
27 Sep 1925

Manuelita Rosas
The life and times of Manuelita Rosas.

Academy Award® nominee Ralph Fiennes (The English Patient, Schindler’s List, Oedipus at the National Theatre) plays Jack Tanner in this exhilarating reinvention of Shaw’s witty, provocative classic. Jack Tanner, celebrated radical thinker and rich bachelor, seems an unlikely choice as guardian to the alluring heiress, Ann. But she takes it in her assured stride and, despite the love of a poet, she decides to marry and tame this dazzling revolutionary. Tanner, appalled by the whiff of domesticity, is tipped off by his chauffeur and flees to Spain, where he is captured by bandits and meets The Devil. An extraordinary dream-debate, heaven versus hell, ensues. Following in hot pursuit, Ann is there when Tanner awakes, as fierce in her certainty as he is in his. A romantic comedy, an epic fairytale, a fiery philosophical debate, Man and Superman asks fundamental questions about how we live.

Roebuck Ramsden

Octavius Robinson

Jack Tanner/Don Juan

Ann Whitefield/Ana

Mrs Whitefield

Miss Ramsden
Violet

Straker

Housekeeper/The Sulky Social Democrat

Hector Malone

Malone

Mendoza/The Devil

The Anarchist

The Rowdy Social Democrat

The Frenchman (Duval)

Police Officer

Police Officer

Police Officer

27 Sep 1925

The life and times of Manuelita Rosas.

28 Sep 2014

In County Durham, England, 1984, a talented young dancer, Billy Elliot, stumbles out of the boxing ring and onto the ballet floor. He faces many trials and triumphs as he strives to conquer his family’s set ways, inner conflict, and standing on his toes in a musical that questions masculinity, gender norms and conformity.

06 Sep 2012

Christopher, fifteen years old, has an extraordinary brain – exceptional at maths while ill-equipped to interpret everyday life. When he falls under suspicion of killing Mrs Shears' dog Wellington, he records each fact about the event in the book he is writing to solve the mystery of the murder. But his detective work, forbidden by his father, takes him on a frightening journey that upturns his world.

25 Sep 2003

Hèdre is queen but doesn't love the king. She prefers his son Hippolytus, whom he had from a first marriage, to Theseus. A guilty love, hidden by feigned hatred, that makes her suffer and perish, and that she can't keep from confessing as soon as she hears of the king's death. But Hippolyte doesn't love her. And the monarch is only wounded. Ashamed, the queen can no longer look at him. Oenone, her confidante, tries to save her by making the king believe that the outrage comes from his son. Fanned by Theseus, the fury of the gods strikes Hippolytus. The adulteress kills herself.

01 Jan 1975

Burgtheater recording, based on Shakespeare's play.

16 Jun 2022

Two young swordsmen, Akado Suzunosuke and Tatsumaki Rainoshin, arrive at the city of Edo in their quest to test and improve their skills. Soon they become involved in a conflict against a mysterious group of demonic criminals led by the king of hell, Taira no Masakado — a strugle to which both were destined since the moment they were born.

08 Dec 2004

A young soprano becomes the obsession of a disfigured and murderous musical genius who lives beneath the Paris Opera House.

10 Dec 1985

A group of dancers congregate on the stage of a Broadway theatre to audition for a new musical production directed by Zach. After the initial eliminations, seventeen hopefuls remain, among them Cassie, who once had a tempestuous romantic relationship with Zach. She is desperate enough for work to humble herself and audition for him; whether he's willing to let professionalism overcome his personal feelings about their past remains to be seen.

01 May 2014

An aged king decides to divide his kingdom between his three daughters, according to which of them is most eloquent in praising him. His favourite, Cordelia, says nothing. Simon Russell Beale, whose recent appearances at the National include Timon of Athens and Collaborators, takes the title role in Shakespeare’s tragedy.

01 Jan 1973

Amol, a child, is confined to his adoptive uncle's home by an incurable disease. He stands in the courtyard and talks to passers-by and inquires about the places they go to. The construction of a new post office nearby prompts the imaginative Amol to fantasise about receiving a letter from the King or being his postman.

24 Mar 1989

The Empty King created a mythical figure and a whole world from grotesque, archetypal images. The drama was originally conceived as a student tirade against a teacher at Jarry's school, the Lyceum of Rennes. This teacher, Hébert, was the target of public ridicule. In 1888, at the age of 15, Jarry wrote a puppet play about the exploits of the Woolly Tartar and staged it to the amusement of his friends. The figure of Übü is a crude, cruel caricature of the foolish, selfish bourgeoisie as seen through the unrelenting gaze of a schoolboy; but this Rabelaisian figure, in all his falstaffian greed and cowardice, is more than a mere social satire. It is a terrifying picture of man's animal nature, his evil and cruelty. The Katona József Theatre in Budapest premiered Jarry's play in 1984, and it ran continuously for more than 10 years.

04 Oct 2010

The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, to give it its full title, by Christopher Marlowe, was first published in 1604, at least twelve years after its first performance, although the basic story of the play is much older. Having decided he has accumulated all he can of conventional knowledge, Doctor Faustus turns to magic in a quest for greater truths. Before long, he ends up selling his soul to the devil – the famous “Faustian pact” that has entered everyday language. Dr Faustus gradually realizes his terrible mistake. He apparently repents, but finally dies, the devil coming to collect his soul, and his friends the dismembered body.

27 Aug 1986

Musical production of the space epic Aniara.

03 May 2015

45 year old Don Valter is a traditional priest who still wears an old fashioned black tunic out of nostalgia. One day young Claudio and his exuberant troupe of actors appear, proposing to perform an avant-garde show based on the Gospel's miracle of the rebirth of Lazarus*. The powerless priest is overwhelmed by this young upstart, who stirs within him emotions that will, whether he likes it or not, pull him into the modern era.

16 Jan 2003

A boy who was once a perpetual outcast finds friends in a new boarding school. United with his new peers, he gets involved in a heated rivalry with a group of students from a neighboring school.

20 Jan 2006

A popular high school athlete and an academically gifted girl get roles in the school musical and develop a friendship that threatens East High's social order.
16 Jun 2019
Sometimes the drama backstage is better than anything on it... Sometimes the drama backstage threatens to destroy everything on it.

23 Oct 1982

Traveling rainmaker Starbuck arrives at the drought-ridden Curry place, promising rain for the farm and perhaps a romance for 'spinster sister' Lizzie.

05 Sep 2008

New York, 1937. A teenager hired to star in Orson Welles' production of Julius Caesar becomes attracted to a career-driven production assistant.

16 Feb 2017

A week in the life of the exploited, child newspaper sellers in turn-of-the-century New York. When their publisher, Joseph Pulitzer, tries to squeeze a little more profit out of their labours, they organize a strike, only to be confronted with the Pulitzer's hard-ball tactics.