National Theatre Live: A Streetcar Named Desire

National Theatre Live: King Lear

May 2014 •English

An aged king decides to divide his kingdom between his three daughters, according to which of them is most eloquent in praising him. His favourite, Cordelia, says nothing. Simon Russell Beale, whose recent appearances at the National include Timon of Athens and Collaborators, takes the title role in Shakespeare’s tragedy.

Aniara

August 1986 •Swedish

Musical production of the space epic Aniara.

The Last Metro

September 1980 •French

In occupied Paris, an actress wed to a Jewish theater owner must keep him hidden from the Nazis while doing both of their jobs.

National Theatre Live: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

September 2012 •English

Christopher, fifteen years old, has an extraordinary brain – exceptional at maths while ill-equipped to interpret everyday life. When he falls under suspicion of killing Mrs Shears' dog Wellington, he records each fact about the event in the book he is writing to solve the mystery of the murder. But his detective work, forbidden by his father, takes him on a frightening journey that upturns his world.

Games of Love and Chance

November 2003 •French

A group of teenagers living in a housing project in the outskirts of Paris rehearse a scene from Marivaux's play of the same name. Krimo is determined not to take part, but after developing feelings for Lydia, he quickly assumes the main role and love interest in the play.

The Phantom of the Opera

June 1991 •English

A comedy musical stage version of the Phantom of the Opera, filmed live on-stage during a performance in Florida.

Company

December 1996 •English

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.

La fortuna con l'effe maiuscola

April 1959 •Italian

The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil

June 1974 •English

In their songs, comedy and exuberant music, a travelling theatre company give a fiercely polemic account of Scottish history, from the aftermath of Culloden to the oil boom. Their production before a live audience is intercut with filmed reconstructions of the Highland Clearances and the Victorian obsession with hunting stags.

'o Tuono 'e Marzo

March 1975 •Italian

Sofia, Don Saverio's sister, confesses to her brother that she was the victim of a fateful event: while she accompanied her brother to Rome, while he was resting at a hotel, a terrible storm broke out during the night, accompanied by thunder and lightning. Frightened, she left her room to seek refuge in her brother's, when, after the lights went out, she accidentally entered a stranger's room in the darkness and fainted from fear of a violent clap of thunder. The unknown individual seized the opportunity and took advantage of her. From that turbulent encounter, Don Felice Sciosciammocca was born, Sofia's illegitimate son, now engaged to Marietta, Don Saverio's daughter.

L'abito nuovo

January 1964 •Italian

Awake and Sing!

March 1972 •English

The Bergers, a blue-collar Jewish family living in an overstuffed tenement and undone by the Depression, struggle through hard times and dream of a better future in this 1972 production of Clifford Odets' pungent play. Personalities and politics clash as Odets' mélange of characters try to survive on pennies a day. Walter Matthau plays cynical World War I amputee Moe Axelrod, and Leo Fuchs portrays the family's iron-willed leftist grandfather.

Lazarus Come Out

May 2015 •Italian

45 year old Don Valter is a traditional priest who still wears an old fashioned black tunic out of nostalgia. One day young Claudio and his exuberant troupe of actors appear, proposing to perform an avant-garde show based on the Gospel's miracle of the rebirth of Lazarus*. The powerless priest is overwhelmed by this young upstart, who stirs within him emotions that will, whether he likes it or not, pull him into the modern era.

Zbojníci a žandáři aneb Jánošík

January 1974 •Czech

Actresses

December 2007 •French

Marcelline is an actress. Forty, single and childless, she begins rehearsals for Turgenev’s A Month in the Country. Denis, the director, admires her greatly and promises he’ll make her happy on stage — she will shine. But things don’t go to plan.

Manslaughter

June 1984 •Spanish

A police drama that chronicles the efforts of a police officer to uncover an unexplained murder case that blends the lives of two women and a theater actor, the victim of an "artistic" shot, part of a play.

Sensibility and Sense

January 1990 •English

Three friends who bonded over their radical beliefs in the 1930s reunite after becoming estranged over a book one of them wrote.

Oedipus Rex

January 1957 •English

The story of Oedipus' gradual discovery of his primal crime, killing his father and marrying his mother, filmed by the famed British theatrical director Sir Tyrone Guthrie. This elegant version of Sophocles' play adds a brilliant stroke: the actors wear masks just as the Greeks did in the playwright's day.

Forever Young

November 2022 •French

At the end of the 1980s, Stella, Victor, Adèle and Etienne are 20 years old. They take the entrance exam to the famous acting school created by Patrice Chéreau and Pierre Romans at the Théâtre des Amandiers in Nanterre. Launched at full speed into life, passion, and love, together they will experience the turning point of their lives, but also their first tragedy.

Hamlet

January 1986 •Czech

The production of Shakespeare's Hamlet with František Němec in the title role (premiered at the Smetana Theatre in 1982) was far from enthusiastic at first. To some viewers, it seemed superficially unimpressive. On the spare stage of J. Svoboda, director M. Macháček focused on thinking through the relationships between the characters and their motivations, and cast great actors of the National Theatre in the roles. Macháček gradually revealed the story, like a detective story - from the message from the ghost of Hamlet's father about the manner of his death, through the play of the theatre company as proof of the murderer's guilt, to the final murderous finale... The production eventually became a Prague theatre hit and could certainly have been performed for a long time if it had not been withdrawn from the repertoire in 1988.