In June 2009, a group Britain's leading actors gathered for one night only to perform a celebration of the work of Harold Pinter at the National Theatre, directed by Ian Rickson. The team who made the acclaimed Harold Pinter documentaries for BBC's Arena was there to record this unique performance.
In June 2009, a group Britain's leading actors gathered for one night only to perform a celebration of the work of Harold Pinter at the National Theatre, directed by Ian Rickson. The team who made the acclaimed Harold Pinter documentaries for BBC's Arena was there to record this unique performance.
2010-01-24
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When an old adversary threatens Rome, the city calls once more on her hero and defender: Coriolanus. But he has enemies at home too. Famine threatens the city, the citizens’ hunger swells to an appetite for change, and on returning from the field Coriolanus must confront the march of realpolitik and the voice of an angry people.
7,000 passengers are stranded in the small town of Gander, Newfoundland after all flights into the US are grounded on September 11, 2001. Filmed live on stage at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater in New York City.
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.
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.
The Moorish general Othello is manipulated into thinking that his new wife Desdemona has been carrying on an affair with his lieutenant Michael Cassio when in reality it is all part of the scheme of a bitter ensign named Iago.
Set in New York City's gritty East Village, the revolutionary rock opera RENT tells the story of a group of bohemians struggling to live and pay their rent. "Measuring their lives in love," these starving artists strive for success and acceptance while enduring the obstacles of poverty, illness and the AIDS epidemic.
America, 1947. Despite hard choices and even harder knocks, Joe and Kate Keller are a success story. They have built a home, raised two sons and established a thriving business. But nothing lasts forever and their contented lives, already shadowed by the loss of their eldest boy to war, are about to shatter. With the return of a figure from the past, long buried truths are forced to the surface and the price of their American dream is laid bare.
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.
National Theatre Live’s 2010 broadcast of Alan Bennett’s acclaimed play The Habit of Art, with Richard Griffiths, Alex Jennings and Frances de la Tour, returns to cinemas as part of the National Theatre's 50th anniversary celebrations. Benjamin Britten, sailing uncomfortably close to the wind with his new opera, Death in Venice, seeks advice from his former collaborator and friend, W H Auden. During this imagined meeting, their first for twenty-five years, they are observed and interrupted by, amongst others, their future biographer and a young man from the local bus station. Alan Bennett’s play is as much about the theatre as it is about poetry or music. It looks at the unsettling desires of two difficult men, and at the ethics of biography. It reflects on growing old, on creativity and inspiration, and on persisting when all passion’s spent: ultimately, on the habit of art.
The story takes place entirely in a bedroom dominated by a couple's four-poster bed, taking them through fifty years of marriage, through happiness and sorrow, through good times and bad, through childbirth, parenthood, and the eventual sadness from the absence of their children. In the end, they face the future together, while remembering their past.
Based on Michael Morpurgo's novel and adapted for the stage by Nick Stafford, War Horse takes audiences on an extraordinary journey from the fields of rural Devon to the trenches of First World War France.
Jess has a great life: a job she loves, a sharp sense of humour and a close group of friends. When austerity threatens the world she has worked hard to build, Jess makes a stand to protect those she holds most dear. Inspired by real life experiences of disabled people in the UK, All of Us captures the humour, sadness and joy of everyday life, and is a passionate and timely look at the human cost of abandoning those who struggle to fit in.
An affluent suburban couple's empty and gin-fueled lives are observed through the eyes of their neglected, eight-year old daughter.
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.
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.
Transferring the setting of a brooding Hungarian play, Carousel, to a remote fishing village, shaping their vision around themes of brutality, poverty and disappointment, Rodgers and Hammerstein composed some of the most glorious music ever written for the stage.
Bullet doesn’t want to call a hostel home. Eritrean Girl was smuggled here in a lorry. Singing Boy dreams of seeing his name in lights and Garden Boy just wants to feel safe. Homelessness amongst young people in the UK is at a record high, so when the big society doesn’t work – where do you go? An inner-city high-rise hostel, TargetEast, offers a roof. Nadia Fall’s verbatim play features performances from Michaela Coel, Antonia Thomas and Kadiff Kirwan.
A screenwriter gets conned out of selling a script to a Hollywood producer by his brother, who pitches his own idea for a movie. This video recording of the 1982 Steppenwolf Theatre Company production was later broadcast by PBS.
Now hiring: top girls wanted for prestige positions. Must be self-motivated go-getters with an appetite for success. No timewasters. Marlene is the first woman to head the Top Girls employment agency. But she has no plans to stop there. With Maggie in at Number 10 and a spirit of optimism consuming the country, Marlene knows that the future belongs to women like her.
An aging actor remembers his past stage triumphs and contemplates a dim future on the stage of an empty theatre. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.