National Theatre at Home

National Theatre Live to stream shows from archive for free every week on YouTube

Will Longman
Will Longman

The National Theatre has announced a project that will see its National Theatre Live collection of filmed live productions streamed for free on YouTube, beginning with Richard Bean's One Man, Two Guvnors.

National Theatre At Home will see a different NT Live film streamed live on YouTube for free every Thursday from 2nd April for the next two months, with each stream available on demand for the next seven days.

A host of accompanying content, including Q&As, interviews and post-stream talks will also be made available. 

The current confirmed schedule is as follows:
- 2nd April: One Man, Two Guvnors (available to watch here)
- 9th April: Jane Eyre
- 16th April: Treasure Island
- 23rd April: Twelfth Night (starring Tamsin Greig)

Further productions are set to be announced in due course.

Announcing the new initiative, NT chief executive Lisa Burger said: "Our ambition at the National Theatre is to create work which is challenging, entertaining and inspiring and we're committed to continuing that through these difficult times. I'm thrilled that we're able to fulfil this ambition in a different way through our collaboration with YouTube.

"I am exceptionally proud of the team at the National Theatre for working so hard to create National Theatre At Home and also to the rights holders who have been so supportive of this new initiative allowing us to bring theatre to households right across the world."

The National Theatre Collection, an online resource for schools, universities, libraries and the education sector, has also been made available online as many are forced to homeschool their children during the COVID-19 outbreak. It has been made free to pupils and teachers at state schools, and schools will be able to share log in details with students for access.

Image credit: Johan Persson

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