Celebrate Shakespeare at the National Theatre - Free App for iPad and iPhone!

Celebrate Shakespeare at the National Theatre with a free app for iPad and iPhone - now available to download

Released to mark the 400th anniversary year of Shakespeare's death, National Theatre Shakespeare draws together a wealth of incredible archive material from the 55 main-house Shakespeare productions the NT has staged to date, from Peter O'Toole as Hamlet in 1963 and the 1964 all-male production of As You Like It, to the critically acclaimed 2013 Othello and Sam Mendes' production of King Lear in 2014.

Packed with videos, production photographs, costume and set designs, annotated scripts and more, it gives a unique glimpse behind the scenes of the NT, and demonstrates Shakespeare's continuing relevance to the Modern Stage.

Featuring:
• Exclusive video interviews including Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Derek Jacobi;

• An interactive timeline of production posters;

• Hundreds of production and rehearsal photographs, costume illustrations, set designs, technical images, annotated scripts and other content from a selection of NT productions;

• An introduction to each production from journalist and critic Benedict Nightingale;

• Cast and production lists

The history of the creation of the NT is inextricably linked with William Shakespeare. Effingham Wilson's proposal for a national theatre was partly inspired by the purchase of Shakespeare's Birthplace for the nation in 1847. In Wilson's 1848 Proposition for a National Theatre he set out a claim that a theatre - 'a house for Shakespeare' - would be an important complement to the preservation of Shakespeare's home.

The inaugural production of the National Theatre Company at the Old Vic was Hamlet in 1963, directed by Laurence Olivier and featuring Peter O'Toole. When the NT moved to its new building on the South Bank in 1976, the first production was Hamlet directed by Peter Hall, with Albert Finney in the title role. This year, therefore, also marks the 40th anniversary of Shakespeare productions at the NT on the South Bank.

Including those staged at the Old Vic, there have been 55 main-house productions of Shakespeare's plays at the NT, the most recent being As You Like It, directed by Polly Findlay. Twelfth Night, directed by Simon Godwin and featuring Tamsin Greig, will open in early 2017.

The National Theatre Shakespeare app is supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The NT is part of the Shakespeare400 partnership coordinated by King's College London (http://www.shakespeare400.org/)

In total, there are 55 Shakespeare productions at the NT featured in this app:

1963. Hamlet

1964. Othello

1965. Much Ado About Nothing

1967. As You Like It

1968. Love's Labour's Lost

1970. The Merchant of Venice

1971. Coriolanus

1972. Richard II

1972. Macbeth

1974. The Tempest

1975. Hamlet

1977. Julius Caesar

1978. Macbeth

1979. As You Like It

1979. Richard III

1980. Othello

1981. Measure for Measure

1981. Much Ado About Nothing

1982. A Midsummer Night's Dream

1984. Coriolanus

1986. King Lear

1987. Antony and Cleopatra

1988. Cymbeline (Late Plays)

1988. The Tempest (Late Plays)

1988. The Winter's Tale (Late Plays)

1989. Hamlet

1990. Richard III

1990. King Lear

1992. A Midsummer Night's Dream

1993. Macbeth

1994. Pericles

1995. The Merry Wives of Windsor

1995. Richard II

1995. Titus Andronicus

1997. King Lear

1997. Othello

1998. Antony and Cleopatra

1999. The Merchant of Venice

1999. Troilus and Cressida

2000. Hamlet

2000. Romeo and Juliet

2001. The Winter's Tale

2003. Henry V

2003. Love's Labour's Lost

2004. Measure for Measure

2005. Henry IV - Parts 1 & 2

2007. Much Ado About Nothing

2009. All's Well That Ends Well

2010. Hamlet

2011. Twelfth Night

2011. The Comedy of Errors

2012. Timon of Athens

2013. Othello

2014. King Lear

2015. As You Like It

The National Theatre is dedicated to making the very best theatre and sharing it with as many people as possible. We produce productions on the South Bank in London each year, ranging from re-imagined classics to modern masterpieces and new work by contemporary writers and theatre-makers. The National's work is seen on tour throughout the UK, in London's West End, internationally (including on Broadway) and in collaborations and co-productions with theatres across the country.

Across 2015-2016, the NT staged 34 productions and gave 3,057 performances in the UK and internationally. They reached audiences of over 787,000 on the South Bank, and over 3.7 million worldwide. Via the NT Live programme, which broadcasts live performances to cinema screens internationally, they reached 1.5 million people around the world.

The Clore Learning Centre at the NT is committed to providing programmes for schools, young people, families, community groups and adult learners, including the nationwide youth theatre festival Connections and playwriting competition New Views. Last year, they engaged with over 189,000 participants through the NT Learning events programme. Further, over 2,200 secondary schools have signed up to the free streaming service, On Demand in Schools since its launch in September 2015.

nationaltheatre.org.uk

@nationaltheatre

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