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Macbeth
Performances at Covent Garden’s 251-seat Donmar Warehouse have an inbuilt intimacy. Max Webster’s 2023 production of Shakespeare’s breakneck tragedy went a step further, as audiences wore headphones to experience Gareth Fry’s richly eerie binaural soundscape and savour the powerhouse pairing of David Tennant and Cush Jumbo. This film, captured in 5.1 cinema surround sound, amps up that atmosphere with some flesh-crawling closeups. On Marquee TV.
Steven McRae: Dancing Back to the Light
He had been a Royal Ballet principal for 10 years when, in 2019, Steven McRae took off for a jump, his achilles tendon snapped and he fell to the floor mid-performance. “My career flashed before my eyes,” he wrote. This documentary on BBC iPlayer charts his recovery and return to the stage.
Girls & Boys
Recently given a scorching five-star revival at Nottingham Playhouse, starring Aisling Loftus, Dennis Kelly’s 2018 monologue is also available as an audiobook. It’s performed by Carey Mulligan who originated the role of a mother reflecting on male violence when the play opened at the Royal Court. Audible’s recording includes an interview with Kelly.
Life of Pi
What an adventure Yann Martel’s shipwreck novel has been on. Published in 2001 it was turned first into an Oscar winner and then into an Olivier winner. The puppet-powered theatrical wonder, adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti and made in Sheffield, became a West End smash and then hit the road on tour. Watch it from 10 April on National Theatre at Home.
Why a Black Woman Will Never Be Prime Minister
It’s great to see the small but mighty Camden People’s theatre continue their commitment to streaming work by emerging artists. Staged as part of their 30th anniversary season, actor-writer Zakiyyah Deen’s dramedy was “conceived out of my frustration with Black women’s maternal health receiving a lack of attention”. Available until 3 April.
Playhouse Creatures
If you can’t get to the Orange Tree in Richmond – or to Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud or Theatre Royal Bath, when it tours – here’s a chance to see the new revival of April De Angelis’s Restoration-era comedy about the actor Nell Gwynn and her less well known contemporaries. Available 15-18 April.
Company
A Sondheim season on the BBC? I’ll drink to that! While Marianne Elliott’s sensational gender-flipped Company gave us a female Bobbie, this season gives a chance to see the bachelor played by Adrian Lester in a revered Donmar production in 1996, directed by Sam Mendes. Plus there’s an archive interview with the great composer. On iPlayer.
The Shape of Things
Neil LaBute’s How to Fight Loneliness makes its UK premiere at north London’s Park theatre this month. Park’s 2023 production of another of the US playwright’s troubling dramas is available from Original Theatre. Directed by Nicky Allpress, it’s a comedy of cruel intentions.
