National Theatre Live: Present Laughter

Nov 28, 2019

2h 40m

★ 8.4

Overview

As he prepares to embark on an overseas tour, star actor Garry Essendine’s colourful life is in danger of spiralling out of control. Engulfed by an escalating identity crisis as his many and various relationships compete for his attention, Garry’s few remaining days at home are a chaotic whirlwind of love, sex, panic and soul-searching.

Genres

Comedy

Drama

Production Companies

National Theatre

The Old Vic

National Theatre Live: Present Laughter Trailers

Cast

Garry Essendine

Andrew Scott

Monica Reed

Sophie Thompson

Liz Essendine

Indira Varma

Daphne Stillington

Kitty Archer

Joe Lyppiatt

Enzo Cilenti

Fred

Joshua Hill

Morris Dixon

Abdul Salis

Miss Erikson/Lady Saltburn

Liza Sadovy

Roland Maule

Luke Thallon

Helen Lyppiatt

Suzie Toase

In a supermarket, in the sofa section, director Fabien Romains comes to choose the sofa that will be the main feature of the set for his next play. Priscilla Gabor, his ex-wife, who stars in the play, insists on deciding for herself which sofa she will rest her buttocks on. Edouard Le Tellier, the play's author and producer, and the actress's current husband, pretends to be interested in the debate. Finally, Olivier Leblanc, the salesman, who has always dreamed of acting, sees these visitors as a chance to promote himself.

8.0

＜ＢＳ松竹東急×浅草九劇＞スペシャルドラマ「君しか見えないよ」

Jul 9, 2023

No overview available.

8.1

National Theatre Live: Coriolanus

Jan 29, 2014

When an old adversary threatens Rome, the city calls once more on her hero and defender: Coriolanus. But he has enemies at home too. Famine threatens the city, the citizens’ hunger swells to an appetite for change, and on returning from the field Coriolanus must confront the march of realpolitik and the voice of an angry people.

8.0

National Theatre Live: The Habit of Art

Apr 22, 2010

National Theatre Live’s 2010 broadcast of Alan Bennett’s acclaimed play The Habit of Art, with Richard Griffiths, Alex Jennings and Frances de la Tour, returns to cinemas as part of the National Theatre's 50th anniversary celebrations. Benjamin Britten, sailing uncomfortably close to the wind with his new opera, Death in Venice, seeks advice from his former collaborator and friend, W H Auden. During this imagined meeting, their first for twenty-five years, they are observed and interrupted by, amongst others, their future biographer and a young man from the local bus station. Alan Bennett’s play is as much about the theatre as it is about poetry or music. It looks at the unsettling desires of two difficult men, and at the ethics of biography. It reflects on growing old, on creativity and inspiration, and on persisting when all passion’s spent: ultimately, on the habit of art.

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0.0

Les

Apr 24, 1967

No overview available.

5.1

Actresses

Dec 26, 2007

Marcelline is an actress. Forty, single and childless, she begins rehearsals for Turgenev’s A Month in the Country. Denis, the director, admires her greatly and promises he’ll make her happy on stage — she will shine. But things don’t go to plan.

7.1

Henry V

Oct 5, 1989

In the midst of the Hundred Years War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France in 1415.

6.3

Shrek the Third

May 17, 2007

The King of Far Far Away has died and Shrek and Fiona are to become King & Queen. However, Shrek wants to return to his cozy swamp and live in peace and quiet, so when he finds out there is another heir to the throne, they set off to bring him back to rule the kingdom.

7.3

Finding Neverland

Oct 17, 2004

During a writing slump, playwright J.M. Barrie meets a widow and her four children, all young boys—who soon become an important part of Barrie’s life and the inspiration that lead him to create his masterpiece. Peter Pan.

8.3

RSC Live: Hamlet

Jun 10, 2016

Hamlet has the world at his feet. Young, wealthy and living a hedonistic life studying abroad. Then word reaches him that his father is dead. Returning home he finds his world is utterly changed, his certainties smashed and his home a foreign land. Struggling to understand his place in a new world order he faces a stark choice. Submit, or rage against the injustice of his new reality. Simon Godwin directs Paapa Essiedu as Hamlet in Shakespeare's searing tragedy. As relevant today as when it was written, Hamlet confronts each of us with the mirror of our own mortality in an imperfect world. Hamlet played in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon until throughout summer 2016.

0.0

Where the Forest Thickens

Oct 25, 2017

A fusion of film and theatre based on the play of the same title by Micomicon. The film shows the play and its creative process. After her mother's death, Antonia finds a box which takes her and her daughter on a trip through Europe to former Yugoslavia. Remembrance, exhumations and wars. Life will not be the same.

6.6

Une heure de tranquillité

Dec 29, 2020

No overview available.

10.0

Private Lives

Dec 11, 2013

Elyot Chase and Amanda Prynne are glamorous, rich, reckless…and divorced. Five years later, their love for one another is unexpectedly rekindled when they take adjoining suites of a French hotel while honeymooning with their new spouses. This chance encounter instantly reignites their passion, and they fling themselves headlong into a whirlwind of love and lust once more, without a thought for partners present or turbulences past. This Chichester Festival Theatre production of Noël Coward’s Privates Lives was filmed live at London's Gielgud Theatre.

0.0

RSC Live: Cymbeline

Oct 31, 2016

Britain is in crisis. An ineffectual Queen Cymbeline rules over a divided dystopian Britain. Consumed with grief at the death of two of her children, Cymbeline's judgment is clouded. When Innogen, the only living heir, marries her sweetheart Posthumus in secret, an enraged Cymbeline banishes him. Behind the throne, a power-hungry figure plots to seize power by murdering them both. In exile Innogen's husband is tricked into believing she has been unfaithful to him and in an act of impulsive jealousy begins a scheme to have her murdered. Warned of the danger, Innogen runs away from court in disguise and begins a journey fraught with danger that will eventually reunite Cymbeline with a long-lost heir and reconcile the young lovers.

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0.0

Svatba

Jan 1, 1981

No overview available.

0.0

Harold Pinter: A Celebration

Jan 24, 2010

In June 2009, a group Britain's leading actors gathered for one night only to perform a celebration of the work of Harold Pinter at the National Theatre, directed by Ian Rickson. The team who made the acclaimed Harold Pinter documentaries for BBC's Arena was there to record this unique performance.

0.0

Rok na vsi

Jan 18, 1997

No overview available.

0.0

Rose

Jan 27, 2021

"Rose" is a filmed one-woman theatrical performance. A moving reminder of some of the harrowing events that shaped the century. It remains sadly relevant today as racial tensions escalate, and allegations of antisemitism are rife.

0.0

La Moustache

Dec 29, 2020

Today is a big day for Sylvain Sabourdin: he has to meet his future father-in-law, go through a job interview and make big decisions. But while he is getting ready, a power outage prevents him from shaving completely and leaves him with a moustache: Hitler's moustache.

6.9

The Goodbye Girl

Nov 27, 1977

After being dumped by her live-in boyfriend, an unemployed dancer and her 10-year-old daughter are reluctantly forced to live with a struggling off-Broadway actor.