Backdrop fallback
National Theatre Live: Hamlet

National Theatre Live: Hamlet

Watch TrailerWatch Movie
2026
2h 40m
6.5(2 votes)
Drama

Overview

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Are you watching closely? Trapped between duty and doubt, surrounded by power and privilege, young Prince Hamlet dares to ask the ultimate question—you know the one. Olivier Award-winner Hiran Abeysekera (Life of Pi) is Hamlet in this fearless, contemporary take on Shakespeare's famous tragedy. National Theatre Deputy Artistic Director, Robert Hastie (Standing at the Sky's Edge, Operation Mincemeat) directs this sharp, stylish and darkly funny reimagining.

Links & Resources

WebsiteIMDbView

Social & External

IMDb

Production Companies

National Theatre

Videos & Trailers

2 videos

Cast & Crew

18 members
Acting

Hiran Abeysekera

Hamlet

Hiran Abeysekera
Acting

Alistair Petrie

Claudius

Alistair Petrie
Acting

Geoffrey Streatfeild

Polonius

Geoffrey Streatfeild
Acting

Ayesha Dharker

Gertrude

Ayesha Dharker
Acting

Francesca Mills

Ophelia

Francesca Mills
Acting

Ryan Ellsworth

Ghost/Player King/First Gravedigger

Ryan Ellsworth
Acting

Tessa Wong

Horatio

Tessa Wong
Acting

Tom Glenister

Laertes

Tom Glenister
Acting

Phil Cheadle

Marcellus / Captain

Phil Cheadle
Acting

Kiren Kebaili-Dwyer

Fortinbras

Kiren Kebaili-Dwyer
Acting

Joe Bolland

Guildenstern

No Image
Acting

Mary Higgins

Osric / Voltemand

Mary Higgins
Acting

Liz Jadav

Nurse / Priest

Liz Jadav
Acting

Hari Mackinnon

Rosencrantz

No Image
Acting

Sophia Papadopoulos

Cornelius / English Ambassador / Second Gravedigger

No Image
Acting

Siobhan Redmond

First Player

Siobhan Redmond
Acting

Seb Slade

Francisco / Reynaldo

No Image
Acting

Noel White

Bernardo

Noel White

Similar Movies

National Theatre Live: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
9.6
2012

National Theatre Live: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Christopher, fifteen years old, has an extraordinary brain – exceptional at maths while ill-equipped to interpret everyday life. When he falls under suspicion of killing Mrs Shears' dog Wellington, he records each fact about the event in the book he is writing to solve the mystery of the murder. But his detective work, forbidden by his father, takes him on a frightening journey that upturns his world.

Movie
Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway
7.9
2008

Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway

Set in New York City's gritty East Village, the revolutionary rock opera RENT tells the story of a group of bohemians struggling to live and pay their rent. "Measuring their lives in love," these starving artists strive for success and acceptance while enduring the obstacles of poverty, illness and the AIDS epidemic.

Movie
Othello
6.4
1995

Othello

The evil Iago pretends to be friend of Othello in order to manipulate him to serve his own end in the film version of this Shakespeare classic.

Movie
2011

My Naked Villainy

Ian, a commercially successful stage director, mounts an avant-garde production of "Othello" for the sole purpose of destroying Tyson, the actor who stole his fiancee Anne from him. Fanatic in his commitment to art, personal integrity and Zen Buddhism, Tyson makes the mistake of accepting the role of Othello in good faith at Anne's urging, only to find himself trapped in Ian's vengeful scheme, an escalating nightmare of absurdly bad theatre that threatens to spin out of control and push them all to the breaking point.

Movie
National Theatre Live: Death of England: Michael
2020

National Theatre Live: Death of England: Michael

After the death of his dad, Michael is powerless and angry. In a state of heartbreak, he confronts the difficult truths about his father's legacy and the country that shaped him. At the funeral, unannounced and unprepared, Michael decides it is time to speak.

Movie
National Theatre Live: A Taste of Honey
2014

National Theatre Live: A Taste of Honey

When her mother Helen runs off with a car salesman, feisty teenager Jo takes up with Jimmie, a sailor who promises to marry her, before he heads for the seas. Art student Geof moves in and assumes the role of a surrogate parent until, misguidedly, he sends for Helen and their unconventional setup unravels.

Movie
National Theatre Live: 'Master Harold'... and the boys
8.0
2019

National Theatre Live: 'Master Harold'... and the boys

St George's Park Tea Room, Port Elizabeth, 1950. On a long rainy afternoon, employees Sam and Willie practise their steps for the finals of the ballroom dancing championship. Hally arrives from school to hide out in his parents' tea room. These two men have been unlikely best friends to Hally his whole life. But it is apartheid era South Africa: he's Master Harold, and they are the boys. Tony Award-winning playwright Athol Fugard's semi-autobiographical and blistering masterwork explores the nature of friendship, and the ways people are capable of hurting even those they love.

Movie
National Theatre Live: King Lear
7.1
2014

National Theatre Live: King Lear

An aged king decides to divide his kingdom between his three daughters, according to which of them is most eloquent in praising him. His favourite, Cordelia, says nothing. Simon Russell Beale, whose recent appearances at the National include Timon of Athens and Collaborators, takes the title role in Shakespeare’s tragedy.

Movie
National Theatre Live: The Seagull
5.0
2022

National Theatre Live: The Seagull

Emilia Clarke makes her West End debut as Nina in Anya Reiss’ unique 21st century modernisation of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, with direction by Jamie Lloyd.

Movie
National Theatre Live: Saint Joan
7.0
2017

National Theatre Live: Saint Joan

Josie Rourke directs Gemma Arterton as Joan of Arc in Bernard Shaw's electrifying classic. Performed at the Donmar Warehouse, and part of the NT Live series of broadcasts.

Movie
The Ballet of Othello
8.0
1960

The Ballet of Othello

The Moorish general Othello is manipulated into thinking that his new wife Desdemona has been carrying on an affair with his lieutenant Michael Cassio when in reality it is all part of the scheme of a bitter ensign named Iago.

Movie
Who Did I Marry?
8.0
2013

Who Did I Marry?

A successful couple with a beautiful daughter, gorgeous home and a mother-in-law and housekeeper that are both eccentric are all the ingredients necessary for a somewhat perfect yet always interesting family. But when Jennifer finds out that her husband Terrance has been cheating on her for years, the family is changed forever. Can Jennifer learn to forgive Terrance so their marriage can be saved, or is it too late to make amends?

Movie
Hamlet at Elsinore
7.8
1964

Hamlet at Elsinore

The ghost of the King of Denmark tells his son Hamlet to avenge his murder by killing the new king, Hamlet's uncle. Hamlet feigns madness, contemplates life and death, and seeks revenge. His uncle, fearing for his life, also devises plots to kill Hamlet. An historic BBC production taped on location in and around Kronborg castle in Elsinore (Denmark), in which the play is set.

Movie
Henry V - Live at Shakespeare's Globe
7.0
2012

Henry V - Live at Shakespeare's Globe

Shakespeare’s masterpiece of the turbulence of war and the arts of peace tells the romantic story of Henry’s campaign to recapture the English possessions in France. But the ambitions of this charismatic king are challenged by a host of vivid characters caught up in the real horrors of war. Henry V, which opened the new Globe with the words ‘O for a muse of fire’, celebrates the power of language to summon into life courts, pubs, ships and battlefields within the ‘wooden O’ - and beyond.

Movie
National Theatre Live: Hedda Gabler
8.5
2017

National Theatre Live: Hedda Gabler

Hedda and Tesman have just returned from their honeymoon and the relationship is already in trouble. Trapped but determined, Hedda tries to control those around her, only to see her own world unravel.

Movie
National Theatre Live: Twelfth Night
8.7
2017

National Theatre Live: Twelfth Night

A ship is wrecked on the rocks. Viola is washed ashore but her twin brother Sebastian is lost. Determined to survive on her own, she steps out to explore a new land. So begins a whirlwind of mistaken identity and unrequited love. The nearby households of Olivia and Orsino are overrun with passion. Even Olivia's upright housekeeper Malvolia is swept up in the madness. Where music is the food of love, and nobody is quite what they seem, anything proves possible.

Movie
National Theatre Live: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
6.3
2017

National Theatre Live: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead

Against the backdrop of Hamlet, two hapless minor characters, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, take centre stage. As the young double act stumble their way in and out of the action of Shakespeare’s iconic drama, they become increasingly out of their depth as their version of the story unfolds.

Movie
National Theatre Live: Obsession
6.6
2017

National Theatre Live: Obsession

Gino is a drifter, down-at-heel and magnetically handsome. At a road side restaurant he encounters husband and wife, Joseph and Hanna. Irresistibly attracted to each other, Gino and Hanna begin a fiery affair and plot to murder her husband. But, in this chilling tale of passion and destruction, the crime only serves to tear them apart.

Movie
National Theatre Live: Salomé
9.0
2017

National Theatre Live: Salomé

An occupied desert nation. A radical from the wilderness on hunger strike. A girl whose mysterious dance will change the course of the world. This charged retelling turns the infamous biblical tale on its head, placing the girl we call Salomé at the centre of a revolution. Internationally acclaimed director Yaël Farber (Les Blancs, Hamlet) draws on multiple accounts to create her urgent, hypnotic production.

Movie
National Theatre Live: Amadeus
7.4
2017

National Theatre Live: Amadeus

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a rowdy young prodigy, arrives in Vienna, the music capital of the world – and he’s determined to make a splash. Awestruck by his genius, court composer Antonio Salieri has the power to promote his talent or destroy his name. Seized by obsessive jealousy he begins a war with Mozart, with music, and ultimately, with God.

Movie

Recommended Movies

National Theatre Live: Hamlet
7.5
2015

National Theatre Live: Hamlet

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

Movie
Hamlet
7.4
1948

Hamlet

Winner of four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor, Sir Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet continues to be the most compelling version of Shakespeare’s beloved tragedy. Olivier is at his most inspired—both as director and as the melancholy Dane himself—as he breathes new life into the words of one of the world’s greatest dramatists.

Movie
King Lear
6.1
2018

King Lear

An aging King invites disaster, when he abdicates to his corrupt, toadying daughters, and rejects his loving and honest one.

Movie
Broke
7.1
2025

Broke

A bronc rider in denial about his fading rodeo career battles against brain injury and a sudden blizzard while reflecting on how it became so difficult to achieve his dreams.

Movie
Hamlet
7.3
1996

Hamlet

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, returns home to find his father murdered and his mother now marrying the murderer... his uncle. Meanwhile, war is brewing.

Movie
Hamlet
6.6
1990

Hamlet

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, finds out that his uncle Claudius killed his father to obtain the throne, and plans revenge.

Movie
Hamilton
7.8
2025

Hamilton

Presenting the tale of American founding father Alexander Hamilton, this filmed version of the original Broadway smash hit is the story of America then, told by America now.

Movie
May December
6.6
2023

May December

Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple buckles under the pressure when an actress arrives to do research for a film about their past.

Movie
TalhotBlond
6.3
2012

TalhotBlond

Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.

Movie
Gigi & Nate
7.6
2022

Gigi & Nate

A young man with a bright future suffers a near-fatal accident and recreates his new life with the help of an unlikely animal friend.

Movie
Reading Lolita in Tehran
7.3
2024

Reading Lolita in Tehran

The screen adaptation of Azar Nafisi’s memoir tells the true story of a literature professor in revolutionary Iran who, amidst censorship and religious extremism, gathers seven of her most dedicated female students to immerse themselves in banned literary classics.

Movie
Hands of Stone
6.6
2016

Hands of Stone

The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.

Movie
Living
7.0
2022

Living

London, 1953. Mr. Williams, a veteran civil servant, is an important cog within the city's bureaucracy as it struggles to rebuild in the aftermath of World War II. Buried under paperwork at the office and lonely at home, his life has long felt empty and meaningless. Then a devastating medical diagnosis forces him to take stock, and to try and grasp some fulfilment before it passes permanently beyond reach.

Movie
Little Lord Fauntleroy
7.3
1980

Little Lord Fauntleroy

Young Cedric Errol and his widowed mother live in genteel poverty in 1880s Brooklyn after the death of his father. Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, has long ago disowned his son for marrying an American. But after the death of the Earl's remaining son, he decides to accept Cedric as his heir.

Movie
Holy Lands
6.1
2019

Holy Lands

When lapsed Jew and former cardiologist Harry suddenly decides to spend his retirement as a pig farmer in Nazareth, Israel, the move deeply shocks his family and his new neighbours. Back in New York, Harry’s ex-wife Monica is trying to manage the lives of their adult children, Annabelle and David, as well as her own.

Movie
Night and the City
7.5
1950

Night and the City

Londoner Harry Fabian is a second-rate con man looking for an angle. After years of putting up with Harry's schemes, his girlfriend, Mary, becomes fed up when he taps her for yet another loan.

Movie
Hungry Hearts
6.5
2015

Hungry Hearts

The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.

Movie
The Tragedy of Macbeth
6.9
2021

The Tragedy of Macbeth

Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.

Movie
Play Dirty
6.3
1969

Play Dirty

During World War II in North Africa, a group of British commandos disguised as Italian soldiers must travel behind enemy lines and destroy a vital Nazi oil depot.

Movie
Richard III
7.2
1955

Richard III

Having helped his brother King Edward IV take the throne of England, the jealous hunchback Richard, Duke of Gloucester, plots to seize power for himself. Masterfully deceiving and plotting against nearly everyone in the royal court, including his eventual wife, Lady Anne, and his brother George, Duke of Clarence, Richard orchestrates a bloody rise to power before finding all his gains jeopardized by those he betrayed.

Movie