Hampstead Theatre and The Guardian will re-release the live stream recordings of Mike Bartlett’s Wild, Beth Steel’s Wonderland and Howard Brenton’s Drawing the Line for free.
Available to watch on theguardian.com and hampsteadtheatre.com, the three productions will be made available, on demand, over three consecutive weeks as part of the theatre’s #HampsteadTheatreAtHome series.
Week 1, from Monday 30 March 10am to Sunday 5 April 10pm (GMT), will feature Mike Bartlett’s Wild (2016). Directed by James Macdonald, this darkly comic play explores the unexpected, bewildering, and life-changing consequences of challenging the status quo at a global level, inspired by the case of Edward Snowden, the American whistleblower who copied and leaked classified information from the US National Security Agency in 2013.
Week 2, from Monday 6 April, 10am - Sunday 12 April, 10pm (GMT) will feature Beth Steel’s Wonderland (2014). Directed by the theatre’s previous Artistic Director, Edward Hall, this epic and witty drama takes a look at the clashing ideologies during the UK’s Miners' Strike of 1984–85 and presents the full sweep of the turbulent events that transformed the country.
Week 3, from Monday 13 April, 10am – Sunday 19 April, 10pm (GMT) will feature Howard Brenton’s Drawing the Line (2013). Directed by the late Howard Davies, the play features a large ensemble, and tells the story of the chaotic partitioning of India in 1947 whilst celebrating the strength of humanity.
All three productions were originally live streamed from Hampstead Theatre and were available to watch on theguardian.com followed by an on-demand service for 72 hours.
Hampstead Theatre closed its building following UK Government advice on Monday 16 March 2020. The #HampsteadTheatreAtHome is a series of digital initiatives designed to support audiences in isolation by sharing world class entertainment with them in their home for free. Its first initiative, I and You, Lauren Gunderson’s witty and uplifting portrayal of friendship, youth and living life to the full, was available on Instagram’s mobile video platform IGTV from Monday 23 10am until Sunday 29 March, 10pm (GMT). Starring Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones) and Zach Wyatt, it was a box office and critical success at the theatre in 2018 and previously broadcast on Instagram from 30 November to 3 December 2018.
Roxana Silbert, Artistic Director of Hampstead Theatre said:
“I am delighted and grateful to be in a position to offer this new #HampsteadTheatreAtHome series from Hampstead’s digital archive. I hope these productions offer audiences entertainment, connection and nourishment in a time of uncertainty and isolation. These three plays all shine a light on turbulent points in our international history which, along with acknowledging the worst of human behaviour, celebrates the ingenuity, humour, compassion and resilience of the best.
Thank you to the many artists involved for allowing us to create this series so quickly and to The Guardian for being our wonderful streaming partner again, helping us reach as many people as possible.”
Hampstead Theatre, Eton Avenue, London, NW3 3EU
Box Office 020 7722 9301 | hampsteadtheatre.com
WEEK 1 - WILD VIEWING INFORMATION
Dates: Monday 30 March, 10am – Sunday 5 April, 10pm (GMT) 2020
Viewing Platform: theguardian.com and Hampstead Theatre’s YouTube channel
Running Time: 1 hour 50mins
Suggested Age Recommendation: 14+
A Hampstead Theatre Production
WILD
By Mike Bartlett
Directed by James Macdonald
Design by Miriam Buether
Lighting by Peter Mumford
Sound by Christopher Shutt
Consulting Illusionist Ben Hart
Cast Caoilfhionn Dunne, Jack Farthing, John Mackay
Let me tell you, now you’re in the club, that it’s important to keep a sense of humour, because things are going to get, now and for the rest of your life, extremely difficult
Last week, Andrew was that guy with his girl lunching in KFC, discussing apartments and making plans for the future. Today he’s in Moscow, in an undisclosed hotel room, on the run and at risk of assassination.
Last week, a nobody. This week, America’s Most Wanted: a man who humiliated his country with one touch of a button.
WEEK 2 - WONDERLAND VIEWING INFORMATION
Dates: Monday 6 April, 10am – Sunday 12 April, 10pm (GMT) 2020
Viewing Platform: theguardian.com and hampsteadtheatre.com
Running Time: 2 hours 35mins
Suggested Age Recommendation: 14+
A Hampstead Theatre Production
WONDERLAND
By Beth Steel
Directed by Edward Hall
Design by Ashley Martin Davis
Lighting by Peter Mumford
Choreographer Scott Ambler
Sound by Matt McKenzie
Composer Simon Slater
Cast Nigel Betts, Paul Brennen, Dugald Bruce-Lockhart, Gunnar Cauthery, Paul Cawley, Michael Cochrane, Ben-Ryan Davies, Andrew Havill, David Moorst, Paul Rattray, Andrew Readman, Simon Slater
There’s 250 million years down there. A miner, he’s not just working a piece of rock, he’s working with the world…
The Midlands, 1984. Two young lads are about to learn what it is to be a miner, to be accepted into the close camaraderie and initiated into a unique workplace where sweat, toil, collapsing roofs and explosions are all to be met with bawdy humour.
London, 1984. A conflicted Tory MP, a brash American CEO and an eccentric maverick are the face of a radical Conservative government preparing to do battle with the most powerful workforce, the miners.
As the two sides clash, the miners fight for their livelihoods and families, and the government for its vision of a free Britain. Together they change the fabric of the nation forever.
WEEK 3 - DRAWING THE LINE VIEWING INFORMATION
Dates: Monday 13 April, 10am – Sunday 19 April, 10pm 2020
Viewing Platform: theguardian.com and hampsteadtheatre.com
Running Time: 2 hours 15mins
Suggested Age Recommendation: 14+
A Hampstead Theatre Production
DRAWING THE LINE
By Howard Brenton
Directed by Howard Davies
Design by Tim Hatley
Costume Design by Jack Galloway
Lighting by Rick Fisher
Composer Nicki Wells
Sound Design by Mike Walker
Cast David Annen, Paul Bazely, Tom Beard, Lucy Black, Silas Carson, Abigail Cruttenden, Neil D'Souza, Tanveer Ghani, Andrew Havill, Salma Hoque, Rez Kempton, John Mackay, Simon Nagra, Nikesh Patel, Brendan Patricks, Shalini Peiris, Peter Singh
Really? Have the British sent a fool? Do they want to turn partition into a Gilbert and Sullivan opera?
London, 1947. Summoned by the Prime Minister from the Court where he is presiding judge, Cyril Radcliffe is given an unlikely mission. He is to travel to India, a country he has never visited, and, with limited survey information, no expert support and no knowledge of cartography, he is to draw the border which will divide the Indian sub-continent into two new Sovereign Dominions. To make matters even more challenging, he has only six weeks to complete the task.
Wholly unsuited to his role, Radcliffe is unprepared for the dangerous whirlpool of political intrigue and passion into which he is plunged – untold consequences may even result from the illicit liaison between the Leader of the Congress Party and the Viceroy’s wife… As he begins to break under the pressure he comes to realise that he holds in his hands the fate of millions of people.
