From Stage to Screen: CCP Brings the Best of London Theater to Manila

(SPOT.ph) The best of British theater is coming to Manila through the Cultural Center of the Philippines’  exclusive cinema screenings, featuring Emilia Clarke, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Ian McKellen, Benedict Cumberbatch, and more.

National Theatre Live presents Life of Pi, The Seagull, Frankenstein, Much Ado About Nothing, The Crucible, Othello, Fleabag, King Lear, and Hamlet for Season One.

It will only cost P250 to see a show, with a student discount rate of P150. It runs from September 2023 to May 2024 at Greenbelt in Makati.

Make no mistake: CCP won’t actually stage the live productions here.

National Theatre Live is a program that broadcasts pre-recorded live performances from the National Theatre in London to cinemas worldwide. The program features a variety of British shows, including plays, dramas, and occasionally musicals, usually performed by top-tier actors and production teams. This allows audiences to experience the National Theatre's productions without being physically present in London.

Synopsis and Schedule for National Theatre Live in the Philippines:

Life of Pi

September 26, 2023 at 5:30 p.m.

After a cargo ship sinks in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean, a 16-year-old boy named Pi is stranded on a lifeboat with four other survivors – a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a Royal Bengal tiger. Time is against them, nature is harsh, who will survive?

Filmed live in London’s West End and featuring state-of-the-art visuals, the epic journey of endurance and hope is brought to life in a breath-taking new way for cinema screens.

The Seagull

November 28, 2023 at 5:30 p.m.

Emilia Clarke makes her West End debut in this 21st-century retelling of Anton Chekhov’s tale of love and loneliness.

A young woman is desperate for fame and a way out. A young man is pining after the woman of his dreams. A successful writer longs for a sense of achievement. An actress wants to fight the changing of the times. In an isolated home in the countryside, dreams lie in tatters, hopes are dashed, and hearts are broken. With nowhere left to turn, the only option is to turn on each other.

Frankenstein

October 31, 2023 at 5:30 p.m.

Childlike in his innocence but grotesque in form, Frankenstein’s bewildered creature is cast out into a hostile universe by his horror-stuck maker. Meeting with cruelty wherever he goes, the increasingly desperate and vengeful creature is determined to track down his creator and strike a terrifying deal.

Scientific responsibility, parental neglect, cognitive development, and the nature of good and evil are embedded within this thrilling and deeply disturbing classic tale.  

Much Ado About Nothing

December 19, 2023 at 5:30 p.m.

The legendary family-run Hotel Messina on the Italian Riveria has been visited by artists, celebrities, and royalty. But when the owner’s daughter weds a dashing young soldier, not all guests are in the mood for love.

A string of scandalous deceptions soon surround not only the young couple but also the adamantly single Beatrice and Benedick.

The Crucible

January 30, 2024 at 5:30 p.m.

Raised to be seen but not heard, a group of young women in Salem suddenly find their words have an almighty power. As a climate of fear, vendetta, and accusation spreads through the community, no one is safe from trial.

Fleabag

February 27, 2024 at 5:30 p.m.

Fleabag is a rip-roaring look at some sort of woman living her sort of life. The hilarious, award-winning play that inspired the BBC’s hit TV series Fleabag was captured live on stage from London’s West End in 2019.

Fleabag may seem oversexed, emotionally unfiltered, and self-obsessed, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. With family and friendships under strain and a guinea pig café struggling to keep afloat, Fleabag suddenly finds herself with nothing to lose.

Othello

March 26, 2024 at 5:30 p.m.

She’s a bright, headstrong daughter of a senator, elevated by her status but stifled by its expectations. He’s a refugee of slavery; having risen to the top of a white world, he finds love across racial lines has a cost.

Wed in secret, Desdemona and Othello crave a new life together. But as unseen forces conspire against them, they find their future is not theirs to decide.

King Lear

April 30, 2024 at 5:30 p.m.

Considered by many to be the greatest tragedy ever written, King Lear sees two aging fathers – one a King, one his courtier – reject the children who truly love them. Their blindness unleashes a tornado of pitiless ambition and treachery as family and state are plunged into a violent power struggle with bitter ends.

Hamlet

May 28, 2024 at 5:30 p.m.

Benedict Cumberbatch plays the title role of Shakespeare’s great tragedy.

As the country arms itself for war, a family tears itself apart. Forced to avenge his father’s death but paralyzed by the task ahead, Hamlet rages against the impossibility of his predicament, threatening both his sanity and the security of the state.

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