New collaboration with National Theatre Live
Posted on 20/12/2010
Fela! at the National Theatre
A new collaboration between King’s College London and the National Theatre will make King’s one of the first academic venues to participate in the hugely popular National Theatre Live initiative.
National Theatre Live is a groundbreaking project to broadcast the best of British theatre to cinemas around the world. The first season of events, which began in June 2009 with the acclaimed production of Phèdre starring Helen Mirren, was seen by over 165,000 people on 320 screens in 22 countries.
Bill T. Jones’ multi-award-winning FELA! will be the first production to be streamed live from the Anatomy Theatre & Museum at the College’s Strand campus on 13 January 2011. FELA! comes via Broadway and the National Theatre to King’s and explores the world of Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. Performances of King Lear, Frankenstein and The Cherry Orchard will follow. See the Anatomy Theatre & Museum website for full details of the performances and accompanying academic programme.
The collaboration with the NT is part of the innovative programme of events in the Anatomy Theatre & Museum (ATM) curated by Sheila Anderson, Director of the Centre for e-Research and Professor Alan Read, Department of English and Director of the Performance Foundation, and supported by a dedicated team in the Centre for e-Research. The new partnership was brokered by King’s Business, and takes its place alongside a range of other collaborations between academic faculty within the School of Arts & Humanities and the cultural and creative industries.
Adding imaginative and intellectual value to London
Sheila Anderson, Director, Centre for e-Research, and co-curator of the ATM says, ‘The collaboration with National Theatre Live is a wonderful manifestation of our vision for the ATM, utilising technology to explore new collaborations, research and teaching. We are developing an academic and widening participation agenda around each of the screenings that will take advantage of King’s world class strengths in the creative disciplines and digital humanities, but that will also enable us to explore cross-disciplinary questions across the arts, sciences and medicine. We encourage staff and students to contact us if they are interested in contributing to the future programme.’
Alan Read, Professor of Theatre in the Department of English at King’s says, ‘We are delighted to be able to announce this exciting, new partnership with the National Theatre, currently in the prime of its artistic life. Performances at the National are always of the highest quality, increasingly engaging the mind as much as the heart and are therefore very much in demand from new audiences as much as established theatre goers. With its central London, ‘Off West End’ campuses, neighbouring the National Theatre, King’s is perfectly placed to attract an even wider audience of theatre lovers including members of the public, alumni, staff and students. This is a further example of how King’s can add imaginative and intellectual value to the continuous performance of this world capital.’
Emma Keith, Associate Producer, National Theatre Live, and a King’s alumna, comments, ‘We are delighted to be working with King’s College London. I am pleased that the live broadcasts from the National Theatre will be available to students and staff of the College. The programme of accompanying academic events will allow the audience to gain a deeper understanding of the context of each of the broadcasts.’
Image: courtesy of the National Theatre
Tickets and dates:
Broadcasts of National Theatre Live at King’s College London start at 7pm. Tickets cost £12.50 for staff and alumni of King’s, £10 for King’s students and £15 for everyone else. Tickets include a drink in the interval and access to the accompanying academic events. They can be purchased online via the King's website.
Fela! - 13 January 2011
A provocative and wholly unique hybrid of dance, theatre and music, Fela! explores the world of Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.
Donmar Warehouse’s King Lear - 3 February 2011
Derek Jacobi plays the title role in the Donmar Warehouse production of Shakespeare’s King Lear, directed by Michael Grandage, which will be broadcast from the Donmar’s home in London’s Covent Garden.
Frankenstein - 17 March 2011
Danny Boyle’s new production of Frankenstein, a play by Nick Dear, based on the novel by Mary Shelley, will be broadcast from the National’s Olivier Theatre. Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller will alternate the roles of Victor Frankenstein and the Creature.
The Cherry Orchard - 30 June 2011
Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard will be directed by NT Associate Director Howard Davies. Zoë Wanamaker will play Madame Ranevskaya.
http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/ntlive
Notes to editors
Centre for e-Research
Established in 2008, the Centre for e-Research (CeRch) is a research centre located in Information Services and Systems (ISS) – an academic centre outside the Schools and departmental structure at King’s aimed at facilitating interdisciplinary, institutional, national and international collaboration. The Centre is both an academic centre researching, publishing and teaching in its areas of expertise and developing and teaching on the MA in Digital Asset Management (MADAM) programme, and a contributor to ISS-related activities supporting e-research, data management, and the curation and preservation of research data. This unusual combination of research, development, and practice provides the centre with a unique insight into how theoretical work can be applied and translated into practical applications and services. http://www.kcl.ac.uk/iss/cerch
Performance Foundation
The Performance Foundation supports research led innovation, experiment and engagement in the public realm through performance enquiry and practice. Constituted as a collaborative, cooperative alliance of artists, academics and practitioners from within and beyond King’s College London the Performance Foundation enhances King’s core disciplinary strengths through creative arts and cultural interventions. Working to broker alliances and events with equal respect for the imagination and the intellect the Performance Foundation acts as a Front of House for King’s on the London and world stage. The Performance Foundation will take up residence in the East Wing of Somerset House in October 2011 and will be on site at www.performancefoundation.org.uk from January 2011.
Anatomy Theatre & Museum (ATM)
Launched in November 2009 following investment from Estates and Information Services & Systems (ISS), the ATM houses teaching, research and events that progress our understanding of the part performance plays across disciplines and practices, and the new and innovative means through which the digital environment can enhance scholarship, archiving and research.
For further information:
Alison Denyer, Senior Communications Manager
Tel: 020 7848 3073
Email: alison.denyer@kcl.ac.uk