RENTAL: THE CANDLELIGHT CONCERTS – VALENTINE’S DAY SPECIAL

Photo courtesy of Candlelight Concerts.

National Theatre Live Screening: I’m Not Running

I’m Not Running is an explosive new play by David Hare, premiering at the National Theatre and broadcast live to cinemas.

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 peace of mind for something more than a single issue? Does she dare?

Hare was recently described by The Washington Post as ‘the premiere political dramatist writing in English’. His other work includes Pravda and Skylight, broadcast by National Theatre Live in 2014.

National Theatre Live: Antony & Cleopatra

From the National Theatre, Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo play Shakespeare’s famous fated couple in his great tragedy of politics, passion and power.

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.

Director Simon Godwin returns to National Theatre Live screens with this hotly anticipated production, following previous broadcasts of Twelfth Night, Man and Superman and The Beaux’ Stratagem.

National Theatre Live Screening: Allelujah!

Filmed live at London’s Bridge Theatre during its limited run, don’t miss Alan Bennett’s ‘rousing chorus line for the NHS’ (Observer) in your local cinema.

The Beth, an old fashioned cradle-to-grave hospital serving a town on the edge of the Pennines, is threatened with closure as part of an efficiency drive. A documentary crew, eager to capture its fight for survival, follows the daily struggle to find beds on the Dusty Springfield Geriatric Ward, and the triumphs of the old people’s choir.

Alan Bennett’s celebrated plays include The History Boys, The Lady in the Van and The Madness of George III, all of which were also seen on film. Allelujah! is his tenth collaboration with award-winning director Nicholas Hytner.

Letterpress graphic by Alan Kitching, art directed by Michael Mayhew.

National Theatre Live Screening: The Madness of George III by Alan Bennett

Multi-award-winning drama The Madness of George III will be broadcast live to cinemas, in National Theatre Live’s first ever broadcast from Nottingham Playhouse. 

Written by one of Britain’s best-loved playwrights Alan Bennett (The History BoysThe Lady in the Van), this epic play was also adapted into a BAFTA Award-winning film following its premiere on stage in 1991. 

The cast of this new production includes Olivier Award-winners Mark Gatiss (SherlockWolf Hall, NT Live Coriolanus) in the title role, and Adrian Scarborough (Gavin and StaceyUpstairs DownstairsAfter the Dance). 

It’s 1786 and King George III is the most powerful man in the world. But his behavior is becoming increasingly erratic as he succumbs to fits of lunacy. With the King’s mind unraveling at a dramatic pace, ambitious politicians and the scheming Prince of Wales threaten to undermine the power of the Crown, and expose the fine line between a King and a man. 

National Theatre Live Screening: King Lear by William Shakespeare

★★★★★ “Ian McKellen reigns supreme in this triumphant production.” – Daily Telegraph
Broadcast live from London’s West End, see Ian McKellen’s “extraordinarily moving portrayal” (Independent) of King Lear in cinemas. 

Chichester Festival Theatre’s production received five-star reviews for its sell-out run, and transfers 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. 

National Theatre Live Screening: Julie by Polly Stenham After Strindberg 

Vanessa Kirby (The Crown, NT Live: A Streetcar Named Desire) and Eric Kofi Abrefa (The Amen Corner) feature in the cast of this brand new production, directed by Carrie Cracknell (NT Live: The Deep Blue Sea) and broadcast live from the National Theatre to cinemas. 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. This new version of August Strinberg’s play Miss Julie, written by Polly Stenham, remains shocking and fiercely relevant in its new setting of contemporary London.