Benedict Cumberbatch, takes the title role of Hamlet in Shakespeare’s great tragedy. Hamlet was broadcast live from the Barbican in London to cinemas around the world on Thursday 15 October 2015, with encore screenings taking place following this date.
National Theatre Live is the National Theatre’s groundbreaking initiative to broadcast theatre live from the stage to cinemas around the world. Each performance is captured and broadcast live (or ‘as live’, depending on location) via satellite to over 2000 venues in more than 40 countries.
I recently saw an encore screening, a repeat showing of the original live performance, at a local community cinema in Port Townsend, Washington. The experience is certainly worth looking at in terms of how technology extends community by accessing world class content and sharing it live via satellite. In this case, the content is a tragic narrative that works well with a world on edge.
Would have very much liked to have seen it…and you’re right about it being a form of media that has a lot to offer. In this case probably better than the “periscope” version, although I would have been happy to experience that too.
Hamlet has permeated our culture in ways we don’t necessary notice.. it’s kind of like invoking a central myth that we are mostly familiar with…which as you say is part of extending and forming community, whenever wherever that occurs. (It’s not a coincidence that all the greatest actors play Hamlet at some point, which gives us some insight into how media works…each actor’s performance creates a different play. How so?
We want to note how that works, in that certain “texts” can span centuries and even eons, and mean something both new, and also the same, in different eras. Tapping into the elements that make that possible, can work to help us create the universal in the local, as we invite learners to participate in narrative communities.
Not easy to talk about, but powerful stuff nonetheless. =^)