‘Angels in America’ now streaming on National Theatre at Home

A trio of new productions can now be viewed on the streaming platform.

At the end of 2020, the National Theatre announced their own streaming service, National Theatre at Home. Today, three new productions are launching on the platform: Angels in America, Antigone and Behind the Beautiful Forevers.

National Theatre director Rufus Norris said: "Angels in America is one of those productions that stays with you always - a seminal piece of theatre that has a lasting impact... In a continued period of isolation for so many people and while we're unable to open our theatres, we hope National Theatre at Home can bring people together to collectively enjoy theatre from home."

Seen at the Lyttelton Theatre in 2017, Tony Kushner's two-part play Angels in America went on to win Best Revival at the Olivier Awards. Set in 1980s America, a group of New Yorkers deal with their tumultuous lives in the midst of the AIDS crisis and the Reagan administration. The cast included Andrew Garfield as Prior Walter and Russell Tovey as Joe Pitt, alongside Nathan Lane, Denise Gough, James McArdle, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and Susan Brown.

Marianne Elliot directed the revival, and in a five-star review for LondonTheatre.co.uk, the Angels in America "revival feels as necessary as oxygen and champions the venue's place at the forefront of British and indeed international theatre experience. A rare marriage between a genuinely terrific play with a first-rate production and knock-out cast it offers theatrical perfection in the deepest sense." 

Don Taylor adapted Sophocles' Antigone for the National Theatre, seen at the Olivier in 2012. Jodie Whittaker and Christopher Eccleston lead the cast in this Greek drama, alongside Annabel Scholey, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Luke Norris, Luke Newberry and Jamie Ballard. In a review for LondonTheatre.co.uk, Peter Brown said: "Antigone manages to encapsulate the essential conflicts between politics, power, the rights of the individual and common humanity. The play itself is powerfully insightful."

Meera Syal stars in Behind the Beautiful Forevers, David Hare's 2014 play. Based on Katherine Boo's book of the same name, the play explores the impact of poverty and wealth living side-by-side in Mumbai. Performed in the Olivier Theatre, the cast includes Anjli Mohindra, Shane Zaza, Anneika Rose and Anjana Vasan.

After today's launch, there will be 16 productions on National Theatre at Home. Other productions include Medea starring Helen McCrory, Yerma starring Billie Piper and Adrian Lester in Othello.

^{Photo credit: Andrew Garfield and Nathan Stewart- Jarrett in Angels in America (Photo by Helen Maybanks)}