Royal Opera House 2023/24: Das Rheingold (2023)

Rudi Stephan: Die ersten Menschen

The 2021 production by the Dutch National Opera of the work by German composer Rudi Stephan (1887–1915) "Die ersten Menschen" ("The First Humans"), completed in 1914 to a libretto by Otto Borngräber interpreting the Biblical story of the Garden of Eden through symbolism and the then nascent science of psychoanalysis. This production was part of the Holland Festival of Amsterdam.

Tyler Perry's Diary of a Mad Black Woman - The Play

Before it was a movie, it was a theatrical phenomenon! When Helen learns that her husband is leaving her for her best friend, the women in her family are ready with advice. Her devout mother preaches strength and forgiveness, while her parolee grandmother shows up with a gun! Acclaimed African-American playwright Tyler Perry dares to mix sacred and secular humor with riotous results. Experience his most famous morality tale, now a major motion picture, in its original stage format...complete with live musical numbers!

Uncle Pumble

The story is about a doll named Amo Pumble who teaches children how to live in society by reading a magic book to children.

Oedipus Rex

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.

Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner

Based on a local legend and set in an unknown era, it deals with universal themes of love, possessiveness, family, jealousy and power. Beautifully shot, and acted by Inuit people, it portrays a time when people fought duels by taking turns to punch each other until one was unconscious, made love on the way to the caribou hunt, ate walrus meat and lit their igloos with seal-oil lamps.

Faust

God and Satan war over earth; to settle things, they wager on the soul of Faust, a learned and prayerful alchemist.

Arsena

XIX century peasants' revolt and the life story of bandit Arsena Odzelashvili.

Death Takes a Holiday

This is the story of the 1920s, shortly after mankind woke up from the nightmare of World War I, a time haunted by death like never before in history. Late at night, a car is speeding along a mountain road in northern Italy. In the car is the family of the Duke of Lamberti. They were returning from celebrating the engagement of their only daughter, Grazia, in Venice. However, tragedy strikes the car carrying the family. The car spins out of control and Grazia is thrown into the darkness of the night...

Deliverance

Two monks on a mission choose very different paths

SIX: The Musical Live!

The pop-inspired musical brings the six wives of Henry VIII right into the 21st century with infectious, empowering performances, accompanied by the on-stage band, the Ladies in Waiting. The Original West End cast reunites at London’s Vaudeville Theatre in front of a sold-out audience to strut their stuff and re-write their Tudor traumas in an unmissable cinematic recording of the show packed full of style, sass, and sensational songs.

The Pirates of Penzance

As a young child, Frederic had been apprenticed to a pirate by mistake when he should have been apprenticed to a pilot. Now, having reached his 21st year, Frederic's indentures are at last over and he happily leaves the service of the pirates. When Frederic meets the beautiful Mabel, one of the many daughters (or wards in Chancery) of Major-General Stanley, they fall in love and decide to marry. However, complications arise when the pirates decide to marry the rest of the Major-General's daughters, themselves - and Frederic's birthdate turns out to be not all it seems.

National Theatre Live: Skylight

On a bitterly cold London evening, schoolteacher Kyra Hollis receives an unexpected visit from her former lover, Tom Sergeant, a successful and charismatic restaurateur whose wife has recently died. As the evening progresses, the two attempt to rekindle their once passionate relationship only to find themselves locked in a dangerous battle of opposing ideologies and mutual desires.

Newsies

A week in the life of the exploited, child newspaper sellers in turn-of-the-century New York. When their publisher, Joseph Pulitzer, tries to squeeze a little more profit out of their labours, they organize a strike, only to be confronted with the Pulitzer's hard-ball tactics.

Dashavatar

Two children are transported through time to learn about the 10 avatars of Lord Vishnu and discover that Vishnu took on various incarnations to combat evil in every era.

Die Nibelungen: Siegfried

Siegfried, son of King Siegmund of Xanten, travels to Worms, capital of the Burgundian kingdom, to ask King Gunther for the hand of his sister, the beautiful Kriemhild.

On Summer Sand

This story begins with a protagonist whose sense of time has halted due to the grief of losing his son, now abandoned by his wife, and his sudden cohabitation with his 17-year-old niece left behind by his sister. A man who has lost love, a woman who has renounced love, and a girl who knows nothing of love... As they confront their respective pains, their journey of discovering faint sprouts of hope in hearts as parched as summer sand is depicted—a poignant yet tender masterpiece where sorrow and warmth intertwine.

Mulan: Rise of a Warrior

When barbarian hordes threaten her homeland, the brave and cunning Mulan disguises herself as a male soldier to swell the ranks in her aging father's stead. The warrior's remarkable courage drives her through powerful battle scenes and brutal wartime strategy. Mulan loses dear friends to the enemy's blade as she rises to become one of her country's most valuable leaders — but can she win the war before her secret is exposed?

Everyone Is Here

Inspired by a 1975 American touring production of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” he visited as a young man, Dmitry Krymov’s “Everyone is Here” is a memory piece, a starting point for a flight of imagination and immersion into his own past. Wilder’s “Our Town” is superimposed on the personal memories of Krymov, his biography and events from his family life. The structure of the play gives rise to an interweaving of events, memories, reminiscences, fantasies, associations, dreams - a carefully planned, as if random confusion, which in the finale leads the viewer to a keen awareness of their own life.

Orphée aux enfers

Marc Minkowski conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Opera National de Lyon in this 1997 production of Offenbach's opera starring Natalie Dessay, Yann Beuron, Jean-Paul Fouchecourt and Laurent Naouri.

National Theatre Live: Medea

Medea is a wife and a mother. For the sake of her husband, Jason, she’s left her home and borne two sons in exile. But when he abandons his family for a new life, Medea faces banishment and separation from her children. Cornered, she begs for one day’s grace. It’s time enough. She exacts an appalling revenge and destroys everything she holds dear.

William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew

Lucentio loves Bianca but cannot court her until her shrewish older sister Katherina marries. The eccentric Petruccio marries the reluctant Katherina and uses a number of tactics to render her an obedient wife.

Black Orpheus

Young lovers Orfeu and Eurydice run through the favelas of Rio during Carnaval, on the lam from a hitman dressed like Death and Orfeu's vengeful fiancée Mira and passing between moments of fantasy and stark reality. This impressionistic retelling of the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice introduced bossa nova to the world with its soundtrack by young Brazilian composers Luiz Bonfá and Antonio Carlos Jobim.

The Devil's Brother

Two wannabe bandits join the service of a dashing nobleman, who secretly masquerades as Fra Diavolo, a notorious outlaw.

Measure for Measure: Live from The Globe

William Shakespeare's darkest comedy, Measure for Measure. Live from Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London, this television production of the play was broadcast on BBC4 on Sept 4, 2004. Directed for stage by John Dove and for television by Janet Fraser Cook. Presented by Andrew Marr and with comment from historian David Starkey, actress Juliet Stevenson and the production’s director John Dove. Starring Mark Rylance, Liam Brennan and Sophie Thompson.

The Hunter

Osman is a jealous and proud gentleman. Zala, who must have married him at a young age is unhappy. Avci, caught in a storm and had to take refuge in his hut, is an attractive young man who knows how to take advantage of his environment.

Nobody's Children

In 1921, Titanus released a three-part serial based on a popular Italian novel from the turn of the 20th century: Nobody’s Children by Ruggero Rindi. The tale of lovers thwarted by class differences, of illegitimate children and parental recognition denied was a major success for producer Gustavo Lombardo and leading lady Leda Gys.

All the Way Home

Jay Follet is suffering a mid-life crisis while his wife, Mary, is expecting their second child. When Jay takes his family to visit his 103-year-old grandmother, he begins to realize that life is passing by too quickly. He turns more and more toward alcohol to escape from reality. When Jay doesn't come home one night, Mary learns that he was in an accident and waits anxiously for his return. Screen adaptation of Tad Mosel's 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning play based on James Agee's Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiographical novel A Death in the Family.

Daniel

Taken from his people, Daniel is exiled inside the perilous kingdom of Babylon. As he navigates this new life, will his trust in God remain steadfast through every test of faith?

The Cathedral Builder

The story of the legendary architect Petr Parléř, who is charged by the king Charles IV with the task of building a Gothic cathedral in Prague.

Carmen: A Hip Hopera

An engaged Philadelphia policeman falls in love with a beautiful woman while dealing with a corrupt superior.

Who Said Macbeth

Although the past two years have been challenging for the Theatre industry, they also showed its incredible strength and resilience. Through interviews with West End performers and creatives, this documentary outlines the difficulties presented to our industry over the course of the pandemic, as well as highlighting changes - both positive and negative - that have come from it. An emotional reflection on a battle it was worth fighting for. All profits will be going to 'Acting for Others', an organisation that provides support to all theatre workers through 14 member charities. We hope these stories full of passion for Theatre inspire you just as much as they inspired us!

The Prince of Egypt: The Musical

A live stage recording of the musical based on DreamWorks Animation's 1998 film adapted from the biblical story of Moses, from his being a prince of Egypt to his ultimate destiny of leading the Children of Israel out of Egypt.