National Theatre Live will partner with
the Royal Court and Playful Productions to broadcast Hangmen from London’s West End. It will be captured in
ultra-detailed Sony
4K and projected in the highest picture
quality to audiences across Vue Cinemas’ 84-site
estate.
The production marks the fourth collaboration in the year-long partnership between National Theatre Live, Vue Entertainment and Sony Digital Cinema 4K, which has already seen 4K productions of Behind the Beautiful Forevers, The Beaux Strategem and Hamlet hit the big screen from the stage. The work continues to garner the attention of cinema goers, with world-class theatrical experiences arriving on the big screen in unsurpassed 4K clarity.
Hangmen
is the latest production to get the bespoke 4K
event cinema treatment from the Wyndhams Theatre. Working closely with its
production partners, Sony has employed its versatile technology throughout the
established partnership to take plays from different environments, including
the Olivier Theatre, The Barbican and the Wyndhams Theatre, to the cinema screen.
Hangmen: shot and screened exclusively for Vue in
Sony 4K
Directed by Matthew
Dunster, Martin McDonagh’s Hangmen
sees The Walking Dead’s David Morrissey return to the West End. The production
marks The National Theatre’s first collaboration with the Royal Court, which is
celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. The production will
capture McDonagh’s dark and comic play in 4K detail, bringing clarity to the
set as it moves between hard-hitting scenes centred in a pub and a prison.
The production will be shot in 4K and delivered
for exclusive screenings to Vue customers around the country on Tuesday 22nd
March as a 4K DCP (Digital Cinema Package). This will allow audiences to fully
appreciate the expanded colour space captured by Sony’s PMW-F55 4K camera – giving cinemagoers a life-like
experience with richer, more vibrant on-screen tones and textures than conventional
HD transmission.
“Hangmen stood out as a great choice
for capturing in 4K” notes National Theatre Live Producer, Emma Keith. “We’re
able to bring more colour and depth to the scenes, with the ability to enhance
the storytelling through 4K. The detail with which audiences can see the action
is outstanding, and this is set to be another one of a kind production.”
4K reveals every detail of world-class
drama
Hangmen will be captured using 6 x Sony PMW-F55 cameras. Produced with Soho
Digital Cinema, NEP Visions and Presteigne to achieve resolution four times that
of Full HD, the immersive clarity and detail of 4K will reveal the subtlest
nuance of each performance.
Audiences at Vue Cinemas around the country will exclusively be able to
experience the on-stage action in 4K, as if they’re right there in the
auditorium. Screened with Vue’s fleet of Sony Digital Cinema 4K Projectors, these special 4K Encore showings will bring the
NT production to life. It’s an ideal opportunity for theatre fans to experience
the drama at their local cinema and for cinemagoers to enjoy the ultimate
theatre seat at the comparably lower cost of a cinema ticket.
“Presented in Sony 4K, this visual
production pushes the rapidly-evolving boundaries of event cinema” says David
McIntosh, Vice President, Sony Digital Cinema 4K Solutions for Europe and the
Americas. “This production is the culmination of a very successful and
rewarding first year with National Theatre Live and Vue Entertainment which has
bought outstanding theatre to audiences across the country. We’re committed to
working with partners to pioneer the most impactful experiences for consumers
whether that’s helping our exhibitors show the latest blockbusters in the best
possible quality or changing the game of event cinema. Sony is working from
capture right through to delivery in 4K with the productions under the partnership
and Hangmen is yet another example of
this in practice.”
Kevin Styles, Managing Director (UK & Ireland) of Vue Entertainment.
“At Vue we place entertainment and digital innovation at the heart of our
services and we are proud to bring this exclusive 4K production to our
customers. Importantly, those customers who wouldn’t normally be able to access
such fantastic theatrical productions can now not only enjoy the thrill of live
events but can do so in the most technically innovative way in the best seat in
the house.”
About NT Live
National Theatre
Live is an initiative by the National Theatre to broadcast live
performances onto cinema screens around the world.Since its first
season, which began in June 2009 with the acclaimed production of Phédre
starring Helen Mirren, over 4.5 million people have now experienced the
work of National Theatre Live in cinemas worldwide. In addition to the
record-breaking broadcast of The Audience starring Helen
Mirren as The Queen (winner of two 2013 Olivier Awards, including the Best
Actress award for Mirren), recent broadcasts have included, Nicholas Hytner’s
acclaimed production of Othellowith Adrian Lester
and Rory Kinnear, the Donmar Warehouse production of Coriolanus
with Tom Hiddleston, in the title role, the Young Vic’s production of A
Streetcar Named Desire with Gillian Anderson and Skylight from the West
End with Bill Nighy and Carey Mulligan.
