Due to a serious horse riding accident, I was not able to visit London in the past year. I miss being there and seeing good plays. But that is about to change. Ofcourse nothing beats a night out in the West End. Top class actors and actresses play for full houses. People travel from all over the world to see their favorites in a play. I have been lucky to see 2 of my favorite actors in a play. Well, one of them is not really an actor, but he is a favorite. Nathaniel Parker (known for The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Merlin, Me & Mrs Jones, to name a few) and Rowan Atkinson were the ones I saw on stage.
A trip to London can be expencive, and theatre tickets are not the cheapest, if you want to have a good seat. But there is a solution for those who can't afford to visit London. Nationbal Theatre Live gives audiences all over the world a chance to see the best West End plays in a cinema in your own country. A few months ago I found out that The Audience, with Helen Mirren as Her Majesty the Queen would be broadcast all over the world. I had the chooise between a cinema in The Hague and Amsterdam. The Hague is only 45 minutes away by train, so yesterday was the day that I went to the cinema to see this play.
The first surprise was that I had a different seat. As there was a huge demand of tickets the cinema decided to move the broadcast to the biggest venue avaliable. Still there were people that missed out. It was a full house, and not only in The Hague. In many cinemas over the world it was a full house. The seats in the cinema were much better than the ones in the theatres. Not that they have bad seats there, but there is hardly room to move your legs in the theatre seats. The presentation of the evening was done by Emma Freud. I never heard of her before, but she did a wonderful job. The play itself was supurb. Ofcourse there was Helen Mirren, who was great, but I loved the prime ministers too. Nathaniel Parker is a personal favorite, so he could do nothing wrong. He did very well as Gordon Brown.
3 of my favorite people were: Geoffrey Beevers as The Equerry, Haydbn Gwynne as the late Barones Thatcher and (as the real favorite) Richard McCabe as Harold Wilson. He won an Oliver Award for best supporting role this year, and well deserved. During the interval there was a look behind the scenes and an interview with playwriter Peter Morgan. It felt like being a part of it. Before the play started and during the interval, they showed live footage of the Audience of the Gielgud Theatre.
It was a wonderful night out and a good chance for people to see some marvelous plays. I have some favorites I would love to see in the cinema, but ofcourse they can't be shown all. I do hope that the The Hague cinema will show War Horse next year. It is one of the best plays I have ever seen. On the National Theatre Live site you can find all information about screenings in the UK and other countries in the world. This broadcast was live, but some plays are recorded to be shown later. The Audience can be seen in Australia next month, if I am correct. There are some good plays listed and I am looking forward to see more plays in a cinema. It is a nice evening out, and the good thing is that you get to see the best British actors as you never saw them before.Visit: http://ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk/ for more information on screenings in your area/counntry.
