Streaming Media: Getting Started

National Theatre Collection: Volumes I & II makes available contemporary video productions of the highest quality from award-winning actors and directors—offering equitable access to the stage for students, scholars, and enthusiasts. 

National Theatre Collection: Volume I features 30 high-definition video performances covering a wide range of works regularly studied in secondary and higher education. As a supplement to the filmed productions, exclusive digitized archival materials such as prompt scripts, costume designs, and costume bibles are available to provide behind-the-scenes background and contextual information. 

Highlights of the productions included in Volume I:

• Shakespeare, with vibrant modern stagings, including Twelfth Night, directed by Simon Godwin, with Tamsin Greig in the role of Malvolia
• Greek theatre such as Medea by Euripides, in a contemporary adaptation by Ben Power, directed by Carrie Cracknell with Helen McCrory in the title role
• Literary adaptations, such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein adapted by Nick Dear and directed by Danny Boyle, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller
• 20th-century classics such as Lorraine Hansberry’s Les Blancs and the Young Vic’s production of Lorca’s Yerma, adapted and directed by Simon Stone with Billie Piper in the title role
• Comedies such as One Man, Two Guvnors by Richard Bean, directed by Nicholas Hytner, and featuring James Corden's Tony Award-winning performance
• New writing featuring Consent, Nina Raine’s powerful, painful, funny play that sifts the evidence from every side and puts justice herself in the dock

National Theatre Collection: Volume II builds upon the first volume’s 30 videos with additional 20 high-quality video productions featuring fresh takes on the classics and compelling performances. Exclusive archival content for behind-the-scenes context from the National Theatre Archive will also be added to this volume.

Highlights of the productions* included in Volume II:

• All My Sons (2019): From the Old Vic, Jeremy Herrin directs Sally Field and Bill Pullman in Arthur Miller’s blistering drama.
• Angels in America Part One: Millennium Approaches (2017): Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane join an elite cast in a revival of Tony Kushner’s fantastical epic drama examining the AIDS crisis under a conservative Reagan administration.
• Angels in America Part Two: Perestroika (2017): Part Two picks continues the exploration of the political and ideological complications of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980's in an multi-award-winning production directed by Marianne Elliott.
• Barber Shop Chronicles (2017): A co-production with Fuel and Leeds Playhouse, Barber Shop Chronicles is a heart-warming, hilarious and insightful play that leaps from a barber shop in Peckham (London) to Johannesburg, Harare, Kampala, Lagos and Accra.
• Home (2013): Nadia Fall’s vital verbatim play about homeless young people living on the margins of society, featuring performances from Michaela Coel, Antonia Thomas and Kadiff Kirwan.
• Julie (2018): August Strindberg's Miss Julie finds a new home in contemporary London. Carrie Cracknell directs a cast including Vanessa Kirby and Eric Kofi Abrefa.
• Paradise (2021): Playwright Kate Tempest forges an epic new take on Greek legend Philoctetes performed by an all-female company directed by Ian Rickson with Lesley Sharp as Philoctetes.
• Rockets and Blue Lights (2021): Directed by Miranda Cromwell, this astonishing and fiercely political new play by Winsome Pinnock retells British history through the prism of the slave trade.
• Romeo & Juliet (2021): A riveting bold adaptation starring Jessie Buckley (Wild Rose, Judy) and Josh O’Connor (The Crown, God’s Own Country).
• The Threepenny Opera (2016): In this vivid and darkly comic new adaptation by award-winning playwright Simon Stephens, Brecht’s book and lyrics meets Kurt Weill’s extraordinary score.
• Three Sisters (2020): Co-produced by Fuel Theatre, Chekhov’s iconic characters are relocated to 1960s Nigeria on the brink of the Biafran Civil War in this bold adaptation by Inua Ellams.