CCP National Theatre Live returns with new shows, fan favorites

MANILA, Philippines — The Cultural Center of the Philippines' (CCP) partnership with National Theatre Live (NTL) is getting another season of bringing the best of British theater to the Philippines, featuring new shows and crowd favorites from the debut edition.

NTL has been broadcasting stage performances in London since June 2009 in order to be viewed in cinemas all over the world.

The CCP NTL screenings were initially exclusively shown in Greenbelt cinemas. The new season will now also be shown in other Ayala Malls cinemas, Quezon City's Vertis North and Cebu's Ayala Center.

Returning from the debut season are Phoebe Waller-Bridge's "Fleabag," the Ian McKellen starrer "King Lear" and "Frankenstein," starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller. Cumberbatch's other starrer, "Hamlet," is also returning this season. 

Making their Philippine debuts are "Vanya," starring Andrew Scott, James Graham's "Dear England," Jack Thorne's "The Motive and Cue" and Tim Price's "Nye."

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The new CCP NTL season kicks off with "Vanya" in Greenbelt cinema where Scott takes on multiple characters in the one-man adaptation of Anton Chekhov's work.

The one-woman show "Fleabag," showing in Ayala Vertis North and Ayala Center Cebu on the same day, inspired the hit BBC series of the same name. The show coincidentally features Waller-Bridge and Scott.

"Dear England," centering on England football coach Gareth Southgate, will premiere in Greenbelt cinema on July 30, the same day that "King Lear" screens in Ayala Vertis North and Ayala Center Cebu.

In the Shakespeare tragedy, the titular king sees two old fathers — a King and a courtier — reject the children who truly love them. Their blindness unleashes a tornado of pitiless ambition and treachery, as family and state are plunged into a violent power struggle with bitter ends.

"The Motive and Cue," premiering in Greenbelt cinema on August 27, follows two thespians during a 1964 Broadway production of "Hamlet." "Vanya" will screen in Ayala Vertis North and Ayala Center Cebu on the same day.

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