AN
EXCEPTIONAL SERIES OF PLAYS
CAPTURED LIVE FOR PRESENTATION AROUND
THE WORLD DURING THE LONDON SEASON.
An initiative of Britain's National Theatre, NT Live is dedicated
to the high definition broadcast of live performances around the
world. This is a unique opportunity for international audiences
to enjoy live shows direct from the West End as they are performed
there.
"The NT Live events are designed to bring what we do on the
stages of the National to a far greater number of people than we
would ever be able to reach otherwise," says National Theatre
director Nicholas Hytner (The History Boys). "Through
high definition broadcasts, we have the technology at our disposal
to present our productions beyond the four walls of the National,
to reach passionate theatre-goers all over the world, and to do
it really well." Helen Mirren, added, "I am very happy
to have the opportunity to play and to be part of - NT Live,
this grand new adventure". Helen Mirren is an NT Associate
and starred in the inaugural NT Live presentation - Phédre.
NEXT
PRESENTATION
LONDON
ASSURANCE
by Dion Boucicault
Check
local NT Live venues for encore
screenings in August.
Starring
Simon Russell Beale (Orlando, TV's A Dance to the Music
of Time), Fiona Shaw (the Harry Potter series) and
Richard Briers (TV's The Good Life, Monarch of the Glen).
Sir Harcourt Courtly is lured away from the epicentre of fashionable
London by the promise of a rich and beautiful bride, Grace, several
decades his junior. Arriving at Oak Hall, Gloucestershire, he marvels
at this rural Venus until her charms are eclipsed by her hearty
cousin, the foxhunting Lady Gay Spanker. Meanwhile his disguised
son turns up in flight from his creditors and falls head over heels
for Grace. When Lady Spanker discovers the young couple, she needs
little prompting from the visiting chancer Dazzle to lead Sir Harcourt
astray.
Dion Boucicault, the Irish genius of London theatre in the age of
Dickens, wrote the brilliantly funny London Assurance in 1841 and
thereby created in Sir Harcourt and Lady Spanker two
of the great comic roles of the English stage, played at the NT
by Simon Russell Beale and Fiona Shaw.
FIVE STARS
"This is an absolute corker of a production, one that will
be talked about and chuckled over with reminiscent affection for
years to come." DAILY TELEGRAPH (UK)
FIVE STARS
"London Assurance is the funniest and most assured
comedy in all of London." SUNDAY EXPRESS
(UK)
FOUR STARS
"This is a treat - stylish, hilarious and unmissable...
Nicholas Hytner is entirely at home with this wonderfully outrageous
play. This is what gives English theatre its strengths; classicists
like him, Simon Russell Beale, Fiona Shaw and Richard Briers are
happy to apply their talent and versatility to a boisterous social
comedy." THE SUNDAY TIMES (UK)
FOUR STARS
"Dion Boucicault, not much studied these days, was a prolific
Irish playwright who was the Victorian eras Alan Ayckbourn.
His London Assurance is riotous, unpretentious fun."
DAILY MAIL (UK)
FOUR
STARS
"This production is worth a visit to witness the sheer fun
of Simon Russell Beale and Fiona Shaw having the time of their lives."
DAILY EXPRESS (UK)
The NT Live events are distributed outside the U.K.
through New York-based distributor, BYEXPERIENCE, and through local
Australian film distributor, SHARMILL FILMS.
NT Live is funded in partnership Arts Council England and NESTA.

Visit the National
Theatre NTLive website - NTLive.com
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