NT Live is a really cool program that lets theaters and movie theaters around the world re-broadcast an entire season of theatre from The National Theatre of Great Britain. Instead of traveling to London to see the work of the finest actors and directors in the world, you can stay right here in Colorado Springs and see it all in HD. We'll be the first to admit it isn't quite the same as being IN the theatre, but it is a fantastic (and affordable) way to see really good work.

This House
a new play by James Graham

Sat, June 1 at 6 pm
Sun, June 2 at 4 pm

It’s 1974 and the corridors of Westminster ring with the sound of infighting and backbiting as Britain’s political parties battle to change the future of the nation, whatever it takes. In this hung parliament, the ruling party holds on by a thread. Votes are won and lost by one, fist fights erupt in the bars, and ill MPs are hauled in to cast their votes.

James Graham’s biting, energetic and critically-acclaimed new play strips politics down to the practical realities of those behind the scenes who roll up their sleeves, and on occasion bend the rules, to manoeuvre a diverse and conflicting chorus of MPs within the Mother of all Parliaments.

The Audience
a new play by Peter Morgan

Fri, July 12 at 7 pm
Sat, July 13 at 3 pm and 7 pm

Helen Mirren reprises her Academy Award winning role as Queen Elizabeth II in this highly-anticipated West End production. For sixty years Elizabeth II has met each of her twelve Prime Ministers in a weekly audience at Buckingham Palace – a meeting like no other in British public life – it is private. Both parties have an unspoken agreement never to repeat what is said. Not even to their spouses.

The Audience imagines a series of pivotal meetings between the Downing Street incumbents and their Queen. From Churchill to Cameron, each Prime Minister has used these private conversations as a sounding board and a confessional – sometimes intimate, sometimes explosive.

From young mother to grandmother, these private audiences chart the arc of the second Elizabethan Age. Politicians come and go through the revolving door of electoral politics, while she remains constant, waiting to welcome her next Prime Minister.

PAST PRODUCTIONS

Timon of Athens

by William Shakespeare

December 2012

Wealthy friend to the rich and powerful, patron of the arts, ostentatious host, Timon of Athens showers gifts and hospitality on the city’s elite. He vastly outspends his resources but, finding his coffers empty, reassures his loyal steward that all will be well.

When he calls upon his associates, instead of offering help, they hang him out to dry. After a final, vengeful banquet, Timon withdraws to a literal and emotional wasteland, living off roots and pouring ever more surreal curses on a morally bankrupt Athens.

The Last of the Haussmans

a new play by Stephen Beresford

November 2012

Anarchic feisty but growing old, high society drop-out Judy Haussman remains in spirit with the Ashrams of the 1960s while holding court in her dilapidated Art Deco house on the Devon coast.

Stephen Beresford’s The Last of the Haussmans examines the fate of the revolutionary generation and offers a funny, touching and at times savage portrait of a family full of longing that’s losing its grip.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

based on the novel by Mark Haddon adapted by Simon Stephens
October 2012

Christopher, fifteen years old, stands beside Mrs. Shears’ dead dog. It has been speared with a garden fork, it is seven minutes after midnight and Christopher is under suspicion. He records each fact in the book he is writing to solve the mystery of who murdered Wellington. He has an extraordinary brain, exceptional at math while ill-equipped to interpret everyday life. He has never ventured alone beyond the end of his road, he detests being touched and he distrusts strangers. But his detective work takes him on a frightening journey that upturns his world.

The Magistrate
by Authur Wing Pinero
February 2013

Academy Award nominee and Tony Award-winner John Lithgow (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Shrek, 3rd Rock from the Sun) takes the title role in Arthur Wing Pinero’s uproarious Victorian farce, directed by Olivier Award-winner Timothy Sheader.

In a similar vein to the National Theatre’s smash-hit classic comedies, She Stoops to Conquer and London Assurance, The Magistrate is sure to have audiences doubled up with laughter. When amiable magistrate Posket (John Lithgow) marries Agatha (Nancy Carroll), little does he realise she’s dropped five years from her age – and her son’s. When her deception looks set to be revealed, it sparks a series of hilarious indignities and outrageous mishaps.

People
a new play by Alan Bennett

Sat, April 6 at 6 pm
Sun, April 7 at 4 pm

Award-winning writer Alan Bennett is reunited with director Nicholas Hytner and Olivier Award-winning actress Frances de la Tour.

People spoil things; there are so many of them and the last thing one wants is them traipsing through one’s house. But with the park a jungle and a bath on the billiard table, what is one to do? Dorothy (Frances de la Tour) wonders if an attic sale could be a solution.

Alan Bennett is one of Britain’s most celebrated playwrights, and the much anticipated People is the sixth of his plays to have its premiere at the National Theatre.