National Theatre Live

About

I grew up in Manchester in the 60s. If I had been able to see Olivier's National Theatre at my local cinema, I would have gone all of the time.
The programme began its pilot season in June 2009 with a production of Phèdre, starring Helen Mirren, which screened live in 70 cinemas across the UK. Two hundred more venues eventually showed the production internationally, resulting in a combined audience of around 50,000 people for this one performance. The second production, All's Well That Ends Well, showed at a total of around 300 screens, and today, the number of venues that show NT Live productions has grown to around 700.
With the exception of a Saturday matinee for Nation, a Monday evening showing for London Assurance, and a Tuesday evening showing for A Streetcar Named Desire, all National Theatre Live productions have been broadcast on a Thursday evening, to avoid conflicting with cinemas' weekend schedules. Most venues screen the productions live as they are broadcast, but because of the time differences in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States venues in those countries show the recorded production some days later. Many venues also offer repeat screenings of popular productions which they term 'Encores'.
Most productions broadcast are plays performed in repertory at the Royal National Theatre, but works by other companies have been included. A Disappearing Number by Complicite was broadcast live from the Theatre Royal, Plymouth on 14 October 2010. The Donmar Warehouse's production of King Lear, starring Derek Jacobi was broadcast live on 3 February 2011. In the summer of 2013, a broadcast of Macbeth starring Kenneth Branagh and Alex Kingston was broadcast live from the Manchester International Festival. Following this, A Streetcar Named Desire starring Gillian Anderson was broadcast live from the Young Vic on 16 September 2014.
Over the years from 2015 to 2019, National Theatre Live released a wide range of plays in cinemas including ones from the National Theatre and others from the West End such as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with Imelda Staunton and All About Eve with Lily James and Gillian Anderson. It also broadcast both parts of Tony Kushner's Angels in America on week apart. Other notable productions include Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag and Cyrano de Bergerac with James McAvoy.
The programme returned to screens in 2022 with Leopoldstadt, which had its cinema run cancelled due to the closure of theatres and arts venues. Following this, plays released included the one-woman Prima Facie with Jodie Comer and GOOD with David Tennant.
In April 2024, National Theatre Live released its 100th play in cinemas, Nye featuring Michael Sheen, broadcast live from the National Theatre. Since then the programme has included highlights such as the National Theatre's brand new production of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest and Inter Alia with Rosamund Pike. From the West End they have broadcast Dr. Strangelove with Steve Coogan, based on the 1964 Stanley Kubrick film, Mrs. Warren's Profession from the Garrick Theatre and The Fifth Step from in-the-round theatre @sohoplace, featuring Jack Lowden and Martin Freeman.
2025's season includes a line-up of shows starting with a new West End production of All My Sons with Bryan Cranston, filmed live from Wyndham's Theatre. From the National Theatre, John Millington Synge's The Playboy of the Western World and Christopher Hampton's Les Liaisons Dangereuses join the season.

Live broadcasts

Live performances are broadcast live from the National Theatre. They are certified differently from feature films.

Season 1

• Phèdre – 25 June 2009
• All's Well That Ends Well – 1 October 2009
• Nation – 30 January 2010
• The Habit of Art – 22 April 2010
• London Assurance – 28 June 2010

  Season 2

• A Disappearing Number – 14 October 2010
• Hamlet – 9 December 2010
• Fela! – 13 January 2011
• King Lear – 3 February 2011
• Frankenstein – 17 & 24 March 2011
• The Cherry Orchard – 30 June 2011

  Season 3

• One Man, Two Guvnors – 15 September 2011
• The Kitchen – 6 October 2011
• Collaborators – 1 December 2011
• Travelling Light – 9 February 2012
• The Comedy of Errors – 1 March 2012
• She Stoops to Conquer – 29 March 2012

  Season 4

• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – 6 September 2012
• The Last of the Haussmans – 11 October 2012
• Timon of Athens – 1 November 2012
• The Magistrate – 17 January 2013
• People – 21 March 2013
• This House – 16 May 2013
• The Audience – 13 June 2013
• Macbeth – 20 July 2013

  Season 5

• Othello – 26 September 2013
• Coriolanus – 30 January 2014
• War Horse – 27 February 2014 –
• King Lear – 1 May 2014
• A Small Family Business – 12 June 2014
• Skylight – 17 July 2014

  Season 6

• Medea – 4 September 2014
• A Streetcar Named Desire – 16 September 2014
• JOHN – 9 December 2014
• Treasure Island – 22 January 2015
• Behind the Beautiful Forevers – 12 March 2015
• A View from the Bridge – 26 March 2015
• The Hard Problem – 16 April 2015
• Man and Superman – 14 May 2015
• Everyman – 16 July 2015

  Season 7

• The Beaux' Stratagem – 3 September 2015
• Hamlet – 15 October 2015
• Of Mice and Men – 19 November 2015
• Jane Eyre – 8 December 2015
• Les Liaisons Dangereuses – 28 January 2016
• As You Like It – 25 February 2016
• Hangmen – 3 March 2016

  Season 8

• The Deep Blue Sea – 1 September 2016
• The Threepenny Opera – 22 September 2016
• No Man's Land – 15 December 2016
• Amadeus – 2 February 2017
• Saint Joan – 16 February 2017
• Hedda Gabler – 9 March 2017
• Twelfth Night – 6 April 2017
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead – 20 April 2017
• Obsession – 11 May 2017
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – 18 May 2017
• Peter Pan – 10 June 2017
• Salomé – 22 June 2017
• Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches – 20 July 2017
• Angels in America, Part Two: Perestroika – 27 July 2017
• Yerma – 31 August 2017

  Season 9

• Follies – 16 November 2017
• Young Marx – 7 December 2017
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof – 22 February 2018
• Julius Caesar – 22 March 2018
• Macbeth – 10 May 2018

  Season 10

• Julie – 6 September 2018
• King Lear – 27 September 2018
• Allelujah! - 1 November 2018
• The Madness of George III – 20 November 2018
• Antony & Cleopatra – 6 December 2018
• The Tragedy of King Richard the Second – 15 January 2019
• I'm Not Running – 31 January 2019
• All About Eve – 11 April 2019
• All My Sons – 14 May 2019
• Small Island – 27 June 2019
• The Lehman Trilogy – 25 July 2019

  Season 11

• Fleabag – 12 September 2019
• A Midsummer Night's Dream – 17 October 2019
• Hansard – 7 November 2019
• Present Laughter – 28 November 2019
• Cyrano de Bergerac – 20 February 2020
• The Welkin – Cancelled due to UK theatre closures relating to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic
• Leopoldstadt – Cancelled due to UK theatre closures relating to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic
• Jack Absolute Flies Again – Cancelled due to UK theatre closures relating to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic

  Season 12

• Leopoldstadt – 27 January 2022
• The Book of Dust – 17 February 2022
• Henry V – 21 April 2022
• Straight Line Crazy – 26 May 2022
• Prima Facie – 21 July 2022
• Much Ado About Nothing – 8 September 2022
• Jack Absolute Flies Again – 6 October 2022
• The Seagull – 3 November 2022

  Season 13

• The Crucible – 26 January 2023
• Othello – 23 February 2023
• Life of Pi – 30 March 2023
• GOOD – 20 April 2023
• Best of Enemies – 18 May 2023

  Season 14

• Dear England – 25 January 2024
• Vanya – 22 February 2024
• The Motive and the Cue – 21 March 2024
• Nye – 23 April 2024

  Season 15

• The Importance of Being Earnest – 20 February 2025
• Dr. Strangelove – 27 March 2025
• Inter Alia - 4 September 2025
• Mrs. Warren's Profession - 23 October 2025
• The Fifth Step - 27 November 2025
• Hamlet - 22 January 2026

  Season 16

• All My Sons - 16 April 2026
• The Playboy of the Western World - 28 May 2026
• Les Liaisons Dangereuses - 25 June 2026