Against the backdrop of Hamlet, two hapless minor characters, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, take centre stage. As the young double act stumble their way in and out of the action of Shakespeare’s iconic drama, they become increasingly out of their depth as their version of the story unfolds.
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National Theatre Live: War Horse (2014)
Based on Michael Morpurgo's novel and adapted for the stage by Nick Stafford, War Horse takes audiences on an extraordinary journey from the fields of rural Devon to the trenches of First World War France.
She Loves Me (2016)
Amalia and Georg work together at a modest Hungarian perfumerie, and have disliked each other from the very beginning. He thinks she's stuck up, and she thinks he's arrogant and mean. But each rapturously writes to a lonely hearts pen pal when the workday is done, and it doesn't take long for the audience to see that they're in love without realizing it. Originally live-streamed by BroadwayHD, then broadcast as an episode of the PBS series "Great Performances" (season 45, episode 3).
National Theatre Live: One Man, Two Guvnors (2011)
Fired from his skiffle band, Francis Henshall becomes minder to Roscoe Crabbe, a small time East End hood, now in Brighton to collect £6,000 from his fiancée’s dad. But Roscoe is really his sister Rachel posing as her own dead brother, who’s been killed by her boyfriend Stanley Stubbers. Holed up at The Cricketers’ Arms, the permanently ravenous Francis spots the chance of an extra meal ticket and takes a second job with one Stanley Stubbers, who is hiding from the police and waiting to be re-united with Rachel. To prevent discovery, Francis must keep his two guvnors apart. Simple.
Cyrano de Bergerac (2017)
Cyrano has a prominent nose but also a gift with words by which he helps handsome Christian to conquer Roxane. Also in love with the girl he chooses not to reveal to her that every word of Christian comes out of his own heart. In cinema, this ROSTAND classic filmed live from the Comédie Française.
She Stoops to Conquer (2003)
Oliver Goldsmith's classic comedy of manners tells of the clever schemes and comic ruses that unfold one night at a country house. An ambitious step-mother, impassioned sweethearts, a pragmatic father and a pair of star-crossed suitors are sent spinning through a hilarous comedy of errors by one of the great characters of the stage, Tony Lumpkin. The National Theatre and Out Of Joint co-production of Goldsmith's comedy, recorded live on stage in Bath, after it's premiere at the Lyttelton theatre in London.
National Theatre Live: The Seagull (2022)
Emilia Clarke makes her West End debut as Nina in Anya Reiss’ unique 21st century modernisation of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, with direction by Jamie Lloyd.
National Theatre Collection: Translations (2018)
Owen, the prodigal son, returns to rural Donegal from Dublin. With him are two British army officers. Their ambition is to create a map of the area, replacing the Gaelic names with English. It is an administrative act with radical consequences.
National Theatre Live: Consent (2017)
Why is Justice blind? Is she impartial? Or is she blinkered? Friends take opposing briefs in a rape case. The key witness is a woman whose life seems a world away from theirs. At home, their own lives begin to unravel as every version of the truth is challenged. Nina Raine’s powerful, painful, funny play sifts the evidence from every side and puts justice herself in the dock. Consent received its world premiere in a co-production with Out of Joint at the National Theatre in April 2017. This archive recording was captured on 9th May, 2017.
Paradise Lost (1971)
Playwright Clifford Odets' portrait of the Great Depression unfolds in the modest two-family home of Leo and Clara Gordon as misfortune strikes them and the people running with them. Opened on Broadway in 1935, it became one of the Group Theatre's most controversial plays and Odets' favorite.
National Theatre Live: The Habit of Art (2010)
National Theatre Live’s 2010 broadcast of Alan Bennett’s acclaimed play The Habit of Art, with Richard Griffiths, Alex Jennings and Frances de la Tour, returns to cinemas as part of the National Theatre's 50th anniversary celebrations. Benjamin Britten, sailing uncomfortably close to the wind with his new opera, Death in Venice, seeks advice from his former collaborator and friend, W H Auden. During this imagined meeting, their first for twenty-five years, they are observed and interrupted by, amongst others, their future biographer and a young man from the local bus station. Alan Bennett’s play is as much about the theatre as it is about poetry or music. It looks at the unsettling desires of two difficult men, and at the ethics of biography. It reflects on growing old, on creativity and inspiration, and on persisting when all passion’s spent: ultimately, on the habit of art.
National Theatre Live: All's Well That Ends Well (2009)
National Theatre Live is an initiative operated by the Royal National Theatre in London, which broadcasts live via satellite, performances of their productions to movie theaters, cinemas and arts centres on the world. The second production, All's Well That Ends Well, showed at a total of around 300 screens, and today, the number of venues that show NT Live productions has grown to around 700.
Company: A Musical Comedy (2008)
Set in modern upper-crust Manhattan, an exploration of love and commitment as seen through the eyes of a charming perpetual bachelor questioning his single state and his enthusiastically married, slightly envious friends.
Rocky Horror Tribute Show (2008)
Recorded at London's Royal Court Theatre before an audience of faithful fans, various cast members from different productions of The Rocky Horror Show come together in a one-off concert extravaganza paying tribute to the phenomenon.
National Theatre Live: Cyrano de Bergerac (2020)
Fierce with a pen and notorious in combat, Cyrano almost has it all - if only he could win the heart of his true love Roxane. There’s just one big problem: he has a nose as huge as his heart. Will a society engulfed by narcissism get the better of Cyrano - or can his mastery of language set Roxane’s world alight?
National Theatre Live: Macbeth (2013)
Performing from within the walls of a deconsecrated Manchester church, Kenneth Branagh takes the lead role in this ambitious production of William Shakespeare's tragic tale of ambition and treachery.
Taming of the Shrew (2013)
Shakespeare’s most outrageous comedy, The Taming of the Shrew introduces one of theatre’s great screwball double-acts, a couple hell-bent on confusing and outwitting each other right up to the play’s equivocal and controversial conclusion.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again (2016)
After getting a flat tire in the middle of nowhere, newly engaged couple Brad and Janet encounter the eerie mansion of the flamboyant, seductive Dr. Frank-N-Furter and a variety of eccentric characters. Through elaborate dance and rock music, the mad scientist unveils his latest creation: a perfect, muscular man.
Shrek the Musical (2013)
Put out of his swamp solitude by a wicked tyrant's order, grumpy ogre Shrek goes on a journey – accompanied by a chatterbox donkey – to retrieve a beautiful princess from a tower, unaware that she has secrets all her own.
National Theatre Live: Julie (2018)
Wild and newly single, Julie throws a late night party. In the kitchen, Jean and Kristina clean up as the celebration heaves above them. Crossing the threshold, Julie initiates a power game with Jean – which rapidly descends into a savage fight for survival.
National Theatre Live: King Lear (2018)
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.