The National Theatre has announced the next two filmed productions that will be added to its new streaming service National Theatre at Home. The iconic and multi-award-winning production of War Horse, based on the novel by Michael Morpugo, will be available on demand for the first time since its premiere 13 years ago alongside the powerful 2018 production Julie with Vanessa Kirby in the title role.
National Theatre at Home Presents Shocking and Fiercely Relevant Julie
In Julie, Vanessa Kirby (The Crown, Mission Impossible) plays Julie and Eric Kofi Abrefa (The Amen Corner) plays Jean in Polly Stenham’s shocking and fiercely relevant new version of August Strindberg’s masterpiece about social division, Miss Julie.
Wild and single, Julie throws a huge party in her luxurious London house which rapidly descends into a fight for her own survival.
Filmed for National Theatre Live in the Lyttelton theatre in 2018, Julie is directed by Carrie Cracknell (Medea) with design by Tom Scutt, lighting by Guy Hoare, sound by Christopher Shutt, video design by Mogzi Bromley-Morgans and fight direction by Owain Gwynn. The cast also includes Thalissa Teixeira (Trigonometry).
Julie will be available from Monday 11 January worldwide.
National Theatre at Home Presents The Courageous Tale of War Horse
The winner of more than 25 international awards, including the Tony Award® for Best Play on Broadway, War Horse has been seen by eight million people worldwide and is directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris.
Nick Stafford’s adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s remarkable story of courage, loyalty and friendship tells the story of a young boy called Albert and his horse Joey, set against the backdrop of the First World War.
This powerfully moving and imaginative drama is a show of phenomenal inventiveness, filled with stirring music and songs, featuring ground-breaking puppetry work by South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Company, which brings breathing, galloping horses to life on stage. At the outbreak of World War One, Albert’s beloved horse, Joey, is sold to the Cavalry and shipped to France. Though still not old enough to enlist he embarks on a treacherous mission to find him and bring him home.
War Horse is designed by Rae Smith, with puppet direction, design and fabrication by Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler for Handspring Puppet Company, lighting by Paule Constable, and movement and horse choreography by Toby Sedgwick, with video design by Leo Warner and Mark Grimmer for 59 Productions, songmaker John Tams, music by Adrian Sutton and sound by Christopher Shutt.
War Horse is currently available on Sky Store until 20 January in the UK and will be available in cinemas internationally from 24 February 2021.
Audio Description Available on Six National Theatre at Home Presentations
The National Theatre have also made six productions available on National Theatre at Home with audio-description to support blind or partially sighted audiences worldwide. The Cherry Orchard, Phèdre, Othello, the Young Vic’s Yerma and the Donmar Warehouse’s Coriolanus have been added and Julie from 11 January. War Horse is also available with audio description and for the first time British Sign Language (BSL) until 20 January in the UK. All productions on National Theatre at Home have captions.
- National Theatre at Home is available now at ntathome.com, with single titles available from £5.99 – £8.99, a monthly subscription for £9.98 or a yearly subscription for £99.98.
- National Theatre at Home is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
- War Horse photographs by Brinkhoff Mögenburg
- Julie photographs by Richard H Smith