National Theatre announces partnership renewal with Sky Arts
Sky Arts has renewed its partnership with the National Theatre as Headline Sponsor of NT Live as it approaches its 15th anniversary next year. National Theatre Live films and distributes world-class theatre straight from UK stages to cinema screens around the world. Sky Arts has been a key partner and headline sponsor of NT Live since 2017, supporting the National Theatre’s aim to widen access to the best of British theatre nationwide.
NT Live has grown in success year on year since its inception in 2009, with 96 productions having now screened in cinemas, seen by over 11.5 million people in 65 countries across the globe. Broadcasts have twice broken records to become the highest-grossing event cinema releases of all time in the UK and Ireland: Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag in 2019, and last year Prima Facie in a partnership with Empire Street Productions featuring Jodie Comer in her award-winning West End debut, with over 400,000 people watching the live broadcast.
Emma Keith, Managing Director, Digital, National Theatre, said:
“We are delighted that Sky Arts have renewed their support of National Theatre Live for a further three years. Over the last year we have been delighted to see audiences returning to our cinema broadcasts, with over 86% of tickets sold by cinemas outside of London.
In recent years our digital output has grown exponentially, undeniably placing us as world leaders in live and digital storytelling, making the NT more accessible than at any other point in our history. The renewal of this partnership with Sky Arts will allow us to further grow our reach bringing more world-class theatre to even more audiences across the globe.”
Phil Edgar-Jones, Director, Sky Arts, said:
“We are really pleased to be continuing our partnership with the National Theatre. Our sponsorship of NT Live is only part of the story which involves a deeper collaboration bringing some of the very best of NT’s theatre capture to our screens. We have enjoyed our relationship over the years and are very proud to be able to support all the brilliant creative talent who benefit from our work together.”
During the pandemic, the NT were able to innovate and find new ways to reach audiences. With the vital support of Sky Arts, the National Theatre produced two original films in 2021 which premiered on Sky Arts free-to-air in the UK. Temporarily transforming the vast Lyttelton stage into a film studio, the films were shot with a collaborative team of theatre and film experts. Romeo & Juliet was directed by Simon Godwin, with Jessie Buckley and Josh O’Connor as the star-crossed lovers. A powerful and timely new film directed by Deputy Artistic Director Clint Dyer and Roy Williams, Death of England: Face to Face, followed later in the year earning the National Theatre’s first ever BAFTA nomination.
Sky Arts will be airing two NT Live productions on their channel in the coming months, expanding the partnership beyond cinema screens and into viewers’ homes. More details to be revealed soon.
Further NT Live programming will be announced this autumn.
To find out more about National Theatre Live, visit here…
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