhunt. In their care is a tiny child called Lyra Belacqua, and in that child lies the fate of the future. And as the waters rise around them, powerful adversaries conspire for mastery of Dust: salvation to some, the source of infinite corruption to others.
Eighteen years after his ground-breaking production of His Dark Materials at the National Theatre, director Nicholas Hytner returns to Pullman’s parallel universe.
The cast is Julie Atherton, Holly Atkins, Wendy Mae Brown, Pip Carter, Samuel Creasey, Ella Dacres, Ayesha Dharker, Heather Forster, Naomi Frederick, Richard James-Neale, John Light, Dearbhla Molloy, Tomi Ogbaro, Sid Sagar, Nick Sampson and Sky Yang.
The Book of Dust – La Belle Sauvage is adapted by Bryony Lavery, co-directors are Emily Burns and James Cousins with designs by Bob Crowley, puppet design and direction by Barnaby Dixon, lighting design by Jon Clark, sound by Paul Arditti, video designs are by Luke Halls and Zakk Hein and music by Grant Olding. James Cousins is also movement director, Kate Waters is fight director and illusions are by Filipe Carvalho.
Broadcast live from London’s Bridge Theatre.
Hex
a new musical based on Sleeping Beauty
From the National Theatre
Thursday 17 March in the UK
Thursday 5 May internationally
Book by Tanya Ronder, music by Jim Fortune and lyrics by Rufus Norris
Directed by Rufus Norris
A vividly original retelling of Sleeping Beauty, a mythic, big-hearted new musical that goes beyond the waking kiss.
Deep in the wood, a lonely fairy longs for someone to bless. When she is summoned to the palace to help the princess sleep, her dream turns into a nightmare and her blessing becomes a curse. Soon, she is plunged into a frantic, hundred-year quest to somehow make everything right.
Rufus Norris directs Rosalie Craig (As You Like It, Threepenny Opera) in this new musical filmed live on stage at the National Theatre, with music by Jim Fortune, book by Tanya Ronder.
The cast is led by Rosalie Craig as Fairy, Tamsin Carroll as Queenie, Kat Ronney as Rose and Michael Elcock as Bert, alongside Christopher Akrill, Delroy Atkinson, Esme Bacalla-Hayes, Madeline Charlemagne, Ebony Clarke, Sonya Cullingford, Hanna Dimtsu, Tamsin Dowsett, Joe Foster, Ben Goffe, Eleanor Kane, Daisy Maywood, Kody Mortimer, Joseph Prouse, Shaq Taylor and Sargon Yelda.
Orchestrations by Simon Hale, music supervision by Marc Tritschler, music direction by Tarek Merchant, lighting design by Paul Anderson, choreography by Jade Hackett with consultant choreography by Bill Deamer and sound design by Simon Baker.
Filmed live at the National Theatre.
Henry V
From the Donmar Warehouse
Thursday 21 April in the UK
Thursday 2 June internationally
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Max Webster
Shakespeare’s ever popular play is a thrilling study of nationalism, war and the psychology of power.
Kit Harington leads the cast in the Donmar Warehouse’s exciting modern production directed by their Associate Director Max Webster, exploring what it means to be English and our relationship to Europe, asking: do we ever get the leaders we deserve?
Design by Fly Davis, lighting design by Lee Curran, sound design by Carolyn Downing, video design by Andrzej Goulding, movement direction by Benoit Swan Pouffer, composition by Andrew T. Mackay, fight direction by Kate Waters and casting director is Anna Cooper CDG.
Full cast to be announced.
Filmed live at the Donmar Warehouse.