National Theatre Live: Skylight

The Last of Mrs. Lincoln depicts the final seventeen years of Mary Todd Lincoln's life, following her husband's assassination.

Three actors in search of lost dignity.

Amol, a child, is confined to his adoptive uncle's home by an incurable disease. He stands in the courtyard and talks to passers-by and inquires about the places they go to. The construction of a new post office nearby prompts the imaginative Amol to fantasise about receiving a letter from the King or being his postman.

An aged king decides to divide his kingdom between his three daughters, according to which of them is most eloquent in praising him. His favourite, Cordelia, says nothing. Simon Russell Beale, whose recent appearances at the National include Timon of Athens and Collaborators, takes the title role in Shakespeare’s tragedy.

A new staging of Christopher Hampton's celebrated adaptation of the classic novel, where among the glittering salons of the super-rich, one misstep can mean ruin. Marquise de Merteuil is a master in the art of survival. Alongside the magnetic Vicomte de Valmont, they turn seduction into strategy and weaponise desire. But when their alliance collapses into rivalry, the battle between them threatens to destroy everyone in their path. Filmed live at the National Theatre, Marianne Elliott directs this thrilling game of love, lies, and social warfare.

A raucous, angry exorcism of relationships and assorted fears, shadowed by the Big One: the plague of AIDS.

Pegeen Flaherty’s life is turned upside down when a young man walks into her pub claiming that he’s killed his father. Instead of being shunned, the killer becomes a local hero and begins to win hearts, that is until a second man unexpectedly arrives on the scene...

New York, 1971. There’s a party on the stage of the Weismann Theatre. Tomorrow the iconic building will be demolished. Thirty years after their final performance, the Follies girls gather to have a few drinks, sing a few songs and lie about themselves.

Caesar returns in triumph to Rome and the people pour out of their homes to celebrate. Alarmed by the autocrat’s popularity, the educated élite conspire to bring him down. After his assassination, civil war erupts on the streets of the capital. Nicholas Hytner’s production will thrust the audience into the street party that greets Caesar’s return, the congress that witnesses his murder, the rally that assembles for his funeral and the chaos that explodes in its wake.

"Man Hastam" is a unique adaptation of the Ferdowsi's tragic drama "Rustam-o-Sohrab". The play opens with Shah of Turan, Afrasiyab who is guided by the Prophet Paisgoh in an attempt to retain his throne. Raised in darkness, Sohrab is unaware of his genuine lineage and turns into a soldier looking for his father, whom he believes to be the finest of all warriors. Under Paisgoh's direction, the Shah stages a fight between the legendary Persian hero, Rustam, and his own son, Sohrab, both unaware of their relationship. Themes of manipulation, destiny, identity, and the terrible might of war are investigated in the play. It explores the human cost of political scheming and the terrible effects of misinterpretations. With its deep emotional resonance, "Man Hastam" is a meditation on the inevitable clash between personal honor and the manipulative forces that drive individuals to conflict.

In a miserable, freezing two-room apartment on the first floor of a building, the Ruòppolo family lives in complete poverty. Giovanni, a clerk, struggles against a thousand difficulties to make ends meet, while his wife, Cristina, takes care of the housework.