Shakespeare Theatre Company is delighted to announce its National Theatre Live screenings lineup this winter.
Filming live from Britain’s most exciting stages, National Theatre Live delivers unmissable theater. Experience the thrill of drama, the joy of romantic comedies, and the excitement of sold-out award-winning productions with fellow theater lovers in STC’s Klein Theatre.
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Simon Godwin
Kicking off the month of screenings is Romeo & Juliet, directed by STC’s own artistic director Simon Godwin, and featuring Jessie Buckley and Josh O’Connor. The lineup also includes Good with David Tennant, Phoebe Waller-Bridge‘s Fleabag, Vanya with Andrew Scott, and a one-day-only screening of King Lear with Ian McKellen.
In addition to the five NT Live titles, the 10th anniversary production of Titanic the Musical, filmed on the West End, will be screened.
TITLES AND DATES
Romeo & Juliet
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Simon Godwin
- Friday, FEB 2 at 8 pm
- Sunday, FEB 4 at 7 pm
- Saturday, FEB 10 at 8 pm
- Wednesday, FEB 14 at 7:30 pm (Valentine’s Day)
- Saturday, FEB 17 at 2 pm
- Sunday, FEB 18 at 7 pm
Romeo and Juliet risk everything to be together. In defiance of their feuding families, they chase a future of joy and passion as violence erupts around them.
This bold new film brings to life the remarkable backstage spaces of the National Theatre in which desire, dreams, and destiny collide to make Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy sing in an entirely new way.
Jessie Buckley (Wild Rose, Judy) and Josh O’Connor (The Crown, God’s Own Country) play Juliet and Romeo. The award-winning cast includes Tamsin Greig, Fisayo Akinade, Adrian Lester, Lucian Msamati, and Deborah Findlay.
Runtime: 1 hour and 40 minutes.
King Lear   ** ONE SCREENING ONLY**
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Johnathan Munby
- Saturday, FEB 3 at 2 pm
“★★★★★…. Ian McKellen reigns supreme in this triumphant production.” —Daily Telegraph
Filmed on London’s West End, see Ian McKellen’s “extraordinarily moving portrayal” (Independent) of King Lear.
Chichester Festival Theatre’s production received five-star reviews for its sell-out run and transferred to the West End for a limited season. Jonathan Munby directs this “nuanced and powerful” (The Times) contemporary retelling of Shakespeare’s tender, violent, moving, and shocking play.
Considered by many to be the greatest tragedy ever written, King Lear sees two aging 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.
Runtime:Â 3 hours and 50 minutes, with one 20-minute intermission.
Fleabag
Written and performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Directed by Vicky Jones
- Saturday, FEB 3 at 8 pm
- Thursday, FEB 8 at 7:30 pm
- Friday, FEB 16 at 8 pm
- Saturday, FEB 17 at 8 pm
- Saturday, MAR 2 at 8 pm
- Sunday, MAR 3 at 2 pm
“★★★★★…. Witty, filthy, and supreme.” —The Guardian
Written and performed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag, Killing Eve) and directed by Vicky Jones, Fleabag is a rip-roaring look at some sort of woman living her sort of life.
Fleabag may seem oversexed, emotionally unfiltered, and self-obsessed, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. With family and friendships under strain and a guinea pig café struggling to keep afloat, Fleabag suddenly finds herself with nothing to lose.
The hilarious, award-winning play that inspired the BBC’s hit TV series Fleabag was filmed live on stage in London’s West End in 2019.
Presented by DryWrite, Soho Theatre, and Annapurna Theatre.
Runtime: 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Good
By C.P. Taylor
Directed by Dominic Cooke
- Sunday, FEB 4 at 2 pm
- Saturday, FEB 9 at 8 pm
- Sunday, FEB 10 at 2 pm
David Tennant (Doctor Who) makes a much-anticipated return to the West End in a blistering reimagining of one of Britain’s most powerful, political plays.
As the world faces its Second World War, John Halder, a good, intelligent German professor, finds himself pulled into a movement with unthinkable consequences.
Olivier Award-winner Dominic Cooke (Follies) directs C.P. Taylor’s timely tale, with a cast that also features Elliot Levey (Coriolanus) and Sharon Small (The Bay). Filmed live from the Harold Pinter Theatre in London.
Presented by Fictionhouse and Playful Productions.
Runtime: 2 hours and 40 minutes.
VanyaÂ
By Simon Stephens after Anton Chekhov
Directed by Sam Yates
Designed by Rosanna Vize
- Friday, MAR 1 at 8 pm
- Saturday, MAR 2 at 2 pm
- Sunday, MAR 3 at 6 pm
Andrew Scott (Fleabag) brings multiple characters to life in Simon Stephens’ (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) radical new version of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya.
Hopes, dreams, and regrets are thrust into sharp focus in this one-man adaptation that explores the complexities of human emotions.
Filmed live during its sold-out run in London’s West End, Vanya will be playing exclusively in cinemas in 2024.
Runtime: 1 hour and 50 minutes.
Titanic the Musical
Story and Book by Peter Stone
Music and Lyrics by Maury Yeston
Directed by Thom Southerland
- Thursday, FEB 15 at 7:30pm
- Sunday, FEB 18 at 2pm
In the final hours of April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic, on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, collided with an iceberg, and “the unsinkable ship” slowly sank. It was one of the most tragic disasters of the 20th century. Fifteen hundred seventeen men, women, and children lost their lives.
Based on real people aboard the most legendary ship in the world, Titanic the Musical is “breathtaking” (The Guardian) and “magnificent” (The Telegraph), a stunning and stirring production focusing on the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of her passengers who each boarded with stories and personal ambitions of their own. All innocently unaware of the fate awaiting them, the Third-Class immigrants dream of a better life in America, the Second Class imagine they too can join the lifestyles of the rich and famous, whilst the millionaire Barons of the First Class anticipate legacies lasting forever.
The show features music and lyrics by Maury Yeston and a book by Peter Stone; the pair have collectively won an Academy Award, an Emmy Award, an Olivier Award, and three Tony Awards. The original Broadway production of Titanic the Musical won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Score, and Best Book. This stunning production, captured live on stage for cinema screenings, celebrates the 10th anniversary of its London premiere, where it won sweeping critical acclaim.
Runtime: Two hours and 25 minutes, including one 10-minute intermission.
ABOUT SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY
For more than 35 years, the Tony Award-winning Shakespeare Theatre Company has dedicated itself to being the nation’s premier classical theater. Classical plays are realized best not by originalism but by walking the path Shakespeare himself followed, creating works that spoke to his own contemporary audience. STC tells vital stories in audacious forms. They tell stories that are Shakespearean in the deepest sense, even if (and especially when) they are not written by Shakespeare. By focusing on works with profound themes and complex characters, STC’s artistic mission is unique among regional theaters: to bring to vibrant life groundbreaking, thought-provoking, and eminently accessible theater.
National Theatre Live screenings will be presented by Shakespeare Theatre Company from February 2 to March 3, 2024, at the Klein Theatre, 450 7th St NW, Washington, DC. Single tickets are $20 and can be purchased online.
