David Tennant as Richard II – coming Nov 13 to a theatre near you hopefully
As most UK readers are acutely (and sadly) aware, David Tennant playing Richard II is one of the hottest tickets in town with every performance of the new Shakespeare production sold out. That’s the bad news. Not to worry, there’s good news to follow…
The most recent production of Richard II, which was announced back in January, will run at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon from 10 October to 16 November where it will then transfer to the Barbican Theatre in London beginning 9 December, 2013 through 25 January, 2014. Richard II will be directed by Gregory Doran, the Artistic Director of the RSC who last collaborated with Tennant in 2008 for the equally as successful run of Hamlet.
The good news for the whole of Planet Earth is that The Royal Shakespeare Company announced yesterday that the play will be streamed from Stratford-upon-Avon this coming November to cinemas around the world. On 13 November, Richard II will become the first RSC production in history to be shown live in cinemas in North America, Australia, Japan and Northern Europe.
In addition to the special cinema screenings, 1,000 UK schools will have the chance to watch when the production is made available for them to stream for free two days later on 15 November. In addition to the five-act play, the estimated 60,000 lucky students will also have access to a live studio link-up hosted by Konnie Huq, featuring members of the creative team, including both Gregory Doran and David Tennant, who will take part in the live online Q&A.
The show’s producer, John Wyver, added: “Richard II promises to be as thrilling and engrossing an experience on cinema screens as I have no doubt it will be in the theatre“. Unfortunately, no word yet as to what cinemas will participate, but as soon as we can get the information, we’ll post. Having seen the National Theatre presentation of Frankenstein both live and in the cinema a couple of years ago, it really is something to mark your calendars for 13 November right now.
