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

The Bergers, a blue-collar Jewish family living in an overstuffed tenement and undone by the Depression, struggle through hard times and dream of a better future in this 1972 production of Clifford Odets' pungent play. Personalities and politics clash as Odets' mélange of characters try to survive on pennies a day. Walter Matthau plays cynical World War I amputee Moe Axelrod, and Leo Fuchs portrays the family's iron-willed leftist grandfather.

6.4

Company

Dec 10, 1996

Set in modern upper-crust Manhattan, an exploration of love and commitment as seen through the eyes of a charming perpetual bachelor questioning his single state and his enthusiastically married, slightly envious friends.

7.5

RSC Live: Twelfth Night

Feb 14, 2018

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".

0.0

Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch

May 24, 2024

The comedic play tells the story of a Black preacher’s scheme to reclaim his inheritance and win back his church from a plantation owner.

0.0

National Theatre Collection: Translations

Jul 31, 2018

Owen, the prodigal son, returns to rural Donegal from Dublin. With him are two British army officers. Their ambition is to create a map of the area, replacing the Gaelic names with English. It is an administrative act with radical consequences.

0.0

National Theatre Live: Consent

May 9, 2017

Why is Justice blind? Is she impartial? Or is she blinkered? Friends take opposing briefs in a rape case. The key witness is a woman whose life seems a world away from theirs. At home, their own lives begin to unravel as every version of the truth is challenged. Nina Raine’s powerful, painful, funny play sifts the evidence from every side and puts justice herself in the dock. Consent received its world premiere in a co-production with Out of Joint at the National Theatre in April 2017. This archive recording was captured on 9th May, 2017.

8.0

Things I Know to Be True

Feb 22, 2017

As beautifully touching as it is funny and bold, Things I Know To Be True tells the story of a family and marriage through the eyes of four grown siblings struggling to define themselves beyond their parents’ love and expectations. Parents Bob and Fran have worked their fingers to the bone and with their four children grown and ready to fly the nest it might be time to relax and enjoy the roses. But the changing seasons bring home some shattering truths. Featuring Frantic Assembly’s celebrated physicality, and co-directed by Frantic Assembly’s Tony and Olivier Award nominated Artistic Director Scott Graham and State Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Geordie Brookman, Things I Know To Be True is a complex and intense study of the mechanics of a family that is both poetic and brutally frank.

0.0

Histoire de rire

Feb 27, 1982

When the friendship between two men is put to the test by two women, we can only laugh because the author has managed to adapt this situation in a superb comedy.

6.0

National Theatre Live: Les Blancs

Sep 1, 2019

An African country teeters on the edge of civil war. A society prepares to drive out its colonial present and claim an independent future. Racial tensions boil over. Tshembe, returned home from England for his father’s funeral, finds himself in the eye of the storm.

0.0

Burattino

Jun 3, 2002

Born from the fairytale of Alexei Tolstoy, a lively story about a curious tree boy Burattino who gets into an unexpected adventure.

4.5

Pour avoir Adrienne

Apr 26, 1967

No overview available.

7.0

Kaaviya Thalaivan

Nov 7, 2014

Two rival artists at Sivadas Swamigal's drama troupe compete in everything they do. While one of them goes on to become successful, the other fails in life.

0.0

Kemono Friends

Nov 29, 2017

An original story about a big adventure of a cute animal girl with a human figure.

0.0

Kemono Friends 2 ~yuki furu yoru nokemono-tachi~

Apr 10, 2019

Japari Park is once again making a fuss with the friends of the fox and the red fox! And this time, you can see the three times of Serval, Arai and Fennec, PPP Pepapa and Margay?!?!?

7.9

Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway

Nov 21, 2008

Set in New York City's gritty East Village, the revolutionary rock opera RENT tells the story of a group of bohemians struggling to live and pay their rent. "Measuring their lives in love," these starving artists strive for success and acceptance while enduring the obstacles of poverty, illness and the AIDS epidemic.

No Image Available

0.0

TAKEOFF 〜ライト三兄弟〜

Aug 20, 2008

No overview available.

No Image Available

0.0

Racek

Jan 1, 1976

No overview available.

8.8

Christmas at the Cupiello Household

Dec 24, 1977

Luca Cupiello, like every Christmas, prepares the crib, amid the disinterest of his wife Concetta and his son Tommasino. Ninuccia, the other daughter, writes a letter to her husband in which she communicates that she leaves him for her lover. The letter happens in the hands of Luca who hands it over to his son-in-law, who thus learns of his wife's betrayal. During lunch on Christmas Eve, the two rivals, who were confronted by Luca's carelessness, clash violently.