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Director: François Ozon.
Starring: Pierre Niney, Paula Beer, Ernst Stotzner. France/Germany 2016. 114 mins.
German/French with English subtitles.
Set in the aftermath of the Great War, François Ozon’s loose adaptation of Ernst Lubitsch’s Broken Lullaby has an unsettling question at its core: could a big lie cause less pain than a simple truth? Anna (Beer) is the German fiancée of Frantz, who was killed in battle by French troops. While tending his grave, she is joined by the mysterious Frenchman Adrien (Niney, Yves Saint Laurent), who claims to have known Frantz in Paris before the war. Little things, however, reveal that this is not the whole story. As the two grow closer over time, Anna is drawn into a shady realm of secrets, lies and moral uncertainty. The subtleties and surprising twists and turns of Ozon’s film deliver much more than a challenging moral fable. Contains infrequent moderate violence.
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.
Director: William Oldroyd.
Starring: Florence Pugh, Cosmo Jarvis, Paul Hilton. UK 2016. 89 mins.
Acclaimed theatre director William Oldroyd makes a seamless transition to the screen in this brilliant Gothic tale of a young bride trapped in a marriage of convenience on a rural estate who embarks on a passionate affair. Florence Pugh (last seen in Carol Morley’s The Falling) is stunning as Lady Katherine, a woman determined to turn everything upside down in her mission to reclaim control over her life. Based on Lady Macbeth Of The Mtensk District, the 1865 novel by Nikolai Leskov, which inspired Shostakovich’s opera of the same name, this beautiful and highly assured debut, set amid the wild moorland of Northumberland, is a wonderful and strange story of love and betrayal.
Director: Lone Scherfig.
Starring: Gemma Arterton, Sam Clafin, Bill Nighy. UK 2017. 117 mins.
In 1940, a married woman (Gemma Arterton) and a screenwriter (Sam Claflin) develop a growing attraction while working together on a propaganda film about the evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk, France. A beautifully crafted costume drama with terrific performances, Lone Scherfig's new film is a quietly subversive, funny and finally moving account of a little known story from one of the darkest, most uncertain periods of British history.
10.30Silver 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: Jim Sheridan.
Starring: Rooney Mara, Vanessa Redgrave, Theo James. Ireland 2016. 108 mins.
Director Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot, In The Name Of The Father) delivers a beautifully realised drama based on Sebastian Barry’s novel. It’s the story of Rose (Redgrave), the sole remaining inhabitant of a decrepit psychiatric hospital, who relives the tragic circumstances that sent her there. In the process we meet her younger self (Mara, never better) and a priest (James) complicit in her incarceration. Wonderful performances perfectly interpret Sheridan’s powerful script.
Director: Chan-wook Park.
Starring: Min-hee Kim, Tae-ri Kim, Jung-woo Ha. South Korea 2016. 167 mins. Korean with English subtitles.
After shooting his first English-language feature in 2013, the Nicole Kidman-starring Stoker, acclaimed South Korean director Chan-wook Park reverts to his native language for the erotically charged psychological thriller The Handmaiden. Those familiar with the popular director’s films will be glad to know that Park’s penchant for studied framing, black humour and dark subject matter is present and correct. Inspired by, rather than adapted from, Sarah Waters’s 2002 novel Fingersmith,
The Handmaiden switches the Victorian England setting for that of Korea under Japanese colonial rule in the 1930s. Featuring stunning period production design by Seong-hie Ryu, The Handmaiden is a deliciously twisty tale of revenge, centring on an heiress, her con man uncle and the lady-in-waiting for whom she begins to fall. A real feast for the senses, and as stylishly executed as one would expect from Park, this thriller will leave audiences swooning at the power of both the imagery and the storytelling.
Director: Aki Kaurismäki. Starring: Sakari Kuosmanen, Sherwan Haji. Finland/Germany 2017. TBC mins. Finnish/Swedish/Arabic with English subtitles.
Acclaimed writer-director Aki Kaurismäki’s poignant follow-up to Le Havre sensitively weaves together the struggles of two men who flee their homes, albeit in very different circumstances. The first is Khaled (Haji), a Syrian refugee separated from his family, who arrives in Helsinki hidden as a stowaway on a coal freighter. After his transfer to a bleak, impersonal holding centre, the details of his tragic story come to light. Meanwhile, a parallel, equally desperate tale unfolds courtesy of spiky salesman Waldemar Wikström (Kuosmanen), who leaves his drunken wife and quite literally gambles everything on financing a failing restaurant. Typically of Kaurismäki, there’s much dark humour as Wikström and Khaled’s paths cross, yet antagonism eventually yields to sympathy, spawning a surrogate family unit that touchingly fills in for absent kin.
Director: Michaël Dudok De Wit. France/Belgium/Japan 2015. 81 mins.
Renowned Japanese animation giant Studio Ghibli’s first-ever international co-production is a perfect collaboration with Oscar-winning Dutch animator Michaël Dudok De Wit. The Red Turtle, almost a decade in the making, is a dialogue-free fable about a castaway on a desert island, and a touching ode to the cycle of life and the resilience of family. Presented with an elegant simplicity, the sublime visuals pack a real emotional punch. Described by critics as a ‘quiet little masterpiece’ and a ‘wordless wonder’, The Red Turtle won the Special Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at this year’s Cannes. Michaël Dudok De Wit previously made the Oscar-winning animated short Father And Daughter in 2000.
Director: Ridley Scott. Starring: Michael Fassbender, Billy Crudup, Katherine Waterston. USA 2017. 122 mins.
When the crew of the colony ship Covenant touch down on what appears to be an uncharted utopian planet on the far side of the galaxy, they make a harrowing and deadly discovery. With regular cinematographer Dariusz Wolski on board, Scott delivers the goriest chapter in the Alien franchise to date, recapturing the unsettling, claustrophobic horror of his 1979 masterpiece.
Director: William Oldroyd.
Starring: Florence Pugh, Cosmo Jarvis, Paul Hilton. UK 2016. 89 mins.
Acclaimed theatre director William Oldroyd makes a seamless transition to the screen in this brilliant Gothic tale of a young bride trapped in a marriage of convenience on a rural estate who embarks on a passionate affair. Florence Pugh (last seen in Carol Morley’s The Falling) is stunning as Lady Katherine, a woman determined to turn everything upside down in her mission to reclaim control over her life. Based on Lady Macbeth Of The Mtensk District, the 1865 novel by Nikolai Leskov, which inspired Shostakovich’s opera of the same name, this beautiful and highly assured debut, set amid the wild moorland of Northumberland, is a wonderful and strange story of love and betrayal.
Directors: Zeva Oelbaum, Sabine Krayenbühl.
With: Tilda Swinton as the voice of Gertrude Bell. USA/UK/France 2016. 93 mins. English, Arabic with English subtitles.
Letters from Baghdad tells the extraordinary and dramatic story of Gertrude Bell, the most powerful woman in the British Empire in her day. She shaped the destiny of Iraq after World War I in ways that still reverberate today. More influential than her friend and colleague Lawrence of Arabia, why has she been written out of the history she helped make?
Director: Aki Kaurismäki. Starring: Sakari Kuosmanen, Sherwan Haji. Finland/Germany 2017. TBC mins. Finnish/Swedish/Arabic with English subtitles.
Acclaimed writer-director Aki Kaurismäki’s poignant follow-up to Le Havre sensitively weaves together the struggles of two men who flee their homes, albeit in very different circumstances. The first is Khaled (Haji), a Syrian refugee separated from his family, who arrives in Helsinki hidden as a stowaway on a coal freighter. After his transfer to a bleak, impersonal holding centre, the details of his tragic story come to light. Meanwhile, a parallel, equally desperate tale unfolds courtesy of spiky salesman Waldemar Wikström (Kuosmanen), who leaves his drunken wife and quite literally gambles everything on financing a failing restaurant. Typically of Kaurismäki, there’s much dark humour as Wikström and Khaled’s paths cross, yet antagonism eventually yields to sympathy, spawning a surrogate family unit that touchingly fills in for absent kin.
Director: Michaël Dudok De Wit. France/Belgium/Japan 2015. 81 mins.
Renowned Japanese animation giant Studio Ghibli’s first-ever international co-production is a perfect collaboration with Oscar-winning Dutch animator Michaël Dudok De Wit. The Red Turtle, almost a decade in the making, is a dialogue-free fable about a castaway on a desert island, and a touching ode to the cycle of life and the resilience of family. Presented with an elegant simplicity, the sublime visuals pack a real emotional punch. Described by critics as a ‘quiet little masterpiece’ and a ‘wordless wonder’, The Red Turtle won the Special Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at this year’s Cannes. Michaël Dudok De Wit previously made the Oscar-winning animated short Father And Daughter in 2000.
Director: Ridley Scott. Starring: Michael Fassbender, Billy Crudup, Katherine Waterston. USA 2017. 122 mins.
When the crew of the colony ship Covenant touch down on what appears to be an uncharted utopian planet on the far side of the galaxy, they make a harrowing and deadly discovery. With regular cinematographer Dariusz Wolski on board, Scott delivers the goriest chapter in the Alien franchise to date, recapturing the unsettling, claustrophobic horror of his 1979 masterpiece.
Director: Gilles MacKinnon Starring: Gregor Fisher, Eddie Izzard, Ellie Kendrick. UK 2016. 98mins
Their ‘water of life’ strictly rationed during the Second World War, the inhabitants of a Hebridean island can’t believe their luck when the SS Politician runs aground just north of them with 24,000 cases of whisky on board. A starry cast includes Gregor Fisher (TV’s Rab C Nesbitt), Ellie Kendrick (Game Of Thrones), and Eddie Izzard as an incompetent Home Guard officer. The islanders’ efforts to steal and conceal the Politician’s booty are both ingenious and hugely comic, and cameos from John Sessions as the doctor trying to heal alcohol withdrawal and James Cosmo (Barney Thompson) as a hellfire preacher are pure joy.
Directors: Zeva Oelbaum, Sabine Krayenbühl.
With: Tilda Swinton as the voice of Gertrude Bell. USA/UK/France 2016. 93 mins. English, Arabic with English subtitles.
Letters from Baghdad tells the extraordinary and dramatic story of Gertrude Bell, the most powerful woman in the British Empire in her day. She shaped the destiny of Iraq after World War I in ways that still reverberate today. More influential than her friend and colleague Lawrence of Arabia, why has she been written out of the history she helped make?
Directors: Andrew Stanton, Angus MacLane.
Voices: Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Hayden Rolence. USA 2016. 103 mins.
Following on from 2003’s hit animated aquatic adventure Finding Nemo, the amnesiac regal blue tang Dory (voiced as before by Ellen DeGeneres) unexpectedly recovers some childhood memories, prompting her to set out to find her family. Accompanied by her friends Nemo (Rolence) and Marlin (Brooks), she swims to California’s Monterey Marine Life Institute, where she meets bolshie octopus Hank (Ed O’Neill), beluga whale Bailey (Ty Burrell) and whale shark Destiny (Kaitlin Olson), who agree to help her in her quest. With Finding Nemo writer-director Andrew Stanton also returning along with his Wall-E and Toy Story colleague Angus MacLane as co-director, this magical, beautifully rendered tale of rediscovery also affirms the importance of family.
Join Stephen Fry, cast and film-makers live by satellite from the Hay Literary Festival for a Q&A after the screening.
Director: John Jencks.
Starring: Roger Allam, Fiona Shaw, Matthew Modine. UK 2017. 89 mins.
After he is fired from his job, disgraced poet Ted Wallace (Allam) is summoned to Swafford Hall, the country manor of his friends Lord and Lady Logan (Modine and Shaw), to investigate a series of unexplained miracle healings. Ted tracks down the perpetrator of the phenomena, fifteen-year-old David Logan (Tommy Knight), whose parents believe he has healing hands. Unaware that David is using some unorthodox methods, the Logans are set on sharing their son’s gift with the world. With a poet’s passion for the truth, Ted hurries to debunk the miracles and save a young man from a lifetime of embarrassment. His natural cynicism makes him the ideal candidate to get to the bottom of events – and some good whisky bottles – in this hilarious tale based on Stephen Fry’s seminal novel.
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.
The Naked Civil Servant
Director: Jack Gold. Starring: John Hurt. UK 1975. 81 mins.
We begin our season with a brand new high-definition restoration, never before seen in cinemas, of this ITV classic, featuring the late John Hurt’s breakthrough role as the fearless writer and raconteur Quentin Crisp. Navigating the dangers of homophobic pre-WWII London, Crisp proudly and wittily challenges the authorities that seek to suppress him. Hurt’s iconic, BAFTA-winning performance is widely seen as one of the finest in a long and distinguished career.
Director: Aki Kaurismäki. Starring: Sakari Kuosmanen, Sherwan Haji. Finland/Germany 2017. TBC mins. Finnish/Swedish/Arabic with English subtitles.
Acclaimed writer-director Aki Kaurismäki’s poignant follow-up to Le Havre sensitively weaves together the struggles of two men who flee their homes, albeit in very different circumstances. The first is Khaled (Haji), a Syrian refugee separated from his family, who arrives in Helsinki hidden as a stowaway on a coal freighter. After his transfer to a bleak, impersonal holding centre, the details of his tragic story come to light. Meanwhile, a parallel, equally desperate tale unfolds courtesy of spiky salesman Waldemar Wikström (Kuosmanen), who leaves his drunken wife and quite literally gambles everything on financing a failing restaurant. Typically of Kaurismäki, there’s much dark humour as Wikström and Khaled’s paths cross, yet antagonism eventually yields to sympathy, spawning a surrogate family unit that touchingly fills in for absent kin.
Director: Michaël Dudok De Wit. France/Belgium/Japan 2015. 81 mins.
Renowned Japanese animation giant Studio Ghibli’s first-ever international co-production is a perfect collaboration with Oscar-winning Dutch animator Michaël Dudok De Wit. The Red Turtle, almost a decade in the making, is a dialogue-free fable about a castaway on a desert island, and a touching ode to the cycle of life and the resilience of family. Presented with an elegant simplicity, the sublime visuals pack a real emotional punch. Described by critics as a ‘quiet little masterpiece’ and a ‘wordless wonder’, The Red Turtle won the Special Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at this year’s Cannes. Michaël Dudok De Wit previously made the Oscar-winning animated short Father And Daughter in 2000.
Director: Ridley Scott. Starring: Michael Fassbender, Billy Crudup, Katherine Waterston. USA 2017. 122 mins.
When the crew of the colony ship Covenant touch down on what appears to be an uncharted utopian planet on the far side of the galaxy, they make a harrowing and deadly discovery. With regular cinematographer Dariusz Wolski on board, Scott delivers the goriest chapter in the Alien franchise to date, recapturing the unsettling, claustrophobic horror of his 1979 masterpiece.
Directors: Zeva Oelbaum, Sabine Krayenbühl.
With: Tilda Swinton as the voice of Gertrude Bell. USA/UK/France 2016. 93 mins. English, Arabic with English subtitles.
Letters from Baghdad tells the extraordinary and dramatic story of Gertrude Bell, the most powerful woman in the British Empire in her day. She shaped the destiny of Iraq after World War I in ways that still reverberate today. More influential than her friend and colleague Lawrence of Arabia, why has she been written out of the history she helped make?
Director: Aki Kaurismäki. Starring: Sakari Kuosmanen, Sherwan Haji. Finland/Germany 2017. TBC mins. Finnish/Swedish/Arabic with English subtitles.
Acclaimed writer-director Aki Kaurismäki’s poignant follow-up to Le Havre sensitively weaves together the struggles of two men who flee their homes, albeit in very different circumstances. The first is Khaled (Haji), a Syrian refugee separated from his family, who arrives in Helsinki hidden as a stowaway on a coal freighter. After his transfer to a bleak, impersonal holding centre, the details of his tragic story come to light. Meanwhile, a parallel, equally desperate tale unfolds courtesy of spiky salesman Waldemar Wikström (Kuosmanen), who leaves his drunken wife and quite literally gambles everything on financing a failing restaurant. Typically of Kaurismäki, there’s much dark humour as Wikström and Khaled’s paths cross, yet antagonism eventually yields to sympathy, spawning a surrogate family unit that touchingly fills in for absent kin.
Director: Michaël Dudok De Wit. France/Belgium/Japan 2015. 81 mins.
Renowned Japanese animation giant Studio Ghibli’s first-ever international co-production is a perfect collaboration with Oscar-winning Dutch animator Michaël Dudok De Wit. The Red Turtle, almost a decade in the making, is a dialogue-free fable about a castaway on a desert island, and a touching ode to the cycle of life and the resilience of family. Presented with an elegant simplicity, the sublime visuals pack a real emotional punch. Described by critics as a ‘quiet little masterpiece’ and a ‘wordless wonder’, The Red Turtle won the Special Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at this year’s Cannes. Michaël Dudok De Wit previously made the Oscar-winning animated short Father And Daughter in 2000.
Director: Ridley Scott. Starring: Michael Fassbender, Billy Crudup, Katherine Waterston. USA 2017. 122 mins.
When the crew of the colony ship Covenant touch down on what appears to be an uncharted utopian planet on the far side of the galaxy, they make a harrowing and deadly discovery. With regular cinematographer Dariusz Wolski on board, Scott delivers the goriest chapter in the Alien franchise to date, recapturing the unsettling, claustrophobic horror of his 1979 masterpiece.
Director: Gilles MacKinnon Starring: Gregor Fisher, Eddie Izzard, Ellie Kendrick. UK 2016. 98mins
Their ‘water of life’ strictly rationed during the Second World War, the inhabitants of a Hebridean island can’t believe their luck when the SS Politician runs aground just north of them with 24,000 cases of whisky on board. A starry cast includes Gregor Fisher (TV’s Rab C Nesbitt), Ellie Kendrick (Game Of Thrones), and Eddie Izzard as an incompetent Home Guard officer. The islanders’ efforts to steal and conceal the Politician’s booty are both ingenious and hugely comic, and cameos from John Sessions as the doctor trying to heal alcohol withdrawal and James Cosmo (Barney Thompson) as a hellfire preacher are pure joy.
Directors: Zeva Oelbaum, Sabine Krayenbühl.
With: Tilda Swinton as the voice of Gertrude Bell. USA/UK/France 2016. 93 mins. English, Arabic with English subtitles.
Letters from Baghdad tells the extraordinary and dramatic story of Gertrude Bell, the most powerful woman in the British Empire in her day. She shaped the destiny of Iraq after World War I in ways that still reverberate today. More influential than her friend and colleague Lawrence of Arabia, why has she been written out of the history she helped make?
Director: Aki Kaurismäki. Starring: Sakari Kuosmanen, Sherwan Haji. Finland/Germany 2017. TBC mins. Finnish/Swedish/Arabic with English subtitles.
Acclaimed writer-director Aki Kaurismäki’s poignant follow-up to Le Havre sensitively weaves together the struggles of two men who flee their homes, albeit in very different circumstances. The first is Khaled (Haji), a Syrian refugee separated from his family, who arrives in Helsinki hidden as a stowaway on a coal freighter. After his transfer to a bleak, impersonal holding centre, the details of his tragic story come to light. Meanwhile, a parallel, equally desperate tale unfolds courtesy of spiky salesman Waldemar Wikström (Kuosmanen), who leaves his drunken wife and quite literally gambles everything on financing a failing restaurant. Typically of Kaurismäki, there’s much dark humour as Wikström and Khaled’s paths cross, yet antagonism eventually yields to sympathy, spawning a surrogate family unit that touchingly fills in for absent kin.
10.30Silver 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: Michaël Dudok De Wit. France/Belgium/Japan 2015. 81 mins.
Renowned Japanese animation giant Studio Ghibli’s first-ever international co-production is a perfect collaboration with Oscar-winning Dutch animator Michaël Dudok De Wit. The Red Turtle, almost a decade in the making, is a dialogue-free fable about a castaway on a desert island, and a touching ode to the cycle of life and the resilience of family. Presented with an elegant simplicity, the sublime visuals pack a real emotional punch. Described by critics as a ‘quiet little masterpiece’ and a ‘wordless wonder’, The Red Turtle won the Special Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at this year’s Cannes. Michaël Dudok De Wit previously made the Oscar-winning animated short Father And Daughter in 2000.
Director: François Ozon.
Starring: Pierre Niney, Paula Beer, Ernst Stotzner. France/Germany 2016. 114 mins.
German/French with English subtitles.
Set in the aftermath of the Great War, François Ozon’s loose adaptation of Ernst Lubitsch’s Broken Lullaby has an unsettling question at its core: could a big lie cause less pain than a simple truth? Anna (Beer) is the German fiancée of Frantz, who was killed in battle by French troops. While tending his grave, she is joined by the mysterious Frenchman Adrien (Niney, Yves Saint Laurent), who claims to have known Frantz in Paris before the war. Little things, however, reveal that this is not the whole story. As the two grow closer over time, Anna is drawn into a shady realm of secrets, lies and moral uncertainty. The subtleties and surprising twists and turns of Ozon’s film deliver much more than a challenging moral fable. Contains infrequent moderate violence.
Director: Ridley Scott. Starring: Michael Fassbender, Billy Crudup, Katherine Waterston. USA 2017. 122 mins.
When the crew of the colony ship Covenant touch down on what appears to be an uncharted utopian planet on the far side of the galaxy, they make a harrowing and deadly discovery. With regular cinematographer Dariusz Wolski on board, Scott delivers the goriest chapter in the Alien franchise to date, recapturing the unsettling, claustrophobic horror of his 1979 masterpiece.
Director: Kōji Fukada. Starring: Tadanobu Asano, Mariko Tsutsui, Kanji Furutachi. Japan/France 2016. 120 mins. Japanese with English subtitles.
For married couple Toshio and Akie and their daughter, the days go by as if according to a well-known script: workshop owner Toshio is rarely at home, and hardly a word is spoken on the rare occasions when the whole family is together. One day, their banal co-existence is disturbed by the arrival of the mysterious Yasaka, an old friend from Toshio’s past with a disquieting presence. After Yasaka is welcomed into their home, cracks start to form in the family – with catastrophic consequences. Kōji Fukada’s latest film is a quietly powerful and chilling exploration of evil, guilt and retribution.
18.00Discover 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.
Director: Gilles MacKinnon Starring: Gregor Fisher, Eddie Izzard, Ellie Kendrick. UK 2016. 98mins
Their ‘water of life’ strictly rationed during the Second World War, the inhabitants of a Hebridean island can’t believe their luck when the SS Politician runs aground just north of them with 24,000 cases of whisky on board. A starry cast includes Gregor Fisher (TV’s Rab C Nesbitt), Ellie Kendrick (Game Of Thrones), and Eddie Izzard as an incompetent Home Guard officer. The islanders’ efforts to steal and conceal the Politician’s booty are both ingenious and hugely comic, and cameos from John Sessions as the doctor trying to heal alcohol withdrawal and James Cosmo (Barney Thompson) as a hellfire preacher are pure joy.
Directors: Zeva Oelbaum, Sabine Krayenbühl.
With: Tilda Swinton as the voice of Gertrude Bell. USA/UK/France 2016. 93 mins. English, Arabic with English subtitles.
Letters from Baghdad tells the extraordinary and dramatic story of Gertrude Bell, the most powerful woman in the British Empire in her day. She shaped the destiny of Iraq after World War I in ways that still reverberate today. More influential than her friend and colleague Lawrence of Arabia, why has she been written out of the history she helped make?
Director: Aki Kaurismäki. Starring: Sakari Kuosmanen, Sherwan Haji. Finland/Germany 2017. TBC mins. Finnish/Swedish/Arabic with English subtitles.
Acclaimed writer-director Aki Kaurismäki’s poignant follow-up to Le Havre sensitively weaves together the struggles of two men who flee their homes, albeit in very different circumstances. The first is Khaled (Haji), a Syrian refugee separated from his family, who arrives in Helsinki hidden as a stowaway on a coal freighter. After his transfer to a bleak, impersonal holding centre, the details of his tragic story come to light. Meanwhile, a parallel, equally desperate tale unfolds courtesy of spiky salesman Waldemar Wikström (Kuosmanen), who leaves his drunken wife and quite literally gambles everything on financing a failing restaurant. Typically of Kaurismäki, there’s much dark humour as Wikström and Khaled’s paths cross, yet antagonism eventually yields to sympathy, spawning a surrogate family unit that touchingly fills in for absent kin.
Director: Michaël Dudok De Wit. France/Belgium/Japan 2015. 81 mins.
Renowned Japanese animation giant Studio Ghibli’s first-ever international co-production is a perfect collaboration with Oscar-winning Dutch animator Michaël Dudok De Wit. The Red Turtle, almost a decade in the making, is a dialogue-free fable about a castaway on a desert island, and a touching ode to the cycle of life and the resilience of family. Presented with an elegant simplicity, the sublime visuals pack a real emotional punch. Described by critics as a ‘quiet little masterpiece’ and a ‘wordless wonder’, The Red Turtle won the Special Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at this year’s Cannes. Michaël Dudok De Wit previously made the Oscar-winning animated short Father And Daughter in 2000.
Raphael – the Lord of the Arts is the first film adaptation of the life and work of one of the most famous artists in the world, Raphael Sanzio. Few figures in the history of art have lived a life so full of intensity and fascination. He died young, aged 37, and yet managed to leave an indelible mark on the artistic world. In a well-balanced dialogue between historical reconstruction and expert commentary, the film retraces the most significant moments of Raphael’s life. Set in 20 locations, two of which are major exclusives – the Vatican Logge and Cardinal Bibbiena’s apartment in the Apostolic Palace – the film explores more than 30 works of art, including the most famous and most representative of Raphael’s work. Beauty comes to life through the brushwork and enduring genius of one of the most talented artists the world has ever known.
Director: Ridley Scott. Starring: Michael Fassbender, Billy Crudup, Katherine Waterston. USA 2017. 122 mins.
When the crew of the colony ship Covenant touch down on what appears to be an uncharted utopian planet on the far side of the galaxy, they make a harrowing and deadly discovery. With regular cinematographer Dariusz Wolski on board, Scott delivers the goriest chapter in the Alien franchise to date, recapturing the unsettling, claustrophobic horror of his 1979 masterpiece.
Director: William Oldroyd.
Starring: Florence Pugh, Cosmo Jarvis, Paul Hilton. UK 2016. 89 mins.
Acclaimed theatre director William Oldroyd makes a seamless transition to the screen in this brilliant Gothic tale of a young bride trapped in a marriage of convenience on a rural estate who embarks on a passionate affair. Florence Pugh (last seen in Carol Morley’s The Falling) is stunning as Lady Katherine, a woman determined to turn everything upside down in her mission to reclaim control over her life. Based on Lady Macbeth Of The Mtensk District, the 1865 novel by Nikolai Leskov, which inspired Shostakovich’s opera of the same name, this beautiful and highly assured debut, set amid the wild moorland of Northumberland, is a wonderful and strange story of love and betrayal.
Directors: Zeva Oelbaum, Sabine Krayenbühl.
With: Tilda Swinton as the voice of Gertrude Bell. USA/UK/France 2016. 93 mins. English, Arabic with English subtitles.
Letters from Baghdad tells the extraordinary and dramatic story of Gertrude Bell, the most powerful woman in the British Empire in her day. She shaped the destiny of Iraq after World War I in ways that still reverberate today. More influential than her friend and colleague Lawrence of Arabia, why has she been written out of the history she helped make?
Director: Chris McKay
Starring: Will Arnet, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson. USA 2017. 104 mins.
Lego Batman must learn to be a team player to defeat The Joker in this brilliantly funny Lego Movie spin-off. Self-regarding, gravel-voiced Bruce Wayne (Will Arnett) - aka Batman - remains the toast of Gotham City. But each night, he returns to the Batcave alone. His faithful manservant Alfred (Ralph Fiennes) suggests that this illustrious master builder and crime-fighter's greatest fear is of being part of a family once more. The solution is to raise the orphan he adopted, Dick Grayson (Michael Cera), to become his superhero sidekick Robin. But the over-excited boy wonder proves quite a handful. Meanwhile, police commisioner Barbara Gordon (Rosario Dawson) wants Batman to join her law enforcement team just as highly-strung, self-styled greatest foe The Joker (Zach Galifianakis) rears his cackling head. Will Arnett reprises his wonderful voice performance from the hit 'Lego Movie' for this witty animated comedy that places Batman centre stage - where he feels he belongs!
On 1st June, 1967 The Beatles released what would become the world’s first concept album, SGT. PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND. Described by Rolling Stone magazine as “The most important rock & roll album ever made…” the album not only changed the course of music but went on to become one of the biggest selling records of all time.
Featuring interviews with former employees, fellow musicians, family members and journalists, and supported by a vast array of original and exclusive never-seen-before footage, the film offers a fascinating insight into the swinging sixties and the twelve months surrounding the album’s release. Examining the band’s disillusionment with touring, their changing relationship with manager, Brian Epstein, and the advent of the Summer Of Love, this star-studded rockumentary explores the creation and recording of one of the most ground-breaking and influential albums in pop history.
Director: Aki Kaurismäki. Starring: Sakari Kuosmanen, Sherwan Haji. Finland/Germany 2017. TBC mins. Finnish/Swedish/Arabic with English subtitles.
Acclaimed writer-director Aki Kaurismäki’s poignant follow-up to Le Havre sensitively weaves together the struggles of two men who flee their homes, albeit in very different circumstances. The first is Khaled (Haji), a Syrian refugee separated from his family, who arrives in Helsinki hidden as a stowaway on a coal freighter. After his transfer to a bleak, impersonal holding centre, the details of his tragic story come to light. Meanwhile, a parallel, equally desperate tale unfolds courtesy of spiky salesman Waldemar Wikström (Kuosmanen), who leaves his drunken wife and quite literally gambles everything on financing a failing restaurant. Typically of Kaurismäki, there’s much dark humour as Wikström and Khaled’s paths cross, yet antagonism eventually yields to sympathy, spawning a surrogate family unit that touchingly fills in for absent kin.
Director: Michaël Dudok De Wit. France/Belgium/Japan 2015. 81 mins.
Renowned Japanese animation giant Studio Ghibli’s first-ever international co-production is a perfect collaboration with Oscar-winning Dutch animator Michaël Dudok De Wit. The Red Turtle, almost a decade in the making, is a dialogue-free fable about a castaway on a desert island, and a touching ode to the cycle of life and the resilience of family. Presented with an elegant simplicity, the sublime visuals pack a real emotional punch. Described by critics as a ‘quiet little masterpiece’ and a ‘wordless wonder’, The Red Turtle won the Special Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at this year’s Cannes. Michaël Dudok De Wit previously made the Oscar-winning animated short Father And Daughter in 2000.
10.30Silver 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: Ridley Scott. Starring: Michael Fassbender, Billy Crudup, Katherine Waterston. USA 2017. 122 mins.
When the crew of the colony ship Covenant touch down on what appears to be an uncharted utopian planet on the far side of the galaxy, they make a harrowing and deadly discovery. With regular cinematographer Dariusz Wolski on board, Scott delivers the goriest chapter in the Alien franchise to date, recapturing the unsettling, claustrophobic horror of his 1979 masterpiece.
Director: Gilles MacKinnon Starring: Gregor Fisher, Eddie Izzard, Ellie Kendrick. UK 2016. 98mins
Their ‘water of life’ strictly rationed during the Second World War, the inhabitants of a Hebridean island can’t believe their luck when the SS Politician runs aground just north of them with 24,000 cases of whisky on board. A starry cast includes Gregor Fisher (TV’s Rab C Nesbitt), Ellie Kendrick (Game Of Thrones), and Eddie Izzard as an incompetent Home Guard officer. The islanders’ efforts to steal and conceal the Politician’s booty are both ingenious and hugely comic, and cameos from John Sessions as the doctor trying to heal alcohol withdrawal and James Cosmo (Barney Thompson) as a hellfire preacher are pure joy.
Mad To Be Normal is the story of controversial Scottish psychiatrist, R.D. Laing and the infamous anti-psychiatry experiment he ran at Kingsley Hall - a medication-free sanctuary which made headlines around the world. During the 1960s and 1970s Laing was an international celebrity. In Santa Monica, 4,000 people turned out to see him perform a lecture. A radio journalist confidently referred to him as the “white Martin Luther King.” His books topped student reading lists the world over, as his language excited and enthralled them: “a child born today stands a 10 times greater chance of being admitted to a mental hospital than to a university... perhaps it is our very way of educating them that is driving them mad.”
21.00ourscreen: Organised with ourscreen.com, the website for people-powered cinema. Create your own film screening at your local cinema in three easy steps.
Director: James Gray
Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Robert Pattinson, Sienna Miller. USA 2016. 141 mins.
Lost City Of Z centres on the story of real-life explorer Colonel Percy Fawcett (Hunnam), who in the 1920s journeyed into the Amazon jungle searching for a lost civilisation. Having left behind his sparky, intellectual and protesting wife (Miller), and accompanied by his aide-de-camp Henry Costin (Pattinson), he faces all manner of human and natural obstacles on his quest to find the mythical city.
This fascinating new cinema event, British Museum presents: Hokusai, is a groundbreaking documentary and exclusive private view of the forthcoming British Museum exhibition Hokusai: beyond the Great Wave. Filmed in Japan, the US and the UK, the film focuses on Hokusai’s work, life and times in the great, bustling metropolis of Edo, modern Tokyo.
Introduced by arts presenter Andrew Graham-Dixon, and featuring artists David Hockney, Grayson Perry and Maggi Hambling, this is the first UK biography of Japan’s greatest artist. Using extraordinary close-ups and pioneering 8K Ultra HD video technology, Hokusai’s paintings and prints are examined by world experts who are at the forefront of digital art history.
Hokusai spent his life studying and celebrating our common humanity as well as deeply exploring the natural and spiritual worlds, using the famous volcano Mount Fuji as a protective presence and potential source of immortality. He knew much tragedy, was struck by lightning and lived for years in poverty, but never gave up his pursuit of perfection in his art. Hokusai is an artist who influenced Monet, Van Gogh and other Impressionists, is the father of manga and the only painter with his own emoji.
Director: Stanley Donen.
Starring: Howard Keel, Jane Powell. USA 1954. 102 mins.
When backwoodsman Adam brings his new bride home to his farm, his six unruly brothers decide they would like to get married too. But as Milly sets about turning the unwashed louts into gentlemen, Adam advises the boys to kidnap the objects of their affections rather than woo them.
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.
Sonia Friedman Productions present Imelda Staunton (Gypsy, Vera Drake, the Harry Potter films), Conleth Hill (Game Of Thrones, The Producers), Luke Treadaway (A Street Cat Named Bob, The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, The Hollow Crown) and Imogen Poots (A Long Way Down, Jane Eyre) in James Macdonald’s critically acclaimed, five-star production of Edward Albee’s landmark play, broadcast live to cinemas from the Harold Pinter Theatre, London.
In the early hours of the morning on the campus of an American college, Martha, much to her husband George’s displeasure, has invited the new professor and his wife to their home for some after-party drinks. As the alcohol flows and dawn approaches, the young couple are drawn into George and Martha’s toxic games until the evening reaches its climax in a moment of devastating truth-telling.
This gorgeous mixed programme demonstrates the great creative vision of Frederick Ashton, Founder Choreographer of The Royal Ballet.
The Dream is Ashton's adaptation of Shakespeare's riotous comedy in which a forest sprite plays havoc, armed with a love potion. Symphonic Variations was Ashton's first work after World War II, and one of the Company's first to be performed on the huge main stage of the Royal Opera House, in 1946. With six dancers performing a series of quartets, duets, sextets and solos to Franck’s brooding Variations symphoniques, this seminal masterpiece celebrates the pure beauty of movement. Marguerite and Armand is Ashton's beautiful and emotional retelling of a well-known story, familiar to us through Verdi's opera La traviata. Ashton famously created this poignant ballet on Margot
Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev in 1963.
Violetta gives up every hope of happiness in this heart-wrenching love story. With its world-famous arias, La traviata is the perfect introduction to Glyndebourne.
Alfredo, a young man from the provinces, falls in love with Violetta, the stylish toast of Paris. But she’s not the marrying kind – at least not until now. However, their dreams are threatened by both a merciless society that condemns Violetta’s racy past and an equally merciless disease.
There’s rarely a dry eye in the house when this poignant tale unfolds through Verdi’s robust, tuneful, full-hearted and full-throated score, laced through with melodies as familiar as the story.
Russian soprano Venera Gimadieva portrays the iconic role of Violetta, alongside American tenor Michael Fabiano as Alfredo. The visual beauty of Tom Cairns’s opulent production aptly echoes the irresistible allure of this beloved opera.
‘With a team this thrilling and a production so intelligent, Glyndebourne has a sure-fire hit on its hands.’ ★★★★★– The Observer
Captured live in 2014. Sung in Italian with English subtitles.
Also on screen this summer: Brett Dean’s brand new Shakespeare-inspired opera, Hamlet (live) and a new production of Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito (live).
The final concert from the Berliner Philharmoniker Cinema Season offers an exciting and diverse programme under the baton of charismatic conductor Gustavo Dudamel. Following a rendition of City Noir, John Adams’s homage to the great age of bebop, Dudamel will perform Dvořák’s symphony From The New World – a work in which the composer adds a jolt of electricity with the help of stylised musical folklore “to portray characteristics such as those that are distinctly American”. Broadcast in high definition with stunning 5.1 surround sound, this concert also includes exclusive interviews and programme insights.
★★★★★ ‘Spellbindingly imaginative. A dazzling production.’
Radio Times
All children, except one, grow up…
Captured live at the National Theatre, a recorded performance of JM Barrie’s much-loved tale screens in cinemas this summer.
When Peter Pan, leader of the Lost Boys, loses his shadow, headstrong Wendy helps him to reattach it. In return, she is invited to Neverland, where Tinker Bell the fairy, Tiger Lily and the vengeful Captain Hook await. A riot of magic, music and make-believe ensues.
A delight for children and adults alike, Sally Cookson (NT Live: Jane Eyre) directs this wondrously inventive production, a co-production with Bristol Old Vic theatre.
Dogwoof proudly presents the UK premiere of Whitney: Can I Be Me followed by a live satellite Q&A with acclaimed director Nick Broomfield. Broadcast live from Sheffield Doc/Fest, this exclusive event creates the ultimate Whitney moment with largely never-before-seen footage and exclusive live recordings. Whitney Houston was the epitome of superstar, an “American Princess” and the most awarded female artist ever. Even though she made millions of dollars, had more consecutive number ones than The Beatles, and became recognised for having one of the greatest voices of all time, she still wasn’t free to be herself and died at just 48 years old. Whitney: Can I Be Me tells Whitney Houston’s incredible and poignant life story with insights from those closest to her.
Michel Hazanavicius' impossibly charming film won seven BAFTAs and five Oscars. The story takes us back to 1920s Hollywood, where movie icon George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) faces a career crisis as the advent of the talkies effectively signals the end of the silent era.
To make matters worse, the girl he helped make into a star (Berenice Bejo) is about to become the It girl of her generation. Shot in black and white and virtually without dialogue, THE ARTIST might sound like little more than a cute homage, but its wonderfully imaginative script and heartfelt lead performances are sure to win your heart.
To coincide with a glorious new exhibition at the National Gallery of London, this film offers a full and fresh biography of Michelangelo who, with Leonardo, is considered one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance – and perhaps of all time. This film explores his relationship with his contemporaries and his immense artistic practice which included painting, sculpture and architecture. Among the works explored are the universally adored David in Florence, the Sistine Chapel in Rome and the Manchester Madonna (today in the National Gallery).
A major new film which gets to the very heart of this tempestuous, passionate giant.
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.
My Beautiful Laundrette
Director: Stephen Frears. Starring: Daniel-Day Lewis, Gordon Warnecke. UK 1985. 97 mins.
Featuring Daniel Day Lewis in his breakthrough role as a right-wing extremist who falls for a Pakistani man, inadvertently stirring racial prejudices throughout their South London neighbourhood, Stephen Frears' iconic film is both a touching romance and a powerful depiction of the struggles of minorities in Thatcher’s Britain.
The story has been told before, but never like this. An occupied desert nation. A radical from the wilderness on hunger strike. A girl whose mysterious dance will change the course of the world.
This charged retelling turns the infamous biblical tale on its head, placing the girl we call Salomé at the centre of a revolution.
Internationally acclaimed theatre director Yaël Farber (Les Blancs) draws on multiple accounts to create her urgent, hypnotic production, which will be broadcast live from the stage of the National Theatre.
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.
Love Is The Devil
Director: John Maybury. Starring: Derek Jacobi, Daniel Craig, Tilda Swinton. UK 1998. 90 mins.
John Maybury’s daring art biopic stars Derek Jacobi as Francis Bacon and Daniel Craig as his muse, a small-time thief drawn into the painter’s bohemian circle. Tilda Swinton gives a standout performance as the foul-mouthed proprietress of the legendary Colony Room, the Soho club that served as a hub for the group, which also included photographer John Deakin and artist Isabel Rawsthorne.
This award-winning story follows a young girl named Suzu Urano, who in 1944 moves to the small town of Kure in Hiroshima where she marries Shusaku Hojo, a young clerk who works at the local naval base. Living with his family, Suzu becomes essential to the running of the household and creatively prepares meals during the tough wartime conditions while also carrying out daily housework. In 1945, intense bombings by the US military finally reach Kure, with devastating effect to the townsfolk and their way of life. Suzu’s life is changed irrevocably, but through perseverance and courage, she manages to continue to live life to the fullest.
World-famous tenor Jonas Kaufmann makes his role debut as Otello in Verdi's passionate retelling of Shakespeare's great tragedy of jealousy, deception and murder. Soprano Maria Agresta will be his Desdemona and baritone Ludovic Tézier his nemesis Iago in a new production by Olivier Awardwinning director Keith Warner.
A major work of the opera repertory, Verdi's Otello draws on the full forces of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, the Royal Opera Chorus and this stellar line-up of principal singers, with exquisite duets, emotionally potent solo numbers and thrilling choruses.
Particular highlights include Otello and Desdemona's rapturous love duet and Desdemona's poignant 'Willow Song'. Royal Opera Music Director Antonio Pappano conducts this Italian masterpiece.
Director: Andew J. Cohen. Starring: Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler, Allison Tolman. USA 2017. 88mins.
After Scott and Kate Johansen (Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler) lose their daughter Alex’s college fund, they become desperate to earn it back so she can pursue her dream of attending a university. With the help of their neighbor Frank (Jason Mantzoukas), they decide to start an illegal casino in his house.
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.
Perched high above the picturesque coast of Sicily and sitting under the shadow of Mt. Etna, Teatro Antico di Taormina has inspired artists for over 2000 years – from the ancient Greeks and Romans to Woody Allen and today’s opera stars.
Every summer, this romantic and dramatic setting welcomes opera lovers from all over the world. 2017 is no exception, with the staging of Puccini’s La bohème, the tragic love story between a young poet and a seamstress. Directed by Enrico Castiglione, this retelling of the timeless classic will enchant cinema audiences with its intense melodic lyrics, original and refined harmony, instrumental light feel and nuances which are all unmistakable and unique.
For one night only, come and experience this spectacular opera on the big screen, live from Taormina, Sicily!
Be part of a major new operatic work – join us for the world premiere of Brett Dean’s new opera based on Shakespeare’s best-known tragedy.
Brett Dean’s colourful, energetic, witty and richly lyrical music expertly captures the modernity of this timeless tale, while Matthew Jocelyn’s libretto is pure Shakespeare.
A cast of some of the finest singing actors of the moment will bring Hamlet to life. British tenor and Glyndebourne favourite Allan Clayton will play Hamlet. British mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly will play Gertrude and Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan will make her Glyndebourne debut as Ophelia. Legendary British bass John Tomlinson plays The Ghost of Old Hamlet.
Hamlet will be conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, Glyndebourne’s former Music Director.
Neil Armfield has directed numerous productions for Opera Australia, including their first full-length presentation of The Ring Cycle. He is the director of the acclaimed films Candy and Holding the Man.
‘The themes of life and death, love and betrayal have opera written all over them.’
—Brett Dean, Composer
Sung in English with English supertitles
Also on screen this summer: a timeless production of La traviata (captured live in 2014) and a new production of Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito (live).
A collaboration between American film-maker Sofia Coppola and Italian haute couture king Valentino comes in the form of a revival of Giuseppe Verdi’s classic opera, LA TRAVIATA.
Violetta Valéry is a well-known courtesan in Paris whose life appears to be glamorous, but who also suffers from a serious illness. She lives on the money given to her by her male patrons. But when she meets Alfredo Germont, a young man from a good family, they fall in love and move to the country. Alfredo’s father disapproves of their relationship and comes to tell Violetta that her involvement with Alfredo will ruin his family’s reputation. Out of her love for Alfredo, Violetta agrees to leave him and returns to Paris. Thinking she has betrayed him, Alfredo is heartbroken. He follows her to a party and publicly insults her. A few months later, Violetta is close to death. Alfredo, who has learned why Violetta left him, returns to her. He is shocked by her weakness as she strains to get to her feet. They vow to be together forever, but she soon collapses and breathes her last.
Following the sun-kissed VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA, Woody Allen's European trip continues in more fantastical fashion with the delightful MIDNIGHT IN PARIS. Owen Wilson (THE DARJEELING LIMITED) stars as Gil, a novelist with a bad case of writer's block, who is on a pre-wedding shopping/business trip with his fiancée Inez (McAdams, SHERLOCK HOLMES) and meddlesome in-laws-to-be. With Inez more interested in hunting for bargains than soaking up culture, Gil sets off on an intoxicated stroll through the French capital. It becomes a transformative rendezvous with his literary idols, which takes him further from the real world and the woman he is soon to marry.
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.
Weekend
Director: Andrew Haigh. Starring: Tom Cullen, Chris New. UK 2011. 97 mins.
Andrew Haigh’s modern classic, a breakout hit and a milestone in British cinema, sees two young men find a one-night-stand turning into something far more serious. As their relationship deepens, they debate their daily struggles in an overwhelmingly straight world, and come to realise that despite almost half a century of progress, the fight for social equality is far from over.
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.
Known to millions as ‘The King of Waltz’, André Rieu is one of the world’s most popular music artists. His legendary annual Maastricht concert is the most eagerly anticipated cinema event of the year, last year setting new box office records in several countries.
Set against the stunning medieval backdrop of the town square in André’s Dutch hometown, the spectacular Maastricht concert features the maestro in his element, along with his 60-piece Johann Strauss Orchestra, sopranos, tenors and very special guests. André delivers an unforgettable musical experience full of humour, fun and emotion for all ages.
This year is a very special year because it is exactly 30 years ago that André Rieu started his Johann Strauss Orchestra in his hometown of Maastricht. From a small group of musicians rehearsing in the classroom of André’s son’s primary school to stadiums and concert halls around the world – what a journey it has been!
Just for cinema audiences, host Charlotte Hawkins will conduct an interview with André Rieu the moment he steps off stage.
Known to millions as ‘The King of Waltz’, André Rieu is one of the world’s most popular music artists. His legendary annual Maastricht concert is the most eagerly anticipated cinema event of the year, last year setting new box office records in several countries.
Set against the stunning medieval backdrop of the town square in André’s Dutch hometown, the spectacular Maastricht concert features the maestro in his element, along with his 60-piece Johann Strauss Orchestra, sopranos, tenors and very special guests. André delivers an unforgettable musical experience full of humour, fun and emotion for all ages.
This year is a very special year because it is exactly 30 years ago that André Rieu started his Johann Strauss Orchestra in his hometown of Maastricht. From a small group of musicians rehearsing in the classroom of André’s son’s primary school to stadiums and concert halls around the world – what a journey it has been!
Just for cinema audiences, host Charlotte Hawkins will conduct an interview with André Rieu the moment he steps off stage.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
In his adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s bittersweet novel set during New York’s gaudy jazz era, director Baz Luhrmann (ROMEO + JULIET, MOULIN ROUGE!) considerably upped the ante. Arguably eclipsing Robert Redford’s portrayal in the 1974 version, Leonardo DiCaprio as the maverick millionaire Jay Gatsby was an inspired casting move. Add to that Carey Mulligan (DRIVE) as Daisy, Gatsby’s sexy if unobtainable love interest, Joel Edgerton (ZERO DARK THIRTY) as her philandering husband, and Tobey Maguire (SPIDER-MAN) as Nick Carraway, the impressionable hick-from-the sticks writer who witnesses the unravelling of a precarious status quo, and you have an epic parable of excess and its consequences.
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.
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?
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
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 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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
'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".
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
