The National Theatre has announced more shows to join its NT Live scheme which will broadcast selected performances to cinemas in the UK and abroad. The previously announced Phèdre is joined by All’s Well That Ends Well, Nation and The Habit Of Art.
Travelex, sponsor of the regular £10 ticket season at the National Theatre, which will this year sell its millionth ticket, has also pledged its support to the scheme. The foreign exchange and business payments specialist is to sponsor the international broadcasts, which will see the National Theatre’s productions screened across Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa and Scandinavia.
Speaking about the new sponsorship deal, Nicholas Hytner, Director of the National Theatre, said: “I am delighted that we’re opening a new chapter in our relationship with Travelex. We’ve been thrilled by the response of cinemas around the world to this new experiment. It means we can reach tens of thousands of people in addition to our work in London and on tour. And it’s entirely fitting that it’s Travelex who, once again, are enabling us to make this innovation.”
NT Live’s pilot season will be launched on 25 June, when Phèdre, which stars Helen Mirren, Dominic Cooper and Margaret Tyzack, becomes the first of the National Theatre’s shows to be broadcast in high definition to over 60 UK and 170 worldwide cinemas. It is followed on 1 October by the Clare Higgins-led production of All’s Well That Ends Well.
Mark Ravenhill’s adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s Nation, the National Theatre’s new family drama for 2009, and Alan Bennett’s new play The Habit Of Art, which will star Michael Gambon, Alex Jennings and Frances De La Tour, will both be screened in early 2010.
MA