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Director: Christopher Nolan.
Starring: Fionn Whitehead, Harry Styles, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy. Netherlands/UK/France/USA 2017. 106 mins.
The mass evacuation of more than 330,000 Allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk in May 1940 was one of the most dramatic and pivotal episodes of the Second World War. In his latest feature, director Christopher Nolan (Interstellar, The Dark Knight trilogy) plunges viewers into the thick of it with what he describes as “the most visceral experiential two hours that audiences can hope for”.
Told from three points of view – land, sea and air – Dunkirk unfolds with a palpable sense of dread and tension, evoking the very human and immediate desire to survive.
With cinematography from Hoyte van Hoytema (Interstellar), a score from Hans Zimmer, and an all-star supporting cast that includes Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy and Mark Rylance, this is the must-see spectacle of the summer.
America in the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis and a conservative Reagan administration, New Yorkers grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell.
Andrew Garfield (Silence, Hacksaw Ridge) plays Prior Walter along with a cast including Denise Gough (People, Places and Things), Nathan Lane (The Producers), James McArdle (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) and Russell Tovey (The Pass).
This new staging of Tony Kushner’s multi-award winning two-part play is directed by Olivier and Tony award winning director Marianne Elliott (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and War Horse). Part One: Millennium Approaches was first performed at the National Theatre in 1992 and was followed by Part Two: Perestroika the following year.
Part One: Millennium Approaches will be broadcast live on 20 July 2017.
One of Merchant Ivory"s undisputed masterpieces, this adaptation of E.M. Forster"s classic 1910 novel is a saga of class relations and changing times in Edwardian England. Margaret Schlegel (Emma Thompson) and her sister Helen (Helena Bonham Carter) become involved with two couples: a wealthy, conservative industrialist (Anthony Hopkins) and his wife (Vanessa Redgrave), and a working-class man (Samuel West) and his mistress (Niccola Duffet). The interwoven fates and misfortunes of these three families and the diverging trajectories of the two sisters" lives are connected to the ownership of HOWARD"S END, a beloved country home. A compelling, brilliantly acted study of one woman"s struggle to maintain her ideals and integrity in the face of Edwardian society"s moribund conformist values.
Director: Christopher Nolan.
Starring: Fionn Whitehead, Harry Styles, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy. Netherlands/UK/France/USA 2017. 106 mins.
The mass evacuation of more than 330,000 Allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk in May 1940 was one of the most dramatic and pivotal episodes of the Second World War. In his latest feature, director Christopher Nolan (Interstellar, The Dark Knight trilogy) plunges viewers into the thick of it with what he describes as “the most visceral experiential two hours that audiences can hope for”.
Told from three points of view – land, sea and air – Dunkirk unfolds with a palpable sense of dread and tension, evoking the very human and immediate desire to survive.
With cinematography from Hoyte van Hoytema (Interstellar), a score from Hans Zimmer, and an all-star supporting cast that includes Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy and Mark Rylance, this is the must-see spectacle of the summer.
Director: Sofia Coppola.
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Colin Farrell, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning. USA 2017. 94 mins.
Academy Award-winner Sofia Coppola is one of those rare directors whose films feel like an event not to be missed. Her latest, a seductive drama with an all-star cast, is no different. A new adaptation of Thomas P. Cullinan’s Southern Gothic novel, A Painted Devil, the story unfolds at an all-girls boarding school in rural Virginia during the American Civil War. When the headmistress (Kidman) agrees to provide temporary refuge for a wounded Union soldier (Farrell), his sudden presence stirs up sexual tensions in the remote mansion. As each of the women falls for his charms, their tight-knit sisterhood buckles under the weight of deceit and jealousy, and taboos are broken in a dark and unexpected turn of events.
Director: Hannes Holm.
Starring: Rolf Lassgård, Bahar Pars, Ida Engvoll. Sweden 2015. 116 mins. Swedish/Persian with English subtitles.
Having lost his wife, his job and social status in short order, world-class curmudgeon Ove (Lassgård) has given up on everything – including himself. The quintessential ‘angry old man next door’, he spends his days aggressively enforcing laughably strict neighbourhood by-laws and chatting sorrowfully to his wife at her graveside. But an unlikely friendship with boisterous new neighbours obliges him to re-evaluate his devoutly negative approach to life.
Directors: Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin, Eric Guillon.
Voices: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Trey Parker. USA 2017. 90 mins.
At the end of Despicable Me 2, one-time dastardly supervillain Felonious Gru (Carell) seemed to have hung up his ‘evil’ cape for good. Having settled in the ‘burbs with his feisty super agent wife (Wiig) and three adorable, unicorn-loving, adopted daughters, he’s now out to actively fight crime, not cause it. Until, that is, a long lost, enviably hirsute twin brother (also Carell) pops out of the woodwork to tempt Gru back to the dark side… Eagerly anticipated by everyone from toddlers to adults, this animated threequel also voice casts Trey Parker (co-creator of South Park and The Book Of Mormon) as an ’80s-obsessed baddie with truly villainous shoulder pads. As if that wasn’t enough, one final word will sell it to you: Minions!
The London International Animation Festival (LIAF) returns to Kids Club this July with an eclectic mix of wonderful animated shorts from all over the globe. Definitely not to be missed and don’t forget to vote for your favourites!
One of Merchant Ivory"s undisputed masterpieces, this adaptation of E.M. Forster"s classic 1910 novel is a saga of class relations and changing times in Edwardian England. Margaret Schlegel (Emma Thompson) and her sister Helen (Helena Bonham Carter) become involved with two couples: a wealthy, conservative industrialist (Anthony Hopkins) and his wife (Vanessa Redgrave), and a working-class man (Samuel West) and his mistress (Niccola Duffet). The interwoven fates and misfortunes of these three families and the diverging trajectories of the two sisters" lives are connected to the ownership of HOWARD"S END, a beloved country home. A compelling, brilliantly acted study of one woman"s struggle to maintain her ideals and integrity in the face of Edwardian society"s moribund conformist values.
Director: Christopher Nolan.
Starring: Fionn Whitehead, Harry Styles, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy. Netherlands/UK/France/USA 2017. 106 mins.
The mass evacuation of more than 330,000 Allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk in May 1940 was one of the most dramatic and pivotal episodes of the Second World War. In his latest feature, director Christopher Nolan (Interstellar, The Dark Knight trilogy) plunges viewers into the thick of it with what he describes as “the most visceral experiential two hours that audiences can hope for”.
Told from three points of view – land, sea and air – Dunkirk unfolds with a palpable sense of dread and tension, evoking the very human and immediate desire to survive.
With cinematography from Hoyte van Hoytema (Interstellar), a score from Hans Zimmer, and an all-star supporting cast that includes Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy and Mark Rylance, this is the must-see spectacle of the summer.
Director: Hannes Holm.
Starring: Rolf Lassgård, Bahar Pars, Ida Engvoll. Sweden 2015. 116 mins. Swedish/Persian with English subtitles.
Having lost his wife, his job and social status in short order, world-class curmudgeon Ove (Lassgård) has given up on everything – including himself. The quintessential ‘angry old man next door’, he spends his days aggressively enforcing laughably strict neighbourhood by-laws and chatting sorrowfully to his wife at her graveside. But an unlikely friendship with boisterous new neighbours obliges him to re-evaluate his devoutly negative approach to life.
Directors: Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin, Eric Guillon.
Voices: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Trey Parker. USA 2017. 90 mins.
At the end of Despicable Me 2, one-time dastardly supervillain Felonious Gru (Carell) seemed to have hung up his ‘evil’ cape for good. Having settled in the ‘burbs with his feisty super agent wife (Wiig) and three adorable, unicorn-loving, adopted daughters, he’s now out to actively fight crime, not cause it. Until, that is, a long lost, enviably hirsute twin brother (also Carell) pops out of the woodwork to tempt Gru back to the dark side… Eagerly anticipated by everyone from toddlers to adults, this animated threequel also voice casts Trey Parker (co-creator of South Park and The Book Of Mormon) as an ’80s-obsessed baddie with truly villainous shoulder pads. As if that wasn’t enough, one final word will sell it to you: Minions!
One of Merchant Ivory"s undisputed masterpieces, this adaptation of E.M. Forster"s classic 1910 novel is a saga of class relations and changing times in Edwardian England. Margaret Schlegel (Emma Thompson) and her sister Helen (Helena Bonham Carter) become involved with two couples: a wealthy, conservative industrialist (Anthony Hopkins) and his wife (Vanessa Redgrave), and a working-class man (Samuel West) and his mistress (Niccola Duffet). The interwoven fates and misfortunes of these three families and the diverging trajectories of the two sisters" lives are connected to the ownership of HOWARD"S END, a beloved country home. A compelling, brilliantly acted study of one woman"s struggle to maintain her ideals and integrity in the face of Edwardian society"s moribund conformist values.
Director: Christopher Nolan.
Starring: Fionn Whitehead, Harry Styles, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy. Netherlands/UK/France/USA 2017. 106 mins.
The mass evacuation of more than 330,000 Allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk in May 1940 was one of the most dramatic and pivotal episodes of the Second World War. In his latest feature, director Christopher Nolan (Interstellar, The Dark Knight trilogy) plunges viewers into the thick of it with what he describes as “the most visceral experiential two hours that audiences can hope for”.
Told from three points of view – land, sea and air – Dunkirk unfolds with a palpable sense of dread and tension, evoking the very human and immediate desire to survive.
With cinematography from Hoyte van Hoytema (Interstellar), a score from Hans Zimmer, and an all-star supporting cast that includes Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy and Mark Rylance, this is the must-see spectacle of the summer.
Directors: Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin, Eric Guillon.
Voices: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Trey Parker. USA 2017. 90 mins.
At the end of Despicable Me 2, one-time dastardly supervillain Felonious Gru (Carell) seemed to have hung up his ‘evil’ cape for good. Having settled in the ‘burbs with his feisty super agent wife (Wiig) and three adorable, unicorn-loving, adopted daughters, he’s now out to actively fight crime, not cause it. Until, that is, a long lost, enviably hirsute twin brother (also Carell) pops out of the woodwork to tempt Gru back to the dark side… Eagerly anticipated by everyone from toddlers to adults, this animated threequel also voice casts Trey Parker (co-creator of South Park and The Book Of Mormon) as an ’80s-obsessed baddie with truly villainous shoulder pads. As if that wasn’t enough, one final word will sell it to you: Minions!
Director: Lewis Gilbert.
Starring: Roger Moore, Barbara Bach, Curt Jurgens, Richard Kiel. UK, 1977. 125 mins.
The Bond film that created, in its day, the largest indoor set ever created for a UK produced film, The Spy Who Loved Me is a typically thrilling cinema experience that runs the full gamut of the hugely successful Bond franchise. Roger Moore delivers another finely tuned and suave performance as 007 with Curt Jurgens committing to celluloid one of the more memorably cunning and devious villains, Karl Stromberg.
One of Merchant Ivory"s undisputed masterpieces, this adaptation of E.M. Forster"s classic 1910 novel is a saga of class relations and changing times in Edwardian England. Margaret Schlegel (Emma Thompson) and her sister Helen (Helena Bonham Carter) become involved with two couples: a wealthy, conservative industrialist (Anthony Hopkins) and his wife (Vanessa Redgrave), and a working-class man (Samuel West) and his mistress (Niccola Duffet). The interwoven fates and misfortunes of these three families and the diverging trajectories of the two sisters" lives are connected to the ownership of HOWARD"S END, a beloved country home. A compelling, brilliantly acted study of one woman"s struggle to maintain her ideals and integrity in the face of Edwardian society"s moribund conformist values.
Director: Christopher Nolan.
Starring: Fionn Whitehead, Harry Styles, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy. Netherlands/UK/France/USA 2017. 106 mins.
The mass evacuation of more than 330,000 Allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk in May 1940 was one of the most dramatic and pivotal episodes of the Second World War. In his latest feature, director Christopher Nolan (Interstellar, The Dark Knight trilogy) plunges viewers into the thick of it with what he describes as “the most visceral experiential two hours that audiences can hope for”.
Told from three points of view – land, sea and air – Dunkirk unfolds with a palpable sense of dread and tension, evoking the very human and immediate desire to survive.
With cinematography from Hoyte van Hoytema (Interstellar), a score from Hans Zimmer, and an all-star supporting cast that includes Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy and Mark Rylance, this is the must-see spectacle of the summer.
America in the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis and a conservative Reagan administration, New Yorkers grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell.
Andrew Garfield (Silence, Hacksaw Ridge) plays Prior Walter along with a cast including Denise Gough (People, Places and Things), Nathan Lane (The Producers), James McArdle (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) and Russell Tovey (The Pass).
This new staging of Tony Kushner’s multi-award winning two-part play is directed by Olivier and Tony award winning director Marianne Elliott (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and War Horse). Part One: Millennium Approaches was first performed at the National Theatre in 1992 and was followed by Part Two: Perestroika the following year.
Part One: Millennium Approaches will be broadcast live on 20 July 2017.
Director: Sofia Coppola.
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Colin Farrell, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning. USA 2017. 94 mins.
Academy Award-winner Sofia Coppola is one of those rare directors whose films feel like an event not to be missed. Her latest, a seductive drama with an all-star cast, is no different. A new adaptation of Thomas P. Cullinan’s Southern Gothic novel, A Painted Devil, the story unfolds at an all-girls boarding school in rural Virginia during the American Civil War. When the headmistress (Kidman) agrees to provide temporary refuge for a wounded Union soldier (Farrell), his sudden presence stirs up sexual tensions in the remote mansion. As each of the women falls for his charms, their tight-knit sisterhood buckles under the weight of deceit and jealousy, and taboos are broken in a dark and unexpected turn of events.
Directors: Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly
Starring: Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Jules Munshin, Ann Miller. USA 1949. 98 mins.
Producer Arthur Freed turned New York into a giant sound stage for this hectic 'sailors on leave' romantic comedy, which is notable not only for the superb Leonard Bernstein score but also for the musical numbers shot on location. Few dance sequences in film are as fresh, exhilarating and imaginative as the ballet on top of the Empire State Building.
11.00Dementia-Friendly Screening: Open to all but especially for people with dementia and their family, friends and carers. Join us for free tea, coffee and biscuits and a chance to socialise for 30 minutes before the film. The film will start at the time stated.
One of Merchant Ivory"s undisputed masterpieces, this adaptation of E.M. Forster"s classic 1910 novel is a saga of class relations and changing times in Edwardian England. Margaret Schlegel (Emma Thompson) and her sister Helen (Helena Bonham Carter) become involved with two couples: a wealthy, conservative industrialist (Anthony Hopkins) and his wife (Vanessa Redgrave), and a working-class man (Samuel West) and his mistress (Niccola Duffet). The interwoven fates and misfortunes of these three families and the diverging trajectories of the two sisters" lives are connected to the ownership of HOWARD"S END, a beloved country home. A compelling, brilliantly acted study of one woman"s struggle to maintain her ideals and integrity in the face of Edwardian society"s moribund conformist values.
15.00Silver Screen: Aged over 60? Join the Silver Screen Club for discounted tickets and a free tea or coffee at these shows. Usual ticket prices apply to non-Members.
Director: Christopher Nolan.
Starring: Fionn Whitehead, Harry Styles, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy. Netherlands/UK/France/USA 2017. 106 mins.
The mass evacuation of more than 330,000 Allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk in May 1940 was one of the most dramatic and pivotal episodes of the Second World War. In his latest feature, director Christopher Nolan (Interstellar, The Dark Knight trilogy) plunges viewers into the thick of it with what he describes as “the most visceral experiential two hours that audiences can hope for”.
Told from three points of view – land, sea and air – Dunkirk unfolds with a palpable sense of dread and tension, evoking the very human and immediate desire to survive.
With cinematography from Hoyte van Hoytema (Interstellar), a score from Hans Zimmer, and an all-star supporting cast that includes Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy and Mark Rylance, this is the must-see spectacle of the summer.
13.00Silver Screen: Aged over 60? Join the Silver Screen Club for discounted tickets and a free tea or coffee at these shows. Usual ticket prices apply to non-Members.
Select:
15.30Silver Screen: Aged over 60? Join the Silver Screen Club for discounted tickets and a free tea or coffee at these shows. Usual ticket prices apply to non-Members.
Director: Hannes Holm.
Starring: Rolf Lassgård, Bahar Pars, Ida Engvoll. Sweden 2015. 116 mins. Swedish/Persian with English subtitles.
Having lost his wife, his job and social status in short order, world-class curmudgeon Ove (Lassgård) has given up on everything – including himself. The quintessential ‘angry old man next door’, he spends his days aggressively enforcing laughably strict neighbourhood by-laws and chatting sorrowfully to his wife at her graveside. But an unlikely friendship with boisterous new neighbours obliges him to re-evaluate his devoutly negative approach to life.
Directors: Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin, Eric Guillon.
Voices: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Trey Parker. USA 2017. 90 mins.
At the end of Despicable Me 2, one-time dastardly supervillain Felonious Gru (Carell) seemed to have hung up his ‘evil’ cape for good. Having settled in the ‘burbs with his feisty super agent wife (Wiig) and three adorable, unicorn-loving, adopted daughters, he’s now out to actively fight crime, not cause it. Until, that is, a long lost, enviably hirsute twin brother (also Carell) pops out of the woodwork to tempt Gru back to the dark side… Eagerly anticipated by everyone from toddlers to adults, this animated threequel also voice casts Trey Parker (co-creator of South Park and The Book Of Mormon) as an ’80s-obsessed baddie with truly villainous shoulder pads. As if that wasn’t enough, one final word will sell it to you: Minions!
12.45Silver Screen: Aged over 60? Join the Silver Screen Club for discounted tickets and a free tea or coffee at these shows. Usual ticket prices apply to non-Members.
Director: Hope Dickson Leach. Starring: Ellie Kendrick, David Troughton, Joe Blakemore. UK 2016. 84mins.
The 2014 flood that hit the Somerset Levels provides the backdrop for writer-director Hope Dickson Leach’s highly assured debut The Levelling, which features a superb central performance from Game Of Thrones’ Ellie Kendrick. After the mysterious death of her brother Harry (Blakemore), veterinary student Clover (Kendrick) returns to the Somerset family farm where she grew up. Against the backdrop of the floods that devastated her home, Clover confronts her estranged father, Aubrey (Troughton), in an attempt to uncover the truth. Troughton gives a finely tempered performance, perfectly matched by Kendrick’s extraordinary presence in the breakout role of the year. Dickson Leach gives the talented duo a complex, finely crafted script to work with, offering a drama that works on many different levels.
18.30Discover Tuesdays: Discover stunning cinema. Whether it's a cult classic, an art-house gem or a riveting documentary, there will always be a chance to see something different and brilliant in our weekly slot.
Hot on the tyre tracks of Roger Donaldson’s action-packed account of Bruce McClaren, comes another story of one man’s determination to build a world-class motor racing empire. Starting out in life with a single-minded obsession with speed, Sir Frank Williams created one of the world’s most enduring Formula One racing teams, winning nine Constructors’ Championships over the last forty years. Matthews’ moving documentary is as much about the troubled nature of the man as well as his astonishing career. He focuses on the Williams family – Sir Frank’s loyal, financially supportive wife and his daughter Claire, now the boss of the company, and, of course, the consequences of the car crash in 1986 that left Williams a tetraplegic. With stunning race-track footage and interviews with star drivers such as Sir Jackie Stewart, Nigel Mansell, Alan Jones and Sir Patrick Head.
Followed by recorded Q&A with Williams driver Felipe Massa, head of Williams F1 Claire Williams and the film's director Morgan Matthews.
One of Merchant Ivory"s undisputed masterpieces, this adaptation of E.M. Forster"s classic 1910 novel is a saga of class relations and changing times in Edwardian England. Margaret Schlegel (Emma Thompson) and her sister Helen (Helena Bonham Carter) become involved with two couples: a wealthy, conservative industrialist (Anthony Hopkins) and his wife (Vanessa Redgrave), and a working-class man (Samuel West) and his mistress (Niccola Duffet). The interwoven fates and misfortunes of these three families and the diverging trajectories of the two sisters" lives are connected to the ownership of HOWARD"S END, a beloved country home. A compelling, brilliantly acted study of one woman"s struggle to maintain her ideals and integrity in the face of Edwardian society"s moribund conformist values.
Director: Christopher Nolan.
Starring: Fionn Whitehead, Harry Styles, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy. Netherlands/UK/France/USA 2017. 106 mins.
The mass evacuation of more than 330,000 Allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk in May 1940 was one of the most dramatic and pivotal episodes of the Second World War. In his latest feature, director Christopher Nolan (Interstellar, The Dark Knight trilogy) plunges viewers into the thick of it with what he describes as “the most visceral experiential two hours that audiences can hope for”.
Told from three points of view – land, sea and air – Dunkirk unfolds with a palpable sense of dread and tension, evoking the very human and immediate desire to survive.
With cinematography from Hoyte van Hoytema (Interstellar), a score from Hans Zimmer, and an all-star supporting cast that includes Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy and Mark Rylance, this is the must-see spectacle of the summer.
Soprano Diana Damrau stars as Leïla, the beautiful priestess pursued by rival pearl divers competing for her affection. Tenor Matthew Polenzani and baritone Mariusz Kwiecien are her suitors, who sing the rapturous duet “Au fond du temple saint,” adored by opera fans worldwide. Director Penny Woolcock explores enduring themes of love, betrayal, and vengeance in a production that vividly depicts the mystical wonder of Southeast Asia, and conductor Gianandrea Noseda breathes new life into Bizet’s lush score.
Directors: Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin, Eric Guillon.
Voices: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Trey Parker. USA 2017. 90 mins.
At the end of Despicable Me 2, one-time dastardly supervillain Felonious Gru (Carell) seemed to have hung up his ‘evil’ cape for good. Having settled in the ‘burbs with his feisty super agent wife (Wiig) and three adorable, unicorn-loving, adopted daughters, he’s now out to actively fight crime, not cause it. Until, that is, a long lost, enviably hirsute twin brother (also Carell) pops out of the woodwork to tempt Gru back to the dark side… Eagerly anticipated by everyone from toddlers to adults, this animated threequel also voice casts Trey Parker (co-creator of South Park and The Book Of Mormon) as an ’80s-obsessed baddie with truly villainous shoulder pads. As if that wasn’t enough, one final word will sell it to you: Minions!
Spurned by Tito, Vitellia seeks revenge. Besotted Sesto agrees to avenge her as a token of his love, but all does not go to plan. A brand new take on one of Mozart’s final works.
Vitellia’s path to the throne is thwarted by the man who deposed her father, so she presses her admirer Sesto to murder him.
Driven by love, Sesto does his worst. But in return, receives a lesson in forgiveness.
Conducted by Robin Ticciati and directed by Claus Guth, Mozart’s opera delivers all of the sublime musical beauty and heart-tugging humanity we expect of him.
Loosely based on the life of the Roman Emperor Titus, La clemenza di Tito distills the suspense of Don Giovanni, the warmth of The Marriage of Figaro, and the nobility of The Magic Flute into one powerful parable of love and friendship, vengeance and mercy.
Australian tenor Steve Davislim makes his Glyndebourne debut as Tito, with Alice Coote as Vitellia and Kate Lindsey as Sesto.
Sung in Italian with English supertitles.
Also on screen this summer: a timeless production of La traviata (captured live in 2014) and Brett Dean’s brand new Shakespeare-inspired opera, Hamlet (live).
One of Merchant Ivory"s undisputed masterpieces, this adaptation of E.M. Forster"s classic 1910 novel is a saga of class relations and changing times in Edwardian England. Margaret Schlegel (Emma Thompson) and her sister Helen (Helena Bonham Carter) become involved with two couples: a wealthy, conservative industrialist (Anthony Hopkins) and his wife (Vanessa Redgrave), and a working-class man (Samuel West) and his mistress (Niccola Duffet). The interwoven fates and misfortunes of these three families and the diverging trajectories of the two sisters" lives are connected to the ownership of HOWARD"S END, a beloved country home. A compelling, brilliantly acted study of one woman"s struggle to maintain her ideals and integrity in the face of Edwardian society"s moribund conformist values.
15.00Silver Screen: Aged over 60? Join the Silver Screen Club for discounted tickets and a free tea or coffee at these shows. Usual ticket prices apply to non-Members.
Director: Christopher Nolan.
Starring: Fionn Whitehead, Harry Styles, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy. Netherlands/UK/France/USA 2017. 106 mins.
The mass evacuation of more than 330,000 Allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk in May 1940 was one of the most dramatic and pivotal episodes of the Second World War. In his latest feature, director Christopher Nolan (Interstellar, The Dark Knight trilogy) plunges viewers into the thick of it with what he describes as “the most visceral experiential two hours that audiences can hope for”.
Told from three points of view – land, sea and air – Dunkirk unfolds with a palpable sense of dread and tension, evoking the very human and immediate desire to survive.
With cinematography from Hoyte van Hoytema (Interstellar), a score from Hans Zimmer, and an all-star supporting cast that includes Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy and Mark Rylance, this is the must-see spectacle of the summer.
13.00Silver Screen: Aged over 60? Join the Silver Screen Club for discounted tickets and a free tea or coffee at these shows. Usual ticket prices apply to non-Members.
Select:
15.30Silver Screen: Aged over 60? Join the Silver Screen Club for discounted tickets and a free tea or coffee at these shows. Usual ticket prices apply to non-Members.
Director: Sofia Coppola.
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Colin Farrell, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning. USA 2017. 94 mins.
Academy Award-winner Sofia Coppola is one of those rare directors whose films feel like an event not to be missed. Her latest, a seductive drama with an all-star cast, is no different. A new adaptation of Thomas P. Cullinan’s Southern Gothic novel, A Painted Devil, the story unfolds at an all-girls boarding school in rural Virginia during the American Civil War. When the headmistress (Kidman) agrees to provide temporary refuge for a wounded Union soldier (Farrell), his sudden presence stirs up sexual tensions in the remote mansion. As each of the women falls for his charms, their tight-knit sisterhood buckles under the weight of deceit and jealousy, and taboos are broken in a dark and unexpected turn of events.
Directors: Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin, Eric Guillon.
Voices: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Trey Parker. USA 2017. 90 mins.
At the end of Despicable Me 2, one-time dastardly supervillain Felonious Gru (Carell) seemed to have hung up his ‘evil’ cape for good. Having settled in the ‘burbs with his feisty super agent wife (Wiig) and three adorable, unicorn-loving, adopted daughters, he’s now out to actively fight crime, not cause it. Until, that is, a long lost, enviably hirsute twin brother (also Carell) pops out of the woodwork to tempt Gru back to the dark side… Eagerly anticipated by everyone from toddlers to adults, this animated threequel also voice casts Trey Parker (co-creator of South Park and The Book Of Mormon) as an ’80s-obsessed baddie with truly villainous shoulder pads. As if that wasn’t enough, one final word will sell it to you: Minions!
12.45Silver Screen: Aged over 60? Join the Silver Screen Club for discounted tickets and a free tea or coffee at these shows. Usual ticket prices apply to non-Members.
Director: Wolfgang Reitherman. USA. 1967. 77 mins.
Abandoned after an accident, baby Mowgli is taken and raised by a family of wolves. As the boy grows older, the wise panther Bagheera realizes he must be returned to his own kind in the nearby man-village. Baloo the bear however thinks differently taking the young Mowgli under his wing and teaching that living in the jungle is the best life there is. Bagheera realizes that Mowgli is in danger, particularly from Shere Khan the tiger who hates all people. When Baloo finally comes around, Mowgli runs off into the jungle where he survives a second encounter with Kaa the snake and finally, with Shere Khan. It's the sight of a pretty girl however that gets Mowgli to go the nearby man-village.
Director: Richard Thorpe. Starring: Elvis Presley, Judy Tyler, Mickey Shaughnessy, Vaughn Taylor. USA 1957. 95 mins.
One of the best of Elvis Presley's pre-Army films, Jailhouse Rock offers us the sensual, ‘dangerous’ Elvis that won the hearts of the kids and earned the animosity of their elders. Presley plays Vince Everett, a young buck who accidentally kills a man while protecting the honour of a woman. He is thrown into prison, and following his performance in the prison show, where ol' swivel-hips score a hit, he decides to stay in showbiz after his release. He sets up his own record company but success goes to his head, and he is deserted by his flunkeys and hangers-on. Everett learns the value of friendship and slowly rebuilds his reputation and career. Seldom would Elvis be so well showcased in the future.
America in the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis and a conservative Reagan administration, New Yorkers grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell.
Andrew Garfield (Silence, Hacksaw Ridge) plays Prior Walter along with a cast including Denise Gough (People, Places and Things), Nathan Lane (The Producers), James McArdle (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) and Russell Tovey (The Pass).
This new staging of Tony Kushner’s multi-award winning two-part play is directed by Olivier and Tony award winning director Marianne Elliott (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and War Horse). Part One: Millennium Approaches was first performed at the National Theatre in 1992 and was followed by Part Two: Perestroika the following year.
Part One: Millennium Approaches will be broadcast live on 20 July 2017.
Hundreds of thousands of cats roam the metropolis of Istanbul freely. For thousands of years they’ve wandered in and out of people’s lives, becoming an essential part of the communities that make the city so rich. Claiming no owners, these animals live between two worlds, neither wild nor tame – and they bring joy and purpose to those people they choose to adopt. In Istanbul, cats are the mirrors to the people, allowing them to reflect on their lives in ways nothing else could.
18.30Discover Tuesdays: Discover stunning cinema. Whether it's a cult classic, an art-house gem or a riveting documentary, there will always be a chance to see something different and brilliant in our weekly slot.
The decay of Rome reaches violent depths in Shakespeare’s bloodiest play. Blanche McIntyre (The Two Noble Kinsmen) returns to the RSC to direct Shakespeare’s brutal revenge tragedy.
Titus is a ruler exhausted by war and loss. He relinquishes power, but leaves Rome in disorder. Rape, cannibalism and mutilation fill the moral void at the heart of this corrupt society.
Shakespeare presents us with murder as entertainment and, as the body count rises, poses questions about sexuality, family, class and society.
Directors: Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi, Cris George.
Japan 2016. Japanese with English subtitles.
A god incarnate. A city doomed. Shin Godzilla is a refreshing and entertaining return to the kaiju’s creature-feature roots. One peaceful day in Japan, a strange fountain of water erupts in the bay, causing panic to spread among government officials. At first they suspect only volcanic activity, but one young executive dares to wonder if it may be something different... something alive. His worst nightmare comes to life when a massive gilled monster emerges from the deep and begins tearing through the city, leaving nothing but destruction in its wake. As the government scrambles to save its citizens, a rag-tag team of volunteers cuts through a web of red tape to uncover the monster’s weakness – and its mysterious ties to a foreign superpower.
Directors: Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk.
Featuring: Al Gore, Barack Obama, Donald Trump. USA 2017. 98 mins.
Ten years after his original Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore remains deeply committed to publicising the oncoming perils of climate change and, as this movie demonstrates, doing something practical about it. Taking over from original director Davis Guggenheim, directors Bonnie Cohen and Jon Shenk follow Gore as he travels the globe tutoring eco-activists as well as demonstrating to his global warming-denying critics that his original, dour predictions are already proving correct – Miami Beach’s regular floods, Hurricane Sandy putting Manhattan’s Ground Zero underwater, anybody? Footage of Barack Obama and Donald Trump’s efforts conversely to address and refute the fact of climate change are equally chilling, which is ironic considering that the fifteen hottest years on record have occurred since 2001. Sobering and heartening in equal measure.
19.15Al Gore Live in Conversation: Al Gore will be appearing in conversation, live via satellite, followed by a special preview of An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power.
Director: Bill Condon
Starring: Emma Watson, Luke Evans, Stanley Tucci, Ian McKellen. USA 2017. 129 mins.
Back in 1991, the Walt Disney Company released Beauty And The Beast, an exquisitely drawn feature animation that became a gargantuan hit, delighting both audiences and critics and spinning off a blockbuster Broadway musical. So who better to breathe new life into the beloved French fairy tale – with its very modern message of not judging people by their appearance – in a live-action telling than the studio that made it a movie classic in the first place? Veteran director Bill Condon (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Parts 1 & 2, Dreamgirls, Mr Holmes) has refashioned the characters for a contemporary audience but stayed true to the animation’s music, with several new songs and an amended score by the original composer, Alan Menken. Get ready to be wowed all over again.
One of Merchant Ivory"s undisputed masterpieces, this adaptation of E.M. Forster"s classic 1910 novel is a saga of class relations and changing times in Edwardian England. Margaret Schlegel (Emma Thompson) and her sister Helen (Helena Bonham Carter) become involved with two couples: a wealthy, conservative industrialist (Anthony Hopkins) and his wife (Vanessa Redgrave), and a working-class man (Samuel West) and his mistress (Niccola Duffet). The interwoven fates and misfortunes of these three families and the diverging trajectories of the two sisters" lives are connected to the ownership of HOWARD"S END, a beloved country home. A compelling, brilliantly acted study of one woman"s struggle to maintain her ideals and integrity in the face of Edwardian society"s moribund conformist values.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales, we’re exploring our collective past through a season of exceptional British movies.
Early ’60s London, and gay men across the city are being blackmailed, threatening exposure at a time when consensual homosexual acts could still result in imprisonment. Basil Dearden’s classic thriller stars Dirk Bogarde in his most daring role, as a gay lawyer fighting back against the blackmailers who dare to target him.
20.45Criminal Acts: A Charged Past: A season to mark the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales.
Discover Tuesdays: Discover stunning cinema. Whether it's a cult classic, an art-house gem or a riveting documentary, there will always be a chance to see something different and brilliant in our weekly slot.
This fender and genre-bending film takes us into the not-too-distant machine-driven future. Kokone should be diligently studying for her university entrance exams, but she just can’t seem to stay awake. Aside from stealing precious study time, her napping is even more distracting, as it brings on strange dreams with warring machines that hint at family secrets that have been dormant for years. She can’t ask her father, a hipster mechanic more talented and artful than his job requires, as he’s always busy modifying motorcycles and cars in flights of fancy. What are these visions that lead Kokone at once closer to and further away from her family?
Star soprano Anna Netrebko delivers a searing portrayal as Lady Macbeth, the murderously cunning consort of Željko Lučić’s doomed Macbeth. Adrian Noble’s chilling production of Verdi’s tragic Shakespearean adaptation.
An ailing Broadway director returns to produce one final show, but his leading lady is injured and must be replaced by a novice.
Featuring the dazzling choreography of Busby Berkeley, this classic musical from 1933 has aged to perfection. The final twenty minute sequence will leave you tapping your toes, with a smile on your face and a song in your heart.
Carl Fredricksen, a 78-year-old balloon salesman, is about to fulfill a lifelong dream. Tying thousands of balloons to his house, he flies away to the South American wilderness. But curmudgeonly Carl's worst nightmare comes true when he discovers a little boy named Russell is a stowaway aboard the balloon-powered house.
10.30Autism-Friendly: Especially for people on the autism spectrum or with other special needs and their families, friends and carers. Adults without disabilities are only admitted if they are accompanying a child or a person on the autism spectrum/with special needs.
Met Music Director Emeritus James Levine conducts Verdi’s early drama of ancient Babylon, with Plácido Domingo adding a new role to his Met repertoire as the title character. Soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska gives a tour-de-force role performance as Abigaille, Nabucco’s willful daughter, while the acclaimed Met Chorus delivers a moving performance of the iconic “Va, pensiero.”
Director: James Cameron.
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, Edward Furlong. USA/France 2017. TBC mins.
He’s only gone and done it. James Cameron has talked about converting T2: Judgement Day into 3D for years, and now he’s given his 1991 masterpiece – one of the greatest action films of all time –the 21st century treatment. Digitally restored before conversion to 3D, this re-release brings the battle for tomorrow to life in spectacular fashion.
10 years after the events of The Terminator, Sarah Connor’s ordeal is only just beginning. A new cyborg, the T-1000, has been sent back to eliminate her now ten-year-old son, John, the future leader of the human resistance. The T-1000 is more advanced and powerful than its predecessor, but Sarah and John won’t face this new terror alone…
Sir Richard Eyre’s gritty production of Bizet’s steamy melodrama returns with mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča as the ill-fated gypsy temptress. Tenor Roberto Alagna plays her desperate lover, the soldier Don José, and Teddy Tahu Rhodes is the swaggering bullfighter, Escamillo, who comes between them. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the timeless score, which features one beloved melody after another.
The incredible Billie Piper (Penny Dreadful, Great Britain) returns in her Evening Standard Best Actress award-winning role. A young woman is driven to the unthinkable by her desperate desire to have a child in Simon Stone’s radical production of Lorca’s achingly powerful masterpiece. The unmissable theatre phenomenon sold out at the Young Vic and critics call it “an extraordinary theatrical triumph” (The Times) and “stunning, searing, unmissable” (Mail on Sunday). Billie Piper’s lead performance is described as “spellbinding” (The Evening Standard), “astonishing” (iNews) and “devastatingly powerful” (The Daily Telegraph). Set in contemporary London, Piper’s portrayal of a woman in her thirties desperate to conceive builds with elemental force to a staggering, shocking, climax. Please note that this broadcast does not have an interval.
★★★★★
“Brutal yet ferociously funny” - Metro
★★★★★
“Billie Piper makes a shattering Yerma in Simon Stone’s inspired reworking of Lorca” - The Observer
★★★★★
“A shatteringly powerful reinvention of a familiar classic” - The Independent
Director: Dir. Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly. USA. 1952. 102 mins.
Hollywood’s troubled transition from silent to talking pictures at the end of the 1920s provided the inspiration for perhaps the greatest of movie musicals.
“The most enduring film musical to have come out of Hollywood. In all these years not a frame of it has dated; it still retains all its freshness and sparkle.”
Clive Hirschhorn, Gene Kelly: A Biography, 1984
To follow the acclaim for An American in Paris, which won him the 1951 Oscar for best picture, songwriter-turned-producer Arthur Freed charged screenwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green with writing a musical based around some of his own most popular early songs. The result was a nostalgic tribute to the Hollywood of a bygone era starring Gene Kelly as Don Lockwood, the swashbuckling silent star at a film studio grappling with the coming of sound.
From the iconic scene in which Lockwood, smitten with young actress Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds), dances home during a downpour singing the title song, to the extended ballet sequence featuring Cyd Charisse in a parody of the gangster film, Singin’ in the Rain represents the musical genre at its most energetic and ambitious.
In aid of Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors without Borders (MSF)
7 September 2017
Join us for a unique celebration of John le Carré’s work as he discusses the full breadth of his career – from his extraordinary Cold War novels to his powerful descriptions of the arms trade and the war on terror – and reflects on the continuing story of his most famous creation, the tubby, bespectacled spy, George Smiley.
Featuring readings from his new novel A Legacy Of Spies, and a rare Q&A session, this will be an unmissable opportunity to experience the author direct and in his own words.
The event will be broadcast live to cinemas across the UK and Europe from London’s Royal Festival Hall.
In support of MSF, the leading emergency medical humanitarian aid organisation, John le Carré is donating his speaker’s fee, and the producers of the live cinema broadcast, The Ink Factory, are donating their share of the profits to the charity.
The hills are alive with the sound of nuns and lonely goatherds! One of the most successful screen musicals of all time, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s beloved tale is presented here in a gorgeous new digital restoration to mark its 50th anniversary. Julie Andrews stars as the fun-loving Maria, bringing sunshine into the lives of the Von Trapp family amid the beautiful Bavarian Alps.
The incredible Billie Piper (Penny Dreadful, Great Britain) returns in her Evening Standard Best Actress award-winning role. A young woman is driven to the unthinkable by her desperate desire to have a child in Simon Stone’s radical production of Lorca’s achingly powerful masterpiece. The unmissable theatre phenomenon sold out at the Young Vic and critics call it “an extraordinary theatrical triumph” (The Times) and “stunning, searing, unmissable” (Mail on Sunday). Billie Piper’s lead performance is described as “spellbinding” (The Evening Standard), “astonishing” (iNews) and “devastatingly powerful” (The Daily Telegraph). Set in contemporary London, Piper’s portrayal of a woman in her thirties desperate to conceive builds with elemental force to a staggering, shocking, climax. Please note that this broadcast does not have an interval.
★★★★★
“Brutal yet ferociously funny” - Metro
★★★★★
“Billie Piper makes a shattering Yerma in Simon Stone’s inspired reworking of Lorca” - The Observer
★★★★★
“A shatteringly powerful reinvention of a familiar classic” - The Independent
45 years after Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour filmed ‘Live At Pompeii’ in the legendary Roman Amphitheatre there, he returned for two spectacular shows, part of his year-long tour in support of his No.1 album ‘Rattle That Lock’. The performances were the first-ever rock concerts for an audience in the stone Roman amphitheatre, and, for two nights only, the 2,600 strong crowd stood exactly where gladiators would have fought in the first century AD.
‘David Gilmour Live At Pompeii’ is an audio-visual spectacle, featuring lasers, pyrotechnics and a huge circular screen on which specially-created films complement selected songs, but paramount above all is the astonishing music and stellar performances from an all-star band. The show includes songs from throughout David's career, as well as many Pink Floyd classics, including 'One Of These Days', the only song that was also performed at the band’s 1971 show.
Both concerts also saw very special performances of 'The Great Gig In The Sky' from 'The Dark Side Of The Moon', which David rarely plays as a solo artist. This concert performance film includes highlights from both shows, filmed in 4k by director Gavin Elder . ‘David Gilmour Live At Pompeii’ shows an artist at the top of his artistic game, performing incredible material with his world-class band, in a unique setting, on one very special occasion.
Songs include the title tracks of his two most recent No. 1 solo albums: Rattle That Lock and On An Island, as well as other solo and Pink Floyd classics, including Wish You Were Here and Comfortably Numb.
The best worst movie ever made! A successful banker, Johnny, is madly in love with his fiancée, Lisa, and intends to get married next month. His plans take a horrid turn when he finds out the truth about Lisa and the people surrounding him.
“The Citizen Kane of bad movies" - Entertainment Weekly
“A movie whose transcendent awfulness has made it a cult phenomenon and an audience-participation fixture along the lines of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” - Steve Rose, The Guardian
Mozart’s glorious opera 'The Magic Flute' is brought enchantingly to life in David McVicar’s production with beautiful sets by John Macfarlane. Prince Tamino promises the Queen of the Night that he will rescue her daughter Pamina from the enchanter Sarastro. He begins his quest, accompanied by the bird-catcher Papageno – but all is not as it seems…
David McVicar’s classic production embraces both the seriousness and comedy of Mozart’s work. The audience is transported to a fantastical world of dancing animals, flying machines and dazzlingly starry skies. The setting provides a wonderful backdrop for Mozart’s kaleidoscopic score, from the Queen of the Night’s coloratura fireworks to Tamino and Pamina’s lyrical love duets and Papageno’s hearty, folksong-like arias.
As well as being a comedy 'The Magic Flute' is an expression of Mozart’s profound spiritual beliefs: Enlightenment concerns with the search for wisdom and virtue are at the heart of this enchanting tale. The Magic Flute was an instant success with audiences and Mozart’s supposed rival Salieri described it as an ‘operone’ – a great opera.
King Lear (Kevin McNally) decides to divide his kingdom amongst his three daughters, but fails to anticipate the consequences of his actions. His generosity is cruelly repaid. As he comes to realise the false values by which he has lived, he finally encounters his own humanity. Broadcast live to cinemas from the iconic Shakespeare’s Globe, this brand new retelling of one of the Bard’s greatest plays will capture your heart on September 21.
Seymour, a shy young man working for a tyrannical florist, finds a vehicle for private and public success in the form of a maneating plant from outer space. The carniverous shrub helps him to become a celebrity, gets rid of his boss and clears the way for him to woo the girl of his dreams. However, its cannibalistic eating habits become insatiable and it's up to Seymour to cut it down to size. This comedy musical is based on the stage version of the cult movie, and features a memorable cameo performance from Steve Martin as a sadistic dentist.
EXHIBITION ON SCREEN open its fifth season with Canaletto & the Art of Venice, an immersive journey into the life and art of Venice’s famous view-painter. No artist better captures the essence and allure of Venice than Giovanni Antonio Canal, better known as Canaletto.
The remarkable group of over 200 paintings, drawings and prints on display offer unparalleled insight into the artistry of Canaletto and his contemporaries, and the city he became a master at capturing. The film also offers the chance to step inside two official royal residences - Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle – to learn more about the artist, and Joseph Smith, the man who introduced Canaletto to Britain.
Cinema-goers will embark on their very own 21st century Grand Tour, visiting the sites enjoyed by their 18th century counterparts and immortalised in Canaletto’s views - from the Rialto Bridge to the Piazza San Marco, and the Palazzo Ducale to the Church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo. Guided by Royal Collection Trust curators and the world’s leading experts in Venetian history, the film is not only a wonderful way to see the exhibition, but an opportunity to get closer to Canaletto and the city that inspired him.
When Rodolfo, a penniless poet, meets Mimì, a seamstress, they fall instantly in love. But their happiness is threatened when Rodolfo learns that Mimì is gravely ill.
Acclaimed director Richard Jones (Boris Godunov, Il trittico) directs a new production of Puccini’s 'La bohème'. Irresistible in its witty, passionate blend of comedy and tragedy, the opera focusses on the lives of a groupof young artists as they eke out an existence on the bohemian fringes of Paris, the capital of the 19th century. Jones brings his characteristically acute insight to this much-loved classic, visualized in Stewart Laing’s spectacular, stylized 1850s setting.
Puccini’s romantic depiction of bohemian Paris, with memorable music and a love story drawn from everyday life, has captivated audiences around the world, making La bohème one of the best-loved of all operas. It was first performed in Covent Garden in 1897 and has had more than five hundred performances there since.
EXHIBITION ON SCREEN open its fifth season with Canaletto & the Art of Venice, an immersive journey into the life and art of Venice’s famous view-painter. No artist better captures the essence and allure of Venice than Giovanni Antonio Canal, better known as Canaletto.
The remarkable group of over 200 paintings, drawings and prints on display offer unparalleled insight into the artistry of Canaletto and his contemporaries, and the city he became a master at capturing. The film also offers the chance to step inside two official royal residences - Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle – to learn more about the artist, and Joseph Smith, the man who introduced Canaletto to Britain.
Cinema-goers will embark on their very own 21st century Grand Tour, visiting the sites enjoyed by their 18th century counterparts and immortalised in Canaletto’s views - from the Rialto Bridge to the Piazza San Marco, and the Palazzo Ducale to the Church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo. Guided by Royal Collection Trust curators and the world’s leading experts in Venetian history, the film is not only a wonderful way to see the exhibition, but an opportunity to get closer to Canaletto and the city that inspired him.
Academy Award® nominee Benedict Cumberbatch (BBC’s Sherlock, The Imitation Game, Frankenstein at the National Theatre) takes on the title role of Shakespeare’s great tragedy.
Directed by Lyndsey Turner (Posh, Chimerica) and produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, National Theatre Live will broadcast this eagerly awaited production live to cinemas.
As a country arms itself for war, a family tears itself apart. Forced to avenge his father’s death but paralysed by the task ahead, Hamlet rages against the impossibility of his predicament, threatening both his sanity and the security of the state.
Bellini’s masterpiece boasts one of the most famous arias in all of opera, the beautiful “Casta diva”. Directed by Sir David McVicar, this evocative new production sets the action deep in a Druid forest, where nature and ancient ritual rule. The priestess Norma is torn between loyalty to her oppressed people and love for a Roman soldier. On the eve of a Druid revolt, she must choose between two agonising betrayals – only to learn that she herself has already been betrayed. Sondra Radvanovsky as Norma and Joyce DiDonato as her rival Adalgisa lead a cast of bel canto heavyweights, with Joseph Calleja as Norma’s unfaithful lover, Pollione, and British favourite Matthew Rose returning to the Met as Norma’s father, Oroveso.
Bellini’s masterpiece boasts one of the most famous arias in all of opera, the beautiful “Casta diva”. Directed by Sir David McVicar, this evocative new production sets the action deep in a Druid forest, where nature and ancient ritual rule. The priestess Norma is torn between loyalty to her oppressed people and love for a Roman soldier. On the eve of a Druid revolt, she must choose between two agonising betrayals – only to learn that she herself has already been betrayed. Sondra Radvanovsky as Norma and Joyce DiDonato as her rival Adalgisa lead a cast of bel canto heavyweights, with Joseph Calleja as Norma’s unfaithful lover, Pollione, and British favourite Matthew Rose returning to the Met as Norma’s father, Oroveso.
A full-throttle war play that revels in the sweat of the battlefield, Coriolanus transports us back to the emergence of the republic of Rome.
Caius Martius Coriolanus is a fearless soldier but a reluctant leader. His ambitious mother attempts to carve him a path to political power, but he struggles to change his nature and do what is required to achieve greatness. In this new city state struggling to find its feet, where the gap between rich and poor is widening every day, Coriolanus must decide who he really is and where his allegiances lie.
Rome Season Director, Angus Jackson, completes the Royal Shakespeare Company’s collection of Shakespeare’s Roman plays with a visceral production which sees Sope Dirisu (One Night in Miami, Donmar Warehouse, 2016) take on the title role.
Experience Mozart’s irresistible fantasy in all its glory! Will brave Prince Tamino rescue Princess Pamina from the clutches of the evil Sarastro, and will Papageno the foolish bird catcher learn wisdom enough to help him? The Queen of the Night’s aria, with its stratospheric high notes, is just one of the countless highlights in this tale of love and magic, mysterious secrets, and whimsical fantasy. Julie Taymor’s (The Lion King) enchanting production captures both the opera’s earthy comedy and its enlightened nobility. Met Music Director Emeritus James Levine conducts a cast of rising young stars.
Experience Mozart’s irresistible fantasy in all its glory! Will brave Prince Tamino rescue Princess Pamina from the clutches of the evil Sarastro, and will Papageno the foolish bird catcher learn wisdom enough to help him? The Queen of the Night’s aria, with its stratospheric high notes, is just one of the countless highlights in this tale of love and magic, mysterious secrets, and whimsical fantasy. Julie Taymor’s (The Lion King) enchanting production captures both the opera’s earthy comedy and its enlightened nobility. Met Music Director Emeritus James Levine conducts a cast of rising young stars.
Amidst a bustling market, the pirate Conrad falls in love at first sight with the beautiful Medora, the ward of the slave merchant Lankedem’s bazaar. Conrad kidnaps Medora when Lanquedem decides to sell her to the Pasha.
Inspired by Lord Byron’s epic poem and reworked by Alexei Ratmansky from Petipa’s exotic 19th century classic, this miracle of the repertoire is one of the Bolshoi’s most lavish productions. Complete with a magnificent awe-inspring shipwreck and dramatic scenery, this grand romance allows enough dancing for nearly the entire company and made especially for those who seek miracles in theatre.
At a garden party on a sunny afternoon, Alice is surprised to see her parents’ friend Lewis Carroll transform into a white rabbit. When she follows him down a rabbit hole events become curiouser and curiouser… As Alice journeys through Wonderland, she encounters countless strange creatures. She’s swept off her feet by the charming Knave of Hearts, who’s on the run for stealing the tarts. Confusion piles upon confusion. Then Alice wakes with a start. Was it all a daydream?
Christopher Wheeldon’s 'Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland' burst onto the stage in 2011 in an explosion of colour, stage magic and inventive, sophisticated choreography. Joby Talbot’s score combines contemporary soundworlds with sweeping melodies that gesture to ballet scores of the 19th century. Bob Crowley’s wildly imaginative, eye-popping designs draw on everything from puppetry to projections to make Wonderland wonderfully real.
Alice encounters a cast of extraordinary and instantly recognizable characters, from the highly strung Queen of Hearts – who performs a hilarious send-up of The Sleeping Beauty's famous Rose Adage – to a playing-card corps de ballet, a sinuous caterpillar and a tap-dancing Mad Hatter. But the ballet does not avoid the darker undercurrents of Lewis Carroll’s story: a nightmarish kitchen, an eerily disembodied Cheshire Cat and the unhinged tea party are all here in vivid detail. The delicious result shows The Royal Ballet at its best, bringing together world-class dance with enchanting family entertainment.
Grace Jones: Bloodlight & Bami - Live with Friends promises to be thrilling and enlightening evening with the inimitable icon, as she discusses her life and work with some of her closest collaborators from the worlds of music, fashion, art and film. The discussion follows an exclusive preview of Sophie Fiennes’ highly anticipated new film Grace Jones: Bloodlight And Bami.
Grace Jones: Bloodlight And Bami takes the viewer on an intimate and electrifying journey that moves between four cinematic layers – performance, family, artist and gypsy – to explore the fascinating world of a pop-culture phenomenon. Here we see the daughter, mother, sister and grandmother behind the mask, and she takes to the stage for a specially commissioned performance that showcases legendary hits like Pull Up To The Bumper and Slave To The Rhythm. Larger than life, bordering on cartoon, wild, scary and androgynous – Grace Jones plays all these parts.
Leaving the world of J-pop behind her, Mima Kirigoe begins life as an actress on a crime drama show called Double Blind. When offered a lead role in the show as a rape victim, Mima accepts in spite of her manager’s reservations. However, the backlash from fans over her career change and a strange website called ‘Mima's Room’, written by a fake Mima, begin to worry her. When a stalker appears and people involved in Double Blind begin turning up dead, with all the evidence pointing to her, Mima is thrown into a state of confusion, madness and paranoia.
Baptista struggles to marry off his tempestuous daughter Katharina, a shrew who denies that any man could possibly be her match. However when she meets Petruchio, who is as ill-tempered as she, the two forces of nature ignite an unexpected and explosive encounter.
Acclaimed choreographer Jean-Christophe Maillot brings out the wit, fast-paced athleticism and vibrancy from the Bolshoi Ballet dancers in Shakespeare’s rowdy comedy. Principals Ekaterina Krysanova and Vladislav Lantratov clash, challenge and eventually give themselves to one another in a wonderfully entertaining production that can only be seen at the Bolshoi!
Stephen Sondheim’s legendary musical is staged for the first time at the National Theatre and broadcast live to cinemas. New York, 1971. There’s a party on the stage of the Weismann Theatre. Tomorrow the iconic building will be demolished. Thirty years after their final performance, the Follies girls gather to have a few drinks, sing a few songs and lie about themselves. Tracie Bennett, Janie Dee and Imelda Staunton play the magnificent Follies in this dazzling new production. Featuring a cast of 37 and an orchestra of 21, it’s directed by Dominic Cooke (The Comedy of Errors). Winner of Academy, Tony, Grammy and Olivier awards, Sondheim’s previous work includes A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd and Sunday in the Park with George.
Take a seat at the strangest dinner party of your life. The servants have absconded; the ragout is all over the floor; there’s a bear in the garden; your fellow guests are rapidly descending into savagery; and most mysteriously of all, no one seems able to leave. British composer Thomas Adès (The Tempest) conducts the American premiere of his latest opera. Co-commissioned by the Met and sung in English, this black comedy, with shades of JG Ballard/Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise, is based on the screenplay of Luis Buñuel’s 1962 surrealist film. The cast is filled with established British names including Sally Matthews, Sophie Bevan, Alice Coote, Christine Rice, Ieystn Davies and John Tomlinson. “Inventive and audacious… a major event” (New York Times).
Take a seat at the strangest dinner party of your life. The servants have absconded; the ragout is all over the floor; there’s a bear in the garden; your fellow guests are rapidly descending into savagery; and most mysteriously of all, no one seems able to leave. British composer Thomas Adès (The Tempest) conducts the American premiere of his latest opera. Co-commissioned by the Met and sung in English, this black comedy, with shades of JG Ballard/Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise, is based on the screenplay of Luis Buñuel’s 1962 surrealist film. The cast is filled with established British names including Sally Matthews, Sophie Bevan, Alice Coote, Christine Rice, Ieystn Davies and John Tomlinson. “Inventive and audacious… a major event” (New York Times).
Widely considered Britain’s most popular artist, David Hockney is a global sensation with exhibitions in London, New York, Paris and beyond, attracting millions of visitors worldwide.
Now entering his 9th decade, Hockney shows absolutely no evidence of slowing down or losing his trademark boldness.
Featuring intimate and in-depth interviews with Hockney, this revealing film focuses on two blockbuster exhibitions held in 2012 and 2016 at the Royal Academy of Art in London.
Stephen Sondheim’s legendary musical is staged for the first time at the National Theatre and broadcast live to cinemas. New York, 1971. There’s a party on the stage of the Weismann Theatre. Tomorrow the iconic building will be demolished. Thirty years after their final performance, the Follies girls gather to have a few drinks, sing a few songs and lie about themselves. Tracie Bennett, Janie Dee and Imelda Staunton play the magnificent Follies in this dazzling new production. Featuring a cast of 37 and an orchestra of 21, it’s directed by Dominic Cooke (The Comedy of Errors). Winner of Academy, Tony, Grammy and Olivier awards, Sondheim’s previous work includes A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd and Sunday in the Park with George.
Widely considered Britain’s most popular artist, David Hockney is a global sensation with exhibitions in London, New York, Paris and beyond, attracting millions of visitors worldwide.
Now entering his 9th decade, Hockney shows absolutely no evidence of slowing down or losing his trademark boldness.
Featuring intimate and in-depth interviews with Hockney, this revealing film focuses on two blockbuster exhibitions held in 2012 and 2016 at the Royal Academy of Art in London.
As the clock strikes midnight on Christmas Eve, Marie’s wooden nutcracker doll comes to life and transforms into a prince! Soon joined by her other toys that have also come to life, Marie and her prince embark on a dreamy unforgettable adventure.
A holiday tradition for the whole family, The Nutcracker sweeps the Bolshoi stage for two hours of enchantment and magic. Along with Tchaikovsky’s cherished score and and some of the Bolshoi’s greatest artists, The Nutcracker remains a treasure not to be missed!
The young Clara creeps downstairs on Christmas Eve to play with her favourite present – a Nutcracker doll. But the mysterious magician Drosselmeyer is waiting to sweep her off on a magical adventure. After defeating the Mouse King, the Nutcracker and Clara travel through the Land of Snow to the Kingdom of Sweets, where the Sugar Plum Fairy treats them to a wonderful display of dances. Back home, Clara thinks she must have been dreaming – but doesn’t she recognize Drosselmeyer’s nephew?
Peter Wright’s nigh-on definitive production for The Royal Ballet ranks as one of the most enduring and enchanting versions of 'The Nutcracker'. With its festive period setting, dancing snowflakes and enchanting stage magic, Lev Ivanov’s 1892 ballet has become the perfect Christmas entertainment, with Tchaikovsky’s sumptuous, sugar-spun music the most recognizable of all ballet scores.
Loosely based on the story by E.T.A. Hoffmann, the ballet opens with a lively Christmas party, its Victorian setting captured in opulent detail by Julia Trevelyan Oman’s designs. Wright’s choreography ingeniously incorporates surviving fragments of the ballet’s original material, including the sublime pas de deux for the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Prince. But in emphasizing the relationship between Clara and the Nutcracker Prince, the production also gains a touching subtext of first love.
Rory Kinnear (The Threepenny Opera, Penny Dreadful, Othello) is Marx and Oliver Chris (Twelfth Night, Green Wing) is Engels, in this new comedy written by Richard Bean and Clive Coleman. Broadcast live from The Bridge Theatre, London, the production is directed by Nicholas Hytner and reunites the creative team behind Broadway and West End hit comedy One Man, Two Guvnors.
1850, and Europe’s most feared terrorist is hiding in Dean Street, Soho. Broke, restless and horny, the thirty-two-year-old revolutionary is a frothing combination of intellectual brilliance, invective, satiric wit, and child-like emotional illiteracy.
Creditors, spies, rival revolutionary factions and prospective seducers of his beautiful wife all circle like vultures. His writing blocked, his marriage dying, his friend Engels in despair at his wasted genius, his only hope is a job on the railway. But there’s still no one in the capital who can show you a better night on the piss than Karl Heinrich Marx.
The corruption of innocence is at the heart of Verdi’s potent tragedy in David McVicar’s production for The Royal Opera. Rigoletto, court jester to the libertine Duke of Mantua, is cursed by the father of one of the Duke’s victims for his irreverent laughter. When the Duke seduces Rigoletto’s daughter Gilda, it seems the curse is taking effect…
David McVicar’s production highlights the cruelty at the heart of the court of Mantua. Richly dressed courtiers engage in orgies and revelries to Verdi’s heady, spirited dances. The opera’s many musical highlights include the ebullient ‘La donna è mobile’, in which the Duke boasts of his disregard for women; Gilda’s exquisite, plangent duets with Rigoletto and the Duke; and the gorgeous Act III quartet that beautifully weaves the voices together as the story quickens to its shattering conclusion.
Giuseppe Verdi wrote in 1855 that Rigoletto was his ‘best opera’. He had had to overcome state censorship to stage it – the censors objected to its depiction of an immoral ruler – but he was vindicated by the premiere’s huge success in 1851. Rigoletto was performed 250 times in the next 10 years and has remained one of the most popular of all operas.
In Verona, Romeo and Juliet fall madly in love while their respective families, the Montagues and the Capulets, are caught in a bitter rivalry ending in heart-wrenching tragedy…
Alexei Ratmansky, former artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, stages the company’s premiere of his production with dramatic urgency and a fresh re-telling of Shakespeare’s beloved classic. His brilliant and detailed adaptation set to Prokofiev’s romantic and cinematic score, reignites the story of literature’s most celebrated star-crossed lovers like no other classical ballet choreographer today.
Puccini’s thrilling Tosca is a story of love, terror, the abuse of power, and the unquenchable longing for freedom. When an escaped political prisoner takes refuge in a church, an opera singer and a painter are drawn into a twisting plot that puts them at the mercy of the secret police and its network of torturers and spies. Rivalling the splendour of Franco Zeffirelli’s Napoleonic-era sets and costumes, Sir David McVicar’s ravishing new production offers a splendid backdrop for extraordinary singing. Kristine Opolais stars as the titular prima donna, alongside Vittorio Grigolo as her artist lover and Bryn Terfel as the villainous police chief – one of his signature roles. Andris Nelsons conducts.
EXHIBITION ON SCREEN is thrilled to present one of the most talked-about exhibitions of the year. Dedicated to the portrait work of Paul Cézanne, the exhibition opens in Paris before traveling to London and Washington.
One can’t appreciate 20th century art without understanding the significance and genius of Paul Cézanne. Featuring interviews with curators and experts from the National Portrait Gallery London, MoMA New York, National Gallery of Art Washington, and Musée d’Orsay Paris, and correspondence from the artist himself, the film takes audiences beyond the exhibition to the places Cézanne lived and worked and sheds light on an artist who is perhaps the least-known of all the impressionists – until now.
Puccini’s thrilling Tosca is a story of love, terror, the abuse of power, and the unquenchable longing for freedom. When an escaped political prisoner takes refuge in a church, an opera singer and a painter are drawn into a twisting plot that puts them at the mercy of the secret police and its network of torturers and spies. Rivalling the splendour of Franco Zeffirelli’s Napoleonic-era sets and costumes, Sir David McVicar’s ravishing new production offers a splendid backdrop for extraordinary singing. Kristine Opolais stars as the titular prima donna, alongside Vittorio Grigolo as her artist lover and Bryn Terfel as the villainous police chief – one of his signature roles. Andris Nelsons conducts.
EXHIBITION ON SCREEN is thrilled to present one of the most talked-about exhibitions of the year. Dedicated to the portrait work of Paul Cézanne, the exhibition opens in Paris before traveling to London and Washington.
One can’t appreciate 20th century art without understanding the significance and genius of Paul Cézanne. Featuring interviews with curators and experts from the National Portrait Gallery London, MoMA New York, National Gallery of Art Washington, and Musée d’Orsay Paris, and correspondence from the artist himself, the film takes audiences beyond the exhibition to the places Cézanne lived and worked and sheds light on an artist who is perhaps the least-known of all the impressionists – until now.
As he arrives in Paris for the first time, the young and naive Armand is utterly captivated after meeting the ravishing and most desirable courtesan Marguerite Gautier. Their encounter gives birth to a passionate yet doomed love…
Alexandre Dumas fils’s novel comes to life on the Bolshoi stage, with prima Svetlana Zakharova as the ailing Marguerite seeking love and redemption from her life as a courtesan. The Bolshoi brings choreographer John Neumeier’s work of rare beauty and tragic depth to new emotional heights, accompanied by Chopin’s romantic piano score.
'Tosca' is one of the great evenings of opera, and from its strident opening chords conjures up a world of political instability and menace.
Jonathan Kent’s production for The Royal Opera captures the dangerous political turbulence of Rome in 1800. The Chief of Police, Scarpia – one of the most malevolent villains in opera – ruthlessly pursues and tortures enemies of the state. His dark, demonic music contrasts with the expansive melodies of the idealistic lovers, Tosca and Cavaradossi, who express their passion in sublime arias, including ‘Vissi d’arte’ and ‘E lucevan le stelle’. Giacomo Puccini’s dramatic work was a hit with audiences on its 1900 premiere and it remains one of the most performed of all operas – with its gripping plot and glorious music, it’s easy to see why.
A candle-lit church, Scarpia’s gloomy study with its hidden torture chamber and the false optimism of a Roman dawn: this handsome production throws into relief the ruthlessly taut drama, as the tension is wound up towards a fateful conclusion. Puccini’s meticulously researched score is infused with the same authentic detail, from distant cannon fire during the Act I Te Deum to tolling church bells and the sounds of a firing squad.
The poor country boy Nemorino is in love with Adina, a confident landowner, but she is way out of his league – financially and otherwise. But when he buys a “love potion” from a travelling quack, the results are rather more than he bargained for. Charmingly staged by Bartlett Sher, Donizetti’s beloved masterpiece combines deft comic timing with touching emotional depth. The production stars Matthew Polenzani, who enthralled Met audiences as Nemorino in 2013 with his moving “Una furtiva lagrima.” Rising South African soprano Pretty Yende is the spirited Adina, Davide Luciano makes his Met debut as the arrogant soldier Belcore, and Ildebrando D’Arcangelo is the potion-peddling Doctor Dulcamara. Domingo Hindoyan conducts.
The poor country boy Nemorino is in love with Adina, a confident landowner, but she is way out of his league – financially and otherwise. But when he buys a “love potion” from a travelling quack, the results are rather more than he bargained for. Charmingly staged by Bartlett Sher, Donizetti’s beloved masterpiece combines deft comic timing with touching emotional depth. The production stars Matthew Polenzani, who enthralled Met audiences as Nemorino in 2013 with his moving “Una furtiva lagrima.” Rising South African soprano Pretty Yende is the spirited Adina, Davide Luciano makes his Met debut as the arrogant soldier Belcore, and Ildebrando D’Arcangelo is the potion-peddling Doctor Dulcamara. Domingo Hindoyan conducts.
'I am all the daughters of my father's house,
And all the brothers too.'
Twelfth Night is a tale of unrequited love – hilarious and heartbreaking. Two twins are separated in a shipwreck, and forced to fend for themselves in a strange land. The first twin, Viola, falls in love with Orsino, who dotes on OIivia, who falls for Viola but is idolised by Malvolio. Enter Sebastian, who is the spitting image of his twin sister...
Christopher Luscombe, Director of the ‘glorious’ (Daily Telegraph) Love’s Labour’s Lost and Much Ado About Nothing (2014 and 2016), returns to the Royal Shakespeare Company to tackle Shakespeare’s greatest comedy, a brilliantly bittersweet account of "the whirligig of time".
The world’s most popular opera returns with an exciting young cast in Franco Zeffirelli’s legendary production. Poverty-stricken poet Rodolfo and his artist friends eke out a precarious existence in bohemian Paris, alternately practising their art, laughing, quarrelling, dodging the landlord, and living it up in their local cafe. When Rodolfo meets the delicate Mimì, the pair instantly fall in love. But Mimì is ill, Rodolfo is jealous, and their romance is doomed from the start. Opera superstars Sonya Yoncheva and Michael Fabiano play the heart-breaking couple, singing two sublime Puccini favourites – “Sì, mi chiamano Mimì” and “Che gelida manina.” Zeffirelli’s stupendous onstage recreations of 19th-century Paris are sure to take your breath away.
The world’s most popular opera returns with an exciting young cast in Franco Zeffirelli’s legendary production. Poverty-stricken poet Rodolfo and his artist friends eke out a precarious existence in bohemian Paris, alternately practising their art, laughing, quarrelling, dodging the landlord, and living it up in their local cafe. When Rodolfo meets the delicate Mimì, the pair instantly fall in love. But Mimì is ill, Rodolfo is jealous, and their romance is doomed from the start. Opera superstars Sonya Yoncheva and Michael Fabiano play the heart-breaking couple, singing two sublime Puccini favourites – “Sì, mi chiamano Mimì” and “Che gelida manina.” Zeffirelli’s stupendous onstage recreations of 19th-century Paris are sure to take your breath away.
Christopher Wheeldon, Artistic Associate of The Royal Ballet, created his adaptation of Shakespeare’s late great romance 'The Winter’s Tale' for The Royal Ballet in 2014. Building on the success of 'Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland', T'he Winter’s Tale' received ecstatic praise at its premiere, acclaimed by critics and audiences alike for its intelligent, distinctive and emotionally powerful story, told through exquisite dance. It is now widely judged to be a modern ballet classic.
The story follows the destruction of a marriage through consuming jealousy, the abandonment of a child and a seemingly hopeless love. Yet, through remorse and regret – and after a seemingly miraculous return to life – the ending is one of forgiveness and reconciliation. With powerful designs by Bob Crowley and atmospheric music by Joby Talbot, The Winter’s Tale is a masterful modern narrative ballet.
In the era of the French Revolution, Jeanne and her brother Jérôme leave Marseille for Paris in support of the revolutionary effort that is taking over the capital. While fighting for freedom, they both encounter love along the way…
Very few ballets can properly depict the Bolshoi’s overflowing energy and fiery passion as can Alexei Ratmansky’s captivating revival of Vasily Vainonen’s The Flames of Paris. With powerful virtuosity and some of the most stunning pas de deux, the Bolshoi Ballet displays an exuberance almost too enormous for the Moscow stage.
'Carmen' is the best-known work by French composer Georges Bizet, and one of the most famous operas in the entire art form – numbers such as the Habanera and the Toreador Song have permeated the popular consciousness as little else has. The opera’s heady combination of passion, sensuality and violence initially proved too much for the stage, and it was a critical failure on its 1875 premiere. Bizet died shortly after, and never learned of the spectacular success his Carmen would achieve: the opera has been performed more than five hundred times at Covent Garden alone.
This ever-popular opera is given a fresh point of view in Barrie Kosky’s highly physical production, originally created for Frankfurt Opera. The Australian director is one of the world’s most sought-after opera directors, whose Royal Opera debut with Shostakovich’s The Nose in 2016 was greeted with delight. For Carmen he has devised a far-from-traditional version, incorporating music written by Bizet for the score but not usually heard, and giving a new voice to the opera’s endlessly fascinating central character.
Against the backdrop of the Hanging Gardens, Semiramide, Queen of Babylon, defies bad omens and supernatural threats in her quest to find a worthy successor to her late husband. But she harbours more than one dark secret, and whoever gains the throne may find that he has lost more than he has won. Based on a story by Voltaire, this rarely performed tragic opera reveals The Barber of Seville composer Giaochino Rossini in a whole new light. The title role – composed for Rossini’s wife, Isabella Colbran – features some of the most demanding vocal music he ever wrote. Angela Meade takes on the challenging vocal fireworks in this revival of a production last seen at the Met 25 years ago.
Against the backdrop of the Hanging Gardens, Semiramide, Queen of Babylon, defies bad omens and supernatural threats in her quest to find a worthy successor to her late husband. But she harbours more than one dark secret, and whoever gains the throne may find that he has lost more than he has won. Based on a story by Voltaire, this rarely performed tragic opera reveals The Barber of Seville composer Giaochino Rossini in a whole new light. The title role – composed for Rossini’s wife, Isabella Colbran – features some of the most demanding vocal music he ever wrote. Angela Meade takes on the challenging vocal fireworks in this revival of a production last seen at the Met 25 years ago.
Perhaps more than any other artist, Van Gogh’s life has long captured the imagination of storytellers. Delving deep into his fascinating and sometimes deeply troubled world comes this definitive, award-winning documentary directed by David Bickerstaff.
Showcasing Van Gogh’s iconic works like never before and featuring exclusive interviews with the curatorial team at the Van Gogh Museum, this EXHIBITION ON SCREEN favourite from Season 2 makes a welcome return to the big screen.
Leonard Bernstein was one of the first classical composers in America to achieve both popular and critical acclaim. He was eclectic in his sources – drawing on jazz and modernism, the traditions of Jewish music and the Broadway musical – and many of Bernstein’s scores are remarkably well suited to dance. He was particularly associated with Jerome Robbins, their credits together including Fancy Free and West Side Story. To celebrate the centenary year of the composer’s birth, The Royal Ballet has united all three of its associate choreographers to celebrate the dynamic range and danceability of Bernstein’s music.
The programme includes two world premieres by Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor and Artistic Associate Christopher Wheeldon, marking each artist’s first foray into Bernstein. At the heart of the programme is the first revival of Artist in Residence Liam Scarlett’s The Age of Anxiety, created in 2014 to Bernstein’s soul-searching Second Symphony. Both symphony and ballet are inspired by W.H. Auden’s masterful modernist poem, itself written in response to the atmosphere of disillusionment and uncertainty that followed the end of World War II.
Goaded by their cynical friend Don Alfonso, soldiers Ferrando and Guglielmo decide to test their fiancées’ fidelity. Pretending to leave with their regiment, they return in disguise and pay court to each other’s lover. Will the young women succumb to the charms of these two handsome ‘foreigners’? A co-production with English National Opera, this clever vision of the battle of the sexes is set in a carnivalesque environment inspired by 1950s Coney Island. The cast features Amanda Majeski and Serena Malfi as the sisters put to the test, with Broadway star Kelli O’Hara as their feisty maid, Ben Bliss and Adam Plachetka as their fiancés, and Christopher Maltman as Don Alfonso. David Robertson conducts Mozart’s delightful score.
Goaded by their cynical friend Don Alfonso, soldiers Ferrando and Guglielmo decide to test their fiancées’ fidelity. Pretending to leave with their regiment, they return in disguise and pay court to each other’s lover. Will the young women succumb to the charms of these two handsome ‘foreigners’? A co-production with English National Opera, this clever vision of the battle of the sexes is set in a carnivalesque environment inspired by 1950s Coney Island. The cast features Amanda Majeski and Serena Malfi as the sisters put to the test, with Broadway star Kelli O’Hara as their feisty maid, Ben Bliss and Adam Plachetka as their fiancés, and Christopher Maltman as Don Alfonso. David Robertson conducts Mozart’s delightful score.
Verdi’s life-long love affair with Shakespeare’s works began with Macbeth, a play he considered to be ‘one of the greatest creations of man’. With his librettist, Francesco Maria Piave, Verdi set out to create ‘something out of the ordinary’. Their success is borne out in every bar of a score that sees Verdi at his most theatrical: it bristles with demonic energy.
The warrior Macbeth fights on the side of the King of Scotland – but when a coven of witches prophesy that he shall become king himself, a ruthless ambition drives Macbeth and his wife to horrific acts.Murder makes Macbeth king, and intrigue and butchery are the hallmarks of his brief, doomed reign. The witches make another prediction, which also comes true: Macbeth and his lady lose their lives, and justice is restored.
Phyllida Lloyd’s 2002 production for The Royal Opera is richly hued, shot through with black, red and gold. The witches – imagined by designer Anthony Ward as strange, scarlet-turbaned creatures – are ever-present agents of fate. Lloyd depicts the Macbeths’ childlessness as the dark sadness lurking behind their terrible deeds. The Royal Opera’s production uses Verdi’s 1865 Paris revision of the opera, which includes Lady Macbeth’s riveting aria ‘La luce langue’.
When Giselle learns that her beloved Albrecht is promised to another woman, she dies of a broken heart in his arms. While Albrecht grieves, she returns from the dead as a Wili, a vengeful spirit meant to make unfaithful men dance until death…
Prima ballerina Svetlana Zakharova personifies this ultimate ballerina role in the classical repertoire, alongside the sensational Sergei Polunin as Albrecht, in this chilling, yet luminous ballet that continues to captivate audiences for over 150 years at the Bolshoi.
James Levine and Plácido Domingo add yet another chapter to their legendary Met collaboration with this rarely performed Verdi gem, a heart-wrenching tragedy based on Friedrich Schiller’s novel Intrigue and Love. The young maiden Luisa loves Rodolfo, unaware that he is actually the son of the local lord. An unscrupulous rival for her affections tells her father of Rodolfo’s true identity, turning the old man against him. Jealousy, suspicion, and betrayal tear the lovers apart, but Luisa remains loyal to her father to the last. In the first Met performances of the opera in more than ten years, Sonya Yoncheva sings the title role opposite Piotr Beczała as Rodolfo, with Domingo as Luisa’s stern-yet-loving father.
James Levine and Plácido Domingo add yet another chapter to their legendary Met collaboration with this rarely performed Verdi gem, a heart-wrenching tragedy based on Friedrich Schiller’s novel Intrigue and Love. The young maiden Luisa loves Rodolfo, unaware that he is actually the son of the local lord. An unscrupulous rival for her affections tells her father of Rodolfo’s true identity, turning the old man against him. Jealousy, suspicion, and betrayal tear the lovers apart, but Luisa remains loyal to her father to the last. In the first Met performances of the opera in more than ten years, Sonya Yoncheva sings the title role opposite Piotr Beczała as Rodolfo, with Domingo as Luisa’s stern-yet-loving father.
A fairy godmother, a glass slipper, an opulent ball, an enchanted forest, and a Prince Charming who loves her – did all that really happen, or was it just a dream? Long-suffering Cendrillon lives a life of drudgery with her good-natured father and his imperious wife, until fate, romance, and a touch of fairy magic intervene. For the first time ever, Massenet’s sumptuous version of the Cinderella story comes to the Met in this imaginative storybook production directed by Laurent Pelly. Superstar Joyce DiDonato sings the title role, alongside British mezzo-soprano Alice Coote in the trouser role of Prince Charming, Kathleen Kim as the Fairy Godmother, and Stephanie Blythe as the archetypal wicked stepmother.
A fairy godmother, a glass slipper, an opulent ball, an enchanted forest, and a Prince Charming who loves her – did all that really happen, or was it just a dream? Long-suffering Cendrillon lives a life of drudgery with her good-natured father and his imperious wife, until fate, romance, and a touch of fairy magic intervene. For the first time ever, Massenet’s sumptuous version of the Cinderella story comes to the Met in this imaginative storybook production directed by Laurent Pelly. Superstar Joyce DiDonato sings the title role, alongside British mezzo-soprano Alice Coote in the trouser role of Prince Charming, Kathleen Kim as the Fairy Godmother, and Stephanie Blythe as the archetypal wicked stepmother.
Manon’s brother Lescaut is offering her to the highest bidder when she meets Des Grieux and falls in love. They elope to Paris, but when Monsieur G.M. offers Manon a life of luxury as his mistress she can’t resist. With the Lescauts’ encouragement Des Grieux cheats at cards in an attempt to win Monsieur G.M.’s fortune. They are caught. Manon is arrested as a prostitute and deported to New Orleans, followed by Des Grieux. On the run, Manon dies from exhaustion.
Kenneth MacMillan’s source for Manon was the 18th-century French novel already adapted for opera by Massenet and Puccini. The premiere was given on 7 March 1974, with the lead roles danced by Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell. The ballet quickly became a staple of The Royal Ballet’s repertory, and a touchstone of adult, dramatic dance.
MacMillan found new sympathy with the capricious Manon and her struggle to escape poverty. Designs by his regular collaborator Nicholas Georgiadis reflect this, depicting a world of lavish splendour polluted by miserable destitution. MacMillan’s spectacular ensemble scenes for the whole Company create vivid, complex portraits of the distinct societies of Paris and New Orleans. But it is Manon and Des Grieux’s impassioned pas de deux – recalling the intensity of MacMillan’s earlier Romeo and Juliet – that drive this tragic story, and make Manon one of MacMillan’s most powerful dramas.
“My head is bursting – I want to paint it all.” Award-winning director Phil Grabsky presents a fresh new look at arguably the world’s favourite artist, Claude Monet, using the painter’s own words.
Based on letters and other private writings, I, Claude Monet provides new insight into the man who not only painted the picture that gave birth to Impressionism, but who was perhaps the most influential and successful painter of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
In spite of this, and perhaps because of it, Monet’s life is a gripping tale of a man who, behind his sun-dazzled canvases, suffered from bouts of depression, loneliness and even suicidal thoughts. Then, as his art developed and his love of nature led to the glories of his garden at Giverny, his letters reveal his humour, insight and love of life.
Swanhilda notices her fiancee Franz is infatuated with the beautiful Coppélia who sits reading on her balcony each day. Nearly breaking up the two sweethearts, Coppelia is not what she seems and Swanhilda decides to teach Franz a lesson…
The Bolshoi’s unique version of Coppélia exhibits a fascinating reconstruction of the original 19th century choreography of this ebullient comedy involving a feisty heroine, a boyish fiancee with a wandering eye, and an old dollmaker. The company’s stunning corps de ballet shines in the divertissements and famous “dance of the hours,” and its principals abound in youthful energy and irresistible humor in this effervescent production.
'Swan Lake' has had a special role in the repertory of The Royal Ballet since 1934. This Season The Royal Ballet creates a new production with additional choreography by Artist in Residence Liam Scarlett. While remaining faithful to the Petipa-Ivanov text, Scarlett will bring fresh eyes to the staging of this classic ballet, in collaboration with his long-term designer John Macfarlane.
Prince Siegfried chances upon a fl ock of swans while out hunting. When one of the swans turns into a beautiful woman, Odette, he is enraptured. But she is under a spell that holds her captive, allowing her to regain her human form only at night.
'Swan Lake' was Tchaikovsky’s first ballet score. Given its status today as arguably the best loved and most admired of all classical ballets, it is perhaps surprising that at its premiere in 1877 Swan Lake was poorly received. It is thanks to the 1895 production by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov that Swan Lake has become part of not only ballet consciousness but also wider popular culture. That success is secured not only by the sublime, symphonic sweep of Tchaikovsky’s score, but also by the striking choreographic contrasts between Petipa’s royal palace scenes and the lyric lakeside scenes created by Ivanov.
