Academy Award® nominee Benedict Cumberbatch (BBC’s Sherlock, The Imitation Game, Frankenstein at the National Theatre) takes on the title role of Shakespeare’s great tragedy.

Directed by Lyndsey Turner (Posh, Chimerica) and produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, National Theatre Live will broadcast this eagerly awaited production live to cinemas.

As a country arms itself for war, a family tears itself apart. Forced to avenge his father’s death but paralysed by the task ahead, Hamlet rages against the impossibility of his predicament, threatening both his sanity and the security of the state.  

★★★★★

‘Benedict Cumberbatch is a blazing five-star Hamlet.’

Dominic Cavendish, Daily Telegraph

★★★★★

‘This is a Hamlet for a world on the edge: a warning from history, and a plea for new ideas from a new generation.’

Matt Trueman, Variety

★★★★★

‘One of the most visually and atmospherically stunning productions I’ve ever seen, of anything, ever.’

Andrzej Lukowski, Time Out

National Theatre Live is the National Theatre’s ground-breaking project to broadcast world-class theatre to cinemas in the UK and internationally. National Theatre Live launched in June 2009 with a broadcast of the National Theatre production of Phèdre with Helen Mirren. They’ve since broadcast more than forty other productions live, from both the National Theatre and from other theatres in the UK. Their broadcasts have now been experienced by over 5.5 million people in over 2,000 venues around the world, including over 650 venues in the UK alone.

Though each broadcast is filmed in front of a live audience in the theatre, cameras are carefully positioned throughout the auditorium to ensure that cinema audiences get the ‘best seat in the house’ view of each production. Where these cameras are placed is different for each broadcast, to make sure that cinema audiences enjoy the best possible experience every time.