Theater News

Lorraine Hansberry's Les Blancs, Peter Shaffer's Amadeus Set for Home Streaming

The final five titles of the National Theater at Home series have been announced.

Sheila Atim in Lorraine Hansberry's Les Blancs at the National Theatre.
Sheila Atim in Lorraine Hansberry's Les Blancs at the National Theatre.
(© Johan Persson)

The final five titles of the National Theater's at-home streaming series have been announced.

Helen Edmundson's adaptation of Andrea Levy's novel Small Island will be streamed beginning June 18. Directed by Rufus Norris and starring Leah Harvey, Gershwyn Eustace Jr., Aisling Loftus, and a company of 40 actors, the play traces the history of Jamaica and the United Kingdom from the onset of World War II through 1948.

On June 25, Bridge Theatre's production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Nicholas Hytner, will stream. Gwendoline Christie, Oliver Chris, David Moorst, and Hammed Animashaun star.

An archival recording of Lorraine Hansberry's Les Blancs, directed by Yaël Farber, will stream beginning July 2. This rarely seen drama confronts the hope and tragedy of revolution when a family and a post-colonial African nation fall apart under the pressure to determine their own identity. Danny Sapani, Sheila Atim, Siân Phillips, and Tunji Kasim star.

Helen McRory leads Carrie Cracknell's production of Terence Rattigan's The Deep Blue Sea, streaming on July 9. Finally, Lucian Msamati and Adam GIllen star in Peter Shaffer's Amadeus, directed by Michael Longhurst and featuring live orchestral accompaniment by Southbank Sinfonia. It will stream starting July 16.

Small Island, The Deep Blue Sea, and Amadeus will also be available on YouTube with Audio-Description. For Small Island and Les Blancs, National Theatre dramaturg Ola Animashawun will be curating content that explores these plays in the context of the current global conversation around race and their potential to provide meaningful and timely contributions to that discourse.

All of the productions will stream free for a week, though donations are encouraged. Future programming for a different iteration of the National Theatre at Home series will be announced.