National Theatre Live: Top Girls (2019)

The Man Who Came to Dinner

Broadcast of a live performance of the Roundabout Theater Company's 2000 New York revival of the classic Kaufman-Hart comedy, about a famous (and famously acid-tongued) theater critic who is forced to stay in a Midwestern couple's home and the havoc that ensues.

Legally Blonde: The Musical

Fashionable sorority queen Elle Woods has it all, but, she wants nothing more than to be Mrs. Warner Huntington III. But he dumps her before heading to Harvard Law School. Elle rallies all of her resources and gets into Harvard, determined to win him back. While there, she figures out that there is more to herself than just good looks.

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.

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

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.

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.

National Theatre Live: Othello

Farewell the tranquil mind. A bright, headstrong daughter of a senator; elevated by her status but stifled by its expectations. A refugee of slavery; having risen to the top of a white world, he finds that love across racial lines has a cost. Wed in secret, Desdemona and Othello crave a new life together. But as unseen forces conspire against them, they find their future is not theirs to decide.

National Theatre Live: The Corn Is Green

One person can make all the difference. Miss Lily Moffat arrives in rural North Wales, determined to help young local miners out of poverty by teaching them to read and write. Lily soon spots talent in the unruly Morgan Evans, but when she faces growing resistance from the community, she does everything in her power to forge him a new future.

National Theatre Live: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Tennessee Williams’ twentieth century masterpiece Cat on a Hot Tin Roof played a strictly limited season in London’s West End in 2017. An alcoholic ex-football player drinks his days away, having failed to come to terms with his sexuality and his real feelings for his football buddy who died after an ambiguous accident. His wife is crucified by her desperation to make him desire her: but he resists the affections of his wife. His reunion with his father—who is dying of cancer—jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.

Things I Know to Be True

As beautifully touching as it is funny and bold, Things I Know To Be True tells the story of a family and marriage through the eyes of four grown siblings struggling to define themselves beyond their parents’ love and expectations. Parents Bob and Fran have worked their fingers to the bone and with their four children grown and ready to fly the nest it might be time to relax and enjoy the roses. But the changing seasons bring home some shattering truths. Featuring Frantic Assembly’s celebrated physicality, and co-directed by Frantic Assembly’s Tony and Olivier Award nominated Artistic Director Scott Graham and State Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Geordie Brookman, Things I Know To Be True is a complex and intense study of the mechanics of a family that is both poetic and brutally frank.

Into the Woods

In a woods filled with magic and fairy tale characters, a baker and his wife set out to end the curse put on them by their neighbor, a spiteful witch.

National Theatre Live: A Streetcar Named Desire

As Blanche’s fragile world crumbles, she turns to her sister Stella for solace – but her downward spiral brings her face to face with the brutal, unforgiving Stanley Kowalski.

The Kashyyyk Life Day Carol

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away MALLA THE WOOKIEE is worried her husband, CHEWBACCA, won’t make it home in time for LIFE DAY! Cooking, classic rock and EROTIC VR can’t distract her, her son LUMPY and father-in-law ITCHY! Will Han and Chewie make it in time? Is this really the first appearance of Boba Fett? Can Princess Leia carry a tune?

Kiss Me, Kate

A pair of divorced actors are brought together to participate in a musical version of The Taming of the Shrew. Of course, the couple seem to act a great deal like the characters they play, and they must work together when mistaken identities get them mixed up with the mafia.

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.

Me

Tomby, a challenged teenage boy, manipulates his family who cater to his every desire. Only his twin brother Greg treats him as a human being capable of development. A powerful drama / dark comedy with a surprising ending.

National Theatre Live: Good

As the world faces its Second World War, John Halder, a good, intelligent German professor, finds himself pulled into a movement with unthinkable consequences.

Giselle

The peasant girl Giselle discovers the true identity of her lover Albrecht – and that he is promised to another. Giselle kills herself. Her soul enters the ranks of the Wilis – shades of young women who died before their wedding day. All men that come across their path are compelled to dance themselves to death, and Albrecht falls into their trap. Giselle’s intercession saves Albrecht and releases her soul from the Wilis’ power.

National Theatre Live: Cyrano de Bergerac

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?

Company

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.

National Theatre Live: King Lear

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.

Death of a Salesman

Willy Loman is an over-the-hill salesman who faces a personal turning point when he loses his job and attempts to make peace with his family: Willy's long-suffering wife Linda, and Biff and Happy, his troubled sons and his life.

RiffTrax Live: Doctor Who – The Five Doctors

Someone is taking the Doctor's past selves out of time and space, placing them in a vast wilderness – a battle arena with a sinister tower at its center. As the various incarnations of the Doctor join forces, they learn they are in the Death Zone on their home world of Gallifrey, fighting Daleks, Cybermen, Yeti and a devious Time Lord Traitor who is using the Doctor and his companions to discover the ancient secrets of Rassilon, the first and most powerful ruler of Gallifrey.

National Theatre Live: Nye

Confronted with death, National Health Service founder Aneurin ‘Nye’ Bevan’s deepest memories lead him on a mind-bending journey back through his life; from childhood to mining underground, Parliament and fights with Winston Churchill.

Annie Live!

Annie, the beloved seven-time Tony Award-winning Broadway sensation, comes to life like never before in a live musical event starring Harry Connick, Jr., Nicole Scherzinger, Tituss Burgess, Megan Hilty and Taraji P. Henson, with newcomer Celina Smith in the title role of Annie. The iconic musical follows smart and spirited little orphan Annie, whose whole life changes when larger-than-life billionaire Daddy Warbucks takes her away from an orphanage run by the mean Miss Hannigan. One of Broadway's all-time biggest hits, the stage production features such popular songs as "Tomorrow" and "It's the Hard Knock Life," which are adored by generations of audiences around the world.

National Theatre Live: The Motive and the Cue

In 1964, Richard Burton, newly married to Elizabeth Taylor, is to play the title role in an experimental new Broadway production of Hamlet under Sir John Gielgud’s exacting direction. But as rehearsals progress, two ages of theatre collide and the collaboration between actor and director soon threatens to unravel.

Tricicle: Manicomic

Tricicle brings together in a single theatrical show their best gags, created during their first three years of life.

Pippin

A mysterious performance troupe led by a Leading Player tells the story of Pippin, a young prince on his search for meaning and significance. Taped at Hamilton Place in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Macbeth

Blood will have blood. Unbridled ambition, supernatural forces, and murderous desires reign supreme in Shakespeare’s most poetic examination of evil. When three witches tell Macbeth that he will become King of Scotland, he plots with his wife to attain the title through an assassination; a bloody act that gives him his crown and sends him careening down the path of his own undoing.

A Poem and a Mistake

Graduate student Myrrha, upset that her professor refers to Ovid's Metamorphoses as "being about love", pushes him and suddenly he transforms into a mirror version of herself. As she recollects her relationship with music, sex, and sexual violence, he is transported into Ovid's stories to come to a new understanding.

Revue Starlight ―The LIVE― #2 Transition

After the events of Revue Starlight ―The LIVE― #1 revival, Seiran General Arts Institute challenges Seisho Music Academy to a revue with the right to perform the play "Starlight" at stakes. Who will win this Cultural Exchange Program?

Den goda människan i Sezuan

When the gods appear in disguise the only person who shows them hospitality is the young girl Shen Te and for this she is awarded by them. After a while she finds her new life has also brought new problems.

Waitress: The Musical

A waitress and expert pie-maker dreams of a way out of her small town and rocky marriage.

Everybody's Talking About Jamie

Jamie is 16 and lives on a council estate in Sheffield. Jamie doesn't quite fit in. Jamie is terrified about the future. Jamie is going to be a sensation. Supported by his brilliant loving mum and surrounded by his friends, Jamie overcomes prejudice, beats the bullies and steps out of the darkness, into the spotlight. Sixteen: the edge of possibility. Time to make your dreams come true.

National Theatre Live: Antony & Cleopatra

Caesar and his assassins are dead. General Mark Antony now rules alongside his fellow defenders of Rome. But at the fringes of a war-torn empire the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra and Mark Antony have fallen fiercely in love. In a tragic fight between devotion and duty, obsession becomes a catalyst for war.

National Theatre Live: I'm Not Running

Pauline Gibson has spent her life as a doctor, the inspiring leader of a local health campaign. When she crosses paths with her old boyfriend, a stalwart loyalist in Labour Party politics, she’s faced with an agonising decision. What’s involved in sacrificing your private life and your piece of mind for something more than a single issue? Does she dare?

Hamlet

From its sell-out run at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre comes a film version of this unique and critically acclaimed production of Hamlet with BAFTA-nominee Maxine Peake in the title role. This ground-breaking stage production, directed by Sarah Frankcom, was the Royal Exchange's fastest-selling show in a decade.

National Theatre Live: The Hard Problem

Acclaimed playwright Tom Stoppard (Shakespeare in Love, Arcadia, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead) returns to the National Theatre with his highly-anticipated new play The Hard Problem, directed by Nicholas Hytner (Othello, Hamlet, One Man, Two Guvnors). Hilary, a young psychology researcher at a brainscience institute, is nursing a private sorrow and a troubling question at work, where psychology and biology meet. If there is nothing but matter, what is consciousness? This is ‘the hard problem’ which puts Hilary at odds with her colleagues who include her first mentor Spike, her boss Leo and the billionaire founder of the institute, Jerry. Is the day coming when the computer and the fMRI scanner will answer all the questions psychology can ask? Meanwhile Hilary needs a miracle, and she is prepared to pray for one.

Hamlet: Bristol Old Vic Live

'Must I remember?' Hamlet's father is dead. His mother has remarried. He is alone with his thoughts. Then, he speaks. Haunted by grief, and with his world spinning violently out of control, Hamlet has to make some decisions: forget or remember; live or die.

Hamlet

From The Public Theater’s Free Shakespeare in the Park at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park, experience this Shakespearean classic directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon featuring Tony Award nominee Ato Blankson-Wood (“Slave Play”) in the title role and Solea Pfeiffer as Ophelia (“Hadestown”).

RSC Live: Macbeth

Returning home from battle, the victorious Macbeth meets three witches on the heath. Driven by their disturbing prophecies, he sets out on the path to murder. This contemporary production of Shakespeare’s darkest psychological thriller marks both Christopher Eccleston’s RSC debut and the return of Niamh Cusack to the company.

National Theatre Live: The Beaux Stratagem

The ‘Beaux’: Mr Aimwell and Mr Archer, two charming, dissolute young men who have blown their fortunes in giddy London. Shamed and debt-ridden, they flee to provincial Lichfield. Their ‘Stratagem’: to marry for money. Lodged at the local inn, posing as master and servant, they encounter a teeming variety of human obstacles: a crooked landlord, a fearsome highwayman, a fervent French Count, a maid on the make, a drunken husband, a furious butler, a natural healer and a strange, turbulent priest. But their greatest obstacle is love. When the Beaux meet their match in Dorinda and Mrs Sullen they are most at risk, for in love they might be truly discovered.

National Theatre Live: Man and Superman

Academy Award® nominee Ralph Fiennes (The English Patient, Schindler’s List, Oedipus at the National Theatre) plays Jack Tanner in this exhilarating reinvention of Shaw’s witty, provocative classic. Jack Tanner, celebrated radical thinker and rich bachelor, seems an unlikely choice as guardian to the alluring heiress, Ann. But she takes it in her assured stride and, despite the love of a poet, she decides to marry and tame this dazzling revolutionary. Tanner, appalled by the whiff of domesticity, is tipped off by his chauffeur and flees to Spain, where he is captured by bandits and meets The Devil. An extraordinary dream-debate, heaven versus hell, ensues. Following in hot pursuit, Ann is there when Tanner awakes, as fierce in her certainty as he is in his. A romantic comedy, an epic fairytale, a fiery philosophical debate, Man and Superman asks fundamental questions about how we live.

Purlie

Purlie is a musical based on Ossie Davis' 1961 play Purlie Victorious. In the early days of the civil rights movement, a Southern plantation owner holds his sharecroppers in virtual slavery. Purlie comes home as a preacher who will shake things up and bring freedom to his people. This 1981 television adaptation won a CableACE Award.

National Theatre Live: Under Milk Wood

A community is sleeping. If you listen closely, you can hear their dreams. The retired sea captain yearning for his lost love. The landlady living in terror of her guests. A father who can no longer access his memories. A son in search of redemption. As they awake to boiled eggs and the postman, the residents of a small Welsh village juggle old secrets and new realities.

Enemies

A humble and long-suffering New York waiter finally turns the tables on a regular, insufferable customer who delights in pestering him about the service. Based on the playwright’s personal experiences as a waiter at a resort in the Catskill Mountains.

National Theatre Live: Macbeth

The ruined aftermath of a bloody civil war. Ruthlessly fighting to survive, the Macbeths are propelled towards the crown by forces of elemental darkness. Shakespeare’s most intense and terrifying tragedy, directed by Rufus Norris, sees Rory Kinnear and Anne-Marie Duff return to the National Theatre to play Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.

RiffTrax Live: Point Break

For our fifteenth year of RiffTrax Live, we've selected the 1990's cult classic about bank robbing, presidential masks, and surfing: Point Break! It was directed by Academy Award Winner Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty) and stars Keanu Reeves (The Matrix, John Wick, Keanu), Patrick Swayze (Road House), and one of our all-time favorite character actors, Gary Busey (A Star Is Born, Predator 2). Mike, Kevin, and Bill will riff Point Break LIVE at the State Theatre in Minneapolis on July 27th, and the resulting hilarity will be broadcast to over 700 movie theaters across America on Thursday, August 8th with an encore on Tuesday, August 13th thanks to our partners at Fathom Events.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

In 1846, Anthony Hope sails into London with the mysterious Sweeney Todd, a once-naive barber whose life and marriage was uprooted by a corrupt justice system. Todd confides in Nellie Lovett, the owner of a local meat pie shop, and the two become partners, as Todd swears revenge on those that have wronged him and decides to take up his old profession.