FLEABAG RETURNS AND A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM IS WELCOMED TO SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY FOR NT LIVE IN JANUARY

January 7, 2020, Washington, D.C.: “This is a love story,” Phoebe Waller Bridge’s charactersays at the beginning of the second seasonof her beloved show Fleabag. Shakespeare Theatre Company continues its love story with National Theatre Live by screening Fleabag and A Midsummer Night’s Dream in mid-January at the Michael R. Klein Theatre at the Lansburgh.

Written by and starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge and directed by Vicky Jones, FLEABAG is “witty, filthy and supreme’’ (The Guardian). Fleabag will be presented on Wednesday, January 15 at 7 p.m.; Friday, January 17 at 7 p.m. and again at 9 p.m.; and on Saturday, January 18 at 7 p.m.

With family and friendships under strain and a guinea pig café struggling to keep afloat, Fleabag suddenly finds herself with nothing to lose. At its Edinburgh Festival debut in 2013, the performance won rave reviews and a Fringe First Award. The “gloriously disruptive” (The New York Times), extended, sold-out New York run in 2019 earned Waller-Bridge a Drama League Award nomination for Distinguished Performance, a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Outstanding Solo Show, and a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance.

Fleabag was adapted into a BBC Three Television series in partnership with Amazon Prime Video in 2016 and earned Waller-Bridge a BAFTA Award for Best Female Comedy Performance among other accolades. The second season premiered on BBC Three and Amazon Prime Video earlier this year to universal acclaim, garnering 11 Emmy Award nominations and taking home the awards for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy, , as well as Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy and Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy at Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards.

A feuding fairy King and Queen of the forest cross paths with four runaway lovers and a troupe of actors trying to rehearse a play in Shakespeare’s A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM.  Love triangles (and love quadrangles), mistaken identities, and even a talking donkey make this Shakespeare’s most famous and fantastical romantic comedy. A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be presented at 2 p.m. on Saturday, January 18.

Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones) and Oliver Chris (Green Wing, NT Live: Young Marx) lead the cast as the royal fairies Titania and Oberon, with David Moorst (NT Live: Allelujah!) and Hammed Animashaun (The Barber Shop Chronicles) as the mischievous Puck and the hapless Bottom in this sensuous, lush production directed by Nicholas Hytner (Julius Caesar, NT Live 2018).

TICKETS: $20; $15 for subscribers

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE VENUE WILL BE THE MICHAEL R. KLEIN THEATRE AT THE LANSBURGH.

Wednesday, January 15: Fleabag at 7 p.m.
Friday, January 17: Fleabag at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Saturday, January 18: A Midsummer Night’s Dream at 2 p.m.
Saturday, January 18: Fleabag at 7 p.m.

ABOUT NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE

National Theatre Live turned ten on 25^th June, 2019 —the date of the first ever NT Live broadcast, which was Phédre starring Academy Award winner Helen Mirren. Over ten years, over 80 theatre productions have been shown in 3,500 venues worldwide, reaching an overall audience of nearly 9 million people. NT Live and BY Experience are celebrating 10 years of presenting superb theatrical programming live to 3,500 cinemas exclusively in 60+ countries. 

Recent broadcasts at Shakespeare Theatre Company include All About Eve with Gillian Anderson and Lily James, I’m Not Running with Siân Brooke, Joshua McGuire, and Alex Hassell, Antony & Cleopatra with Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo, The Madness of King George III with Mark Gatiss and Adrian Scarborough, and King Lear with Ian McKellen.