SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES LINEUP FOR NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE SERIES, FEATURING FLEABAG AND SIMON GODWIN’S ANTONY & CLEOPATRA

September 3, 2019, Washington, D.C.: Shakespeare Theatre Company is delighted to announce the lineup of three National Theatre Live screenings in anticipation of the 2019/20 Season: FLEABAG, ANTONY & CLEOPATRA, THE LEHMAN TRILOGY, and KINKY BOOTS, distributed by BY Experience. National Theatre Live brings the best of British theatre to cinema screens around the world, including STC’s Sidney Harman Hall (610 F St. NW) in early October.

For fans of canned gin and tonics, guinea pigs, and black jumpsuits, the NT Live series will begin with a screening of FLEABAG. 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 October 1 and October 4 at 7:30 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.

Simon Godwin, the new Artistic Director at Shakespeare Theatre Company, will be at Sidney Harman Hall to greet audience members and introduce ANTONY & CLEOPATRA, Shakespeare’s sultry and stunning tragedy. Antony & Cleopatra will be presented on October 2 at 7:30 p.m. and October 5 at 2 p.m.

After Caesar’s assassination, GeneralMark Antony (Ralph Fiennes, Harry Potter, The English Patient) now rules alongside his fellow defenders of Rome. But at the fringes of a war-torn empire the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra(Sophie Okonedo, The Hollow Crown, Mrs. Mandela) and Mark Antony have fallen fiercely in love. “Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo have simmering chemistry’’ (London Evening Standard) in this tragic fight between devotion and duty. Godwin brings his “contemporary eye with a fastidious ear for Shakespeare’s language” (The Guardian) in Shakespeare’s gripping tale of politics and passion.

Director Sam Mendes (Skyfall, King Lear) returned to the National Theatre last year to direct an all-star cast including Simon Russell Beale (NT Live King Lear, The Tragedy of King Richard the Second), Adam Godley (Suits, Breaking Bad) and Ben Miles (The Crown, The Hollow Crown) in Ben Power’s English version of Stefano Massini’s vast and poetic play THE LEHMAN TRILOGY,which was a hit across Europe. Following a sold-out run at the National Theatre, the production transferred to the Park Avenue Armory Theatre in New York earlier this year and is currently playing at the Piccadilly Theatre in London’s West End. The Lehman Trilogy will play on October 3 at 7:30 p.m.

On a cold September morning in 1844 a young man from Bavaria stands on a New York dockside. Dreaming of a new life in the new world, he is joined by his two brothers and an American epic begins. 163 years later, the firm they establish—Lehman Brothers—spectacularly collapses into bankruptcy, and triggers the largest financial crisis in history. The story of a family and a company that changed the world, told in three parts on a single evening.

Pull on your sexiest boots and head to Sidney Harman Hall for the final show: KINKY BOOTS-THE MUSICAL. The NT Live series will end with a special showing of the Tony, Grammy, and Olivier Award-winning musical from pop icon Cyndi Lauper and legendary playwright Harvey Fierstein,directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Jerry Mitchell and based on the film written by Geoff Dane and Tim Firth. Filmed at the Adelphi Theatre in London, Kinky Boots is inspired by true events. This huge-hearted hit tells the story of two people with nothing in common: Charlie (played by Olivier Award nominee Killian Donnelly), a shoe factory owner struggling to save his family business, and Lola (played by Matt Henry, who won an Olivier Award for the role), a fabulous performer with a novel idea that will benefit them both. This unexpected pair learn to embrace their differences, creating stunning stilettos and a deep friendship in the process. Kinky Boots will be shown on October 5 at 8 p.m.

TICKETS: $18; $15 for subscribers
October 1: Fleabag at 7:30 pm
October 2: Antony & Cleopatra with Simon Godwin at 7:30 pm
October 3: The Lehman Trilogy at 7:30 pm
October 4: Fleabag at 7:30 pm
October 5: Antony & Cleopatra with Simon Godwin at 2 pm
October 5: Kinky Boots at 8pm

ABOUT NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE
National Theatre Live turned ten on 25^th June this year—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.