NT Live Adds London, Hamlet Heads Next Season

The National Theatre has today (21 April 2010) announced that, after a successful pilot season, NT Live, the initiative to offer live broadcasts of its productions to cinema screens around the world, will be back for a second season, launching this autumn with artistic director Nicholas Hytner’s production of Hamlet, starring Rory Kinnear.

The pilot season launched in June 2009 with Hytner’s Helen Mirren-led production of Greek tragedy Phedre, and continued with broadcasts of another Shakespeare, All’s Well That Ends Well, and Mark Ravenhill’s adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s children’s book Nation – which, collectively, played to over 100,000 people in 22 countries.

The original four-production NT Live pilot culminates tomorrow (22 April 2010) with its biggest success to date: Alan Bennett’s The Habit of Art, starring Richard Griffiths, Alex Jennings and Frances de la Tour. Over 16,000 people have already booked to see the play at participating cinemas – as opposed to the maximum 900 who could see it on one night in the NT Lyttelton.

An extra broadcast has now been added to conclude the pilot schedule. Hytner’s sell-out production of Boucicault’s Victorian comedy London Assurance, starring Simon Russell Beale and Fiona Shaw, will now be aired via 300 cinemas worldwide on 28 June 2010.

Commenting on NT Live’s success, Hytner said today: “We couldn’t have foreseen that the experimental NT Live season would be such a hit with audiences around the world, who are hungry to see our work in their local cinema. Through NT Live , we can respond immediately to the sell-out success of London Assuranceand bring it to tens of thousands who wouldn’t otherwise be able to see it. And we’re thrilled that we can confidently build on the success of our first season with a second season of broadcasts.”

The second NT Live season will continue in early 2011 with the stage adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Gothic horror Frankenstein, which is written by Nick Dear and directed by filmmaker Danny Boyle in his return to the stage.

All NT Live performances are filmed live at the National in high definition and broadcast via satellite to participating cinemas – the number which has grown from an initial 150 to more than 300 now. Of those current 300, there are more than 75 in the UK alongside venues in the US, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Scandinavia and Europe. NT Live is funded in partnership with Arts Council England and NESTA and supported internationally by Travelex.