NEW YORK and ACROSS THE COUNTRY: Nicholas Hytner, the artistic director of London’s National Theatre, describes best the comic appeal of Nicholas Wright‘s London play Travelling Light. “I’ll tell you what’s lovely,” Hytner stated in a recent interview, “to have a play about Jews which is not about the Holocast, which is not about Israel, and is not about anti-Semitism.”
What is Travelling Light about? It’s about Hollywood. It’s a tribute to how Eastern European immigrants (for example, the Hollywood impresario Sam Goldwyn) helped invent Hollywood. You might say the play complements the popular new film The Artist, because both works trace the early days of black-and-white silent film-making.
On Thursday, February 9th, the London performance of Travelling Light will be seen via HD live in New York City; Pleasantville, NY; and Trenton, NJ, with more than 3o0 live cinematic screenings unveiling throughout North America. Please scroll down to the schedule at the end of this article.
Here are today’s live screenings:
- NYU Skirball Center for the Arts (NY, NY) – February 9 at 7pm
- Cinema 123 (NY, NY) – February 9 at 7pm, February 12 at 2pm
- AMC Empire 25 (NY, NY) – February 9 at 7pm
- Jacob Burns Film Center (Pleasantville, NY) at 2 pm
- AMC Hamilton 24 (Trenton, NJ) – February 9 at 7pm
Now in its third season, National Theatre Live is offering here a unique peak into the latest work of the British playwright, Wright, who wrote Vincent in Brixton and The Reporter. Those with longer memories might remember Vincent in Brixton, because it starred Anthony Sherr, who plays the leading role of Jacob, a movie producer in Travelling Light, and because Vincent in Brixton had a successful Broadway run at Circle in the Square Theatre. It was a powerful play about a young Vincent van Gogh.
Jacob is a local timber merchant who bankrolls the efforts of a young filmmaker named Motl Mendl (played by Damien Molony), young Jewish man who fell in love with his late father’s moving picture camera. Wright’s play is structured as a memory piece. Motl Mendl has moved to the U.S. and changed his name to Maurice Montgomery. The older man, a successful movie mogul in the 1930s, looks back on his younger self as he discovered the joys of montage and closeups in a shtetl.
The play premiered at the National Theatre’s Lyttelton Theatre on January 18 2012.
National Theatre Live is an initiative by the UK’s National Theatre to broadcast live performances onto cinema screens around the world. In the New York City area, screenings take place at the AMC Empire 25, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), NYU’s Skirball Center, City Cinema 123, Kew Gardens Cinema, Fairfield University (CT), and more.
SCHEDULE: For a complete list of U.S. dates, times & locations, please check: www.ntlive.com
Broadcasts in major markets are as follows.
● NYU Skirball Center for the Arts (NY, NY) – February 9 at 7pm
● Cinema 123 (NY, NY) – February 9 at 7pm, February 12 at 2pm
● AMC Empire 25 (NY, NY) – February 9 at 7pm
● Jacob Burns Film Center (Pleasantville, NY) at 2 pm
● AMC Hamilton 24 (Trenton, NJ) – February 9 at 7pm
● Brooklyn Academy of Music (Brooklyn, NY) – February 23 at 7pm
● Kew Gardens Cinema (Queens, NY) – February 9 at 7pm
● Fairfield University (Fairfield, CT) – February 9 at 2 & 7pm
● Monmouth University (West Long Branch, NJ) – February 9 at 7pm
● Downtown Independent (Los Angeles, CA) – February 9 at 11am; 18 at 2pm; 23 at 7pm & March 7 at 7pm
● James Bridges Theater (UCLA) – February 12 at 4 pm
● La Mirada Theatre (La Mirada, CA) – February 19 at 2 pm
● Irvine Barclay Theater (Irvine, CA) – February 29 at 7:15pm
● Coolidge Corner Theatre (Brookline, MA) – February 9 at 7pm
● Shakespeare Theatre Company (DC) – March 3 at 8pm
● Guthrie Theater (Minneapolis, MN) – February 27 at 7:30pm
● Music Box (Chicago, IL) – February 20, time TBA
● Phoenix Art Museum (Phoenix, AZ) – February 26 at 2pm
● Kabuki Cinemas (San Francisco, CA) – February 13 at 7pm & February 18 at 12:30pm
● Michigan Theater (Ann Arbor, MI) – February 19, 7pm
● AMC Discover Hills (Lawrenceville, GA) – February 9 at 7pm
● Pavilions 15 (Denver, CO) – February 9 at 7pm
TICKETS: Ticket prices vary by venue. The average ticket price is $20. Contact local venues for ticket information.
NT Live is distributed by New York-based BY Experience, Inc. (www.byexperience.net)
Related articles
- World’s most prestigious prize given to the best English-language play written by a woman goes to… (theaterofoneworld.org)
- Detroit at National Theatre May 8 - June 15 (winningreview.wordpress.com)
- Live from the National Theatre of London series Saturday and Sunday at Coral Gables Art Cinema (miamiherald.typepad.com)
- How Hollywood started in the shtetl - well, possibly (thejc.com)
- Antony Sher: ‘Painting and writing stop me going crazy’ (guardian.co.uk)
