London's National Theatre will launch On Demand in Schools this autumn, making available for free in every secondary school classroom in the U.K. three acclaimed, NT, curriculum-linked productions: Danny Boyle's production of Frankenstein by Nick Dear, based on the novel by Mary Shelley, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller alternating the roles of Frankenstein and the Creature; and Nicholas Hytner's productions of Shakespeare's Hamlet with Rory Kinnear, and Othello with Adrian Lester and Rory Kinnear.
All three productions will be free to stream on demand in the classroom for three years beginning Sept. 2015.
Each play is recorded by National Theatre Live in high definition before a live theater audience. Comprehensive learning resources produced by teachers and leading artists will support each play, and the recordings will be chaptered so that teachers can find key scenes or show the full production over a number of lessons. No special software is required to watch the streams, and streams can be viewed on multiple devices.
This service is available exclusively to U.K. teachers and schools.
"This new initiative underlines the National Theatre's passionate commitment to supporting teachers and schools across the U.K., whether through critically acclaimed productions streamed into classrooms, through our youth theater festival, Connections, or through touring," Alice King-Farlow, the NT's director of learning, said in a press release. "In giving young people access to inspirational theater, we aim to help schools to keep the arts as a vital part of the curriculum."
National Theatre: On Demand in Schools is delivered in partnership with Frog Education Ltd, and supported by Stavros Niarchos Foundation and the Sidney E. Frank Foundation. Schools can find further information and sign up now at nationaltheatre.org.uk/schools. Trailers with further information can be found at National Theatre: On Demand. In Schools.
January 21, 2015
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