1. National Theatre Live: wonder.land
Inspired by Lewis Carroll's iconic story, this coming-of-age adventure explores the blurred boundaries between our online and offline lives. Combining live theatre and digital technology in dazzling new ways, wonder.land is brought to life on stage by an extraordinary creative team
It has an average vote of 10 on TMDB.
2. National Theatre Live: Dara
1659 Mughal, India. Two brothers, Dara and Aurangzeb, are both heirs to the Muslim empire. Dara, the crown prince, has the love of the people – and of his emperor father – but younger brother Aurangzeb holds a different vision for India’s future. Now they fight ferociously for succession.
It has an average vote of 9 on TMDB.
3. National Theatre Live: King Lear
An ageing monarch. A kingdom divided. A child’s love rejected. As Lear’s world descends into chaos, all that he once believed is brought into question. One of the greatest works in Western literature, King Lear explores the very nature of human existence: love and duty, power and loss, good and evil.
It has an average vote of 7 on TMDB.
4. National Theatre Live: Phèdre
A new English adaptation of the classic French tragedy Phèdre by Jean Racine . It retells the ancient Greek tale of the wife of the Atenian King Theseus, who conceived a forbidden love for his son Hyppolytus. All ends badly for all.
It has an average vote of 9.5 on TMDB.
5. After Miss Julie
An updated version of Strindberg’s play examining class and social differences. Julie, the daughter of an MP, seduces her father's chauffeur, despite his being engaged to the maid.
6. Rimini Protokoll: Uncanny Valley (Rimini Protokoll: Uncanny Valley)
We mostly think of robots as work machines, as efficient and precise executors of tasks. In German industry, they barely look like people, to avoid emotional complications. Unlike in Asia, where humanoid robots have already been developed for some time, for example for care-work or as sex partners. The external similarity to human beings makes the acceptance of machines easier. However, if the machine is too similar to a human, we begin to feel mistrust: what is human, what is machine? Japanese robotics researchers call this weird similarity the “uncanny valley”. For his play, Stefan Kaegi works with a writer and playwright for the first time: Thomas Melle allowed an animatronic double of himself to be made. This humanoid takes the author’s place and throws up questions: what does it mean for the original when the copy takes over? Does the original get to know himself better through his electronic double? Do the copy and his original compete or do they help each other?
7. National Theatre Live: Barber Shop Chronicles
For generations, African men have gathered in barber shops to discuss the world. These are places where the banter can be barbed and the truth is always telling. Follow along as we leap from a barber shop in Peckham to Johannesburg, Harare, Kampala, Lagos and Accra over the course of a single day.
It has an average vote of 7.5 on TMDB.
8. Hemmet (Hemmet)
A satire of the welfare society showing the mechanical nature of the elderly care.
9. The Sound of Music Live!
The Sound of Music Live! is a television special that was originally broadcast by NBC on December 5, 2013. Produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the special was an adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway musical The Sound of Music, starring country singer Carrie Underwood as Maria von Trapp, performed and televised live from Grumman Studios in Bethpage, New York. Meron felt that if the telecast were successful, the concept could become "another kind of entertainment that can exist on TV." By her request, Underwood's casting as Maria was personally endorsed by Julie Andrews, who starred in the 1965 film.
It has an average vote of 6.3 on TMDB.
10. The King and I
Widowed Welsh mother Anna Loenowens becomes a governess and English tutor to the wives and many children of the stubborn King Mongkut of Siam. Anna and the King have a clash of personalities as she works to teach the royal family about the English language, customs and etiquette, and rushes to prepare a party for a group of European diplomats who must change their opinions about the King.
It has an average vote of 6.7 on TMDB.
11. She Stoops to Conquer
Oliver Goldsmith's classic comedy of manners tells of the clever schemes and comic ruses that unfold one night at a country house. An ambitious step-mother, impassioned sweethearts, a pragmatic father and a pair of star-crossed suitors are sent spinning through a hilarous comedy of errors by one of the great characters of the stage, Tony Lumpkin. The National Theatre and Out Of Joint co-production of Goldsmith's comedy, recorded live on stage in Bath, after it's premiere at the Lyttelton theatre in London.
It has an average vote of 4 on TMDB.
12. New York City Opera: A Little Night Music
Inspired by Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night, a tangled web of affairs is weaved around actress Desirée Armfeldt and the men who love her: lawyer Fredrik Egerman and Count Carl-Magnus Malcom. When Desirée's show travels through Fredrik's town, the estranged lovers' passion rekindles.
It has an average vote of 9 on TMDB.
13. Rocky Horror Tribute Show
Recorded at London's Royal Court Theatre before an audience of faithful fans, various cast members from different productions of The Rocky Horror Show come together in a one-off concert extravaganza paying tribute to the phenomenon.
It has an average vote of 7.2 on TMDB.
14. Paradise Lost
Playwright Clifford Odets' portrait of the Great Depression unfolds in the modest two-family home of Leo and Clara Gordon as misfortune strikes them and the people running with them. Opened on Broadway in 1935, it became one of the Group Theatre's most controversial plays and Odets' favorite.
15. National Theatre Live: As You Like It
With her father the Duke banished and in exile, Rosalind and her cousin Celia leave their lives in the court behind them and journey into the Forest of Arden. There, released from convention, Rosalind experiences the liberating rush of transformation. Disguising herself as a boy, she embraces a different way of living and falls spectacularly in love.
It has an average vote of 9 on TMDB.
16. National Theater Live: The Crucible
A witch hunt is beginning in Arthur Miller's captivating parable of power with Erin Doherty and Brendan Cowell . Raised to be seen but not heard, a group of young women in Salem suddenly find their words have an almighty power. As a climate of fear, vendetta and accusation spreads through the community, no one is safe from trial. Lindsey Turner directs this contemporary new staging, design by Tony award winner Es Devlin. Captured live from the Olivier stage of the national theater.
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
17. Dax igen (Dax igen)
10 year anniversary revue for the Knäppupp company, performances of both old and new material.
18. National Theatre Collection: Romeo and Juliet
A new version for younger audiences by Bijan Sheibani and Ben Power. Originally staged as part of the National Theatre’s Shakespeare for younger audiences programme. This archival recording was captured in 2017. This contemporary production sees a company of eight tell the most famous love story of all time, set against a vivid urban backdrop bursting with excitement, colour, dance and song. A swift, contemporary celebration of Shakespeare’s masterpiece, Bijan Sheibani’s thrilling production brings Romeo and Juliet to life for a new generation.
19. National Theatre Live: Hangmen
In his small pub in the northern English town of Oldham, Harry is something of a local celebrity. But what's the second-best hangman in England to do on the day they've abolished hanging? Amongst the cub reporters and pub regulars dying to hear Harry's reaction to the news, his old assistant Syd and the peculiar Mooney lurk with very different motives for their visit.
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
20. National Theatre Live: Consent
Why is Justice blind? Is she impartial? Or is she blinkered? Friends take opposing briefs in a rape case. The key witness is a woman whose life seems a world away from theirs. At home, their own lives begin to unravel as every version of the truth is challenged. Nina Raine’s powerful, painful, funny play sifts the evidence from every side and puts justice herself in the dock. Consent received its world premiere in a co-production with Out of Joint at the National Theatre in April 2017. This archive recording was captured on 9th May, 2017.