Skip to main content
Shop Merch Fall Preview Guide
My Shows
News on your favorite shows, specials & more!

Photos: NT50 - The National Theatre's Birthday Celebrations, With Dench, Mirren, And More!

By:

Photos: NT50 - The National Theatre's Birthday Celebrations, With Dench, Mirren, And More! — photo 1 of 21

This evening, Live From The National Theatre: 50 Years On Stage airs across the world!

Here are some shots from the production, all by Catherine Ashmore.

They feature stars such as Dame Judi Dench, Dame Maggie Smith, Dame Helen Mirren, Adrian Lester, Benedict Cumberbatch and more!

From Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead to The History Boys, from The Mysteries to Angels in America, from Guys and Dolls to London Road - join us for a thrilling evening of live performance and rare glimpses from the archive, featuring many of the most celebrated actors who have performed on our stages over the past five decades and directed by Nicholas Hytner.

Photos: NT50 - The National Theatre's Birthday Celebrations, With Dench, Mirren, And More! — photo 2 of 21
Rory Kinnear as Iago and Adrian Lester as Othello (roles they played at the NT earlier this year)

Photos: NT50 - The National Theatre's Birthday Celebrations, With Dench, Mirren, And More! — photo 3 of 21
Jack Holden as Albert in War Horse, with Toby Olie, Thomas Wilton and Michael Brett as Joey (premiered at the NT in 2007)

Photos: NT50 - The National Theatre's Birthday Celebrations, With Dench, Mirren, And More! — photo 4 of 21
Nicholas Le Prevost as Ernest and Penelope Wilton as Delia in Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce (the play was premiered at the NT in 1977 with Joan Hickson and Michael Gough)

Photos: NT50 - The National Theatre's Birthday Celebrations, With Dench, Mirren, And More! — photo 5 of 21
Clive Rowe as Nicely-Nicely in the musical Guys and Dolls (a role he played in the productionâ€s revival at the NT in 1996, having first been produced there in 1982)

Photos: NT50 - The National Theatre's Birthday Celebrations, With Dench, Mirren, And More! — photo 6 of 21
Ralph Fiennes as Lambert Le Roux in Pravda by Howard Brenton & David Hare (a role originally played by Anthony Hopkins in the play's premiere at the NT in 1985)

Photos: NT50 - The National Theatre's Birthday Celebrations, With Dench, Mirren, And More! — photo 7 of 21
Dominic Cooper and Andrew Scott in Angels in America by Tony Kushner (which received its London premiere at the NT in 1992)

Photos: NT50 - The National Theatre's Birthday Celebrations, With Dench, Mirren, And More! — photo 8 of 21
Christopher Eccleston as George Jones MP in The Absence of War by David Hare (premiered at the NT in 1993 with John Thaw)

Photos: NT50 - The National Theatre's Birthday Celebrations, With Dench, Mirren, And More! — photo 9 of 21
A scene from The Mysteries: medieval mystery plays in a version by Tony Harrison (originally performed at the NT in 1985 and revived in 1999) with Lucian Msamati, Aaron Neil, Junix Inocian, Anthony O'Donnell, Richard Ridings, Michelle Terry, Edward Baruwa and Lyndsey Marshal

Photos: NT50 - The National Theatre's Birthday Celebrations, With Dench, Mirren, And More! — photo 10 of 21
Simon Russell Beale giving a speech as Hamlet (which he performed at the NT in 2000)

Photos: NT50 - The National Theatre's Birthday Celebrations, With Dench, Mirren, And More! — photo 11 of 21
(left to right) Dominic Cooper, Sacha Dhawan, James Corden and Philip Correia in The History Boys by Alan Bennett (recreating their roles in the play which premiered at the NT in 2004)

Photos: NT50 - The National Theatre's Birthday Celebrations, With Dench, Mirren, And More! — photo 12 of 21
Frances de la Tour as Kay in Alan Bennett's The Habit of Art (which she played in the NT premiere in 2009)

Photos: NT50 - The National Theatre's Birthday Celebrations, With Dench, Mirren, And More! — photo 13 of 21
Sir Derek Jacobi as the Ghost in Hamlet (he played Laertes in the NT's opening production of Hamlet in 1963)

Photos: NT50 - The National Theatre's Birthday Celebrations, With Dench, Mirren, And More! — photo 14 of 21
Benedict Cumberbatch as Rosencrantz in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard (the play was first performed at the National Theatre in 1967 with John Stride and Edward Petherbridge in the title roles)

Photos: NT50 - The National Theatre's Birthday Celebrations, With Dench, Mirren, And More! — photo 15 of 21
Dame Maggie Smith giving a speech from The Beaux' Stratagem by George Farquhar (which she originally played at the NT in 1970)

Photos: NT50 - The National Theatre's Birthday Celebrations, With Dench, Mirren, And More! — photo 16 of 21
Sir Michael Gambon as Hirst and Sir Derek Jacobi as Spooner in Harold Pinter's No Man's Land (first performed at the NT in 1975 with Sir John Gielgud and Sir Ralph Richardson)

Photos: NT50 - The National Theatre's Birthday Celebrations, With Dench, Mirren, And More! — photo 17 of 21
Dame Judi Dench giving a speech as Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra (which she originally played at the NT in 1987 opposite Anthony Hopkins)

Photos: NT50 - The National Theatre's Birthday Celebrations, With Dench, Mirren, And More! — photo 18 of 21
Dame Judi Dench as Desiree Armfeldt, singing 'Send in the Clowns' in Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music (which she originally performed at the NT in 1995)

Photos: NT50 - The National Theatre's Birthday Celebrations, With Dench, Mirren, And More! — photo 19 of 21
Left to right, Malcolm Sinclair as Colonel Pickering, Rosalie Craig as Eliza Doolittle and Alex Jennings as Henry Higgins in Lerner & Loewe's My Fair Lady (produced at the NT in 2001)

Photos: NT50 - The National Theatre's Birthday Celebrations, With Dench, Mirren, And More! — photo 20 of 21
Dame Helen Mirren as Christine in Mourning Becomes Electra by Eugene O'Neill (which she originally played at the NT in 2003)

Photos: NT50 - The National Theatre's Birthday Celebrations, With Dench, Mirren, And More! — photo 21 of 21
Alison Jiear and members of the company in Jerry Springer - The Opera by Stewart Lee & Richard Thomas (produced at the NT in 2003)



BroadwayWorld TV


Ticket Central
Hot Show
Tickets From $58
Hot Show
Tickets From $80
Hot Show
Tickets From $67
Hot Show
Tickets From $59