Branagh plays to hit cinema screens

The Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company productions of The Winter’s Tale, The Entertainer and Romeo And Juliet are the latest shows to join the screening revolution and be broadcast live to UK and international cinemas.

The trio of plays are being staged alongside Harlequinade / All On Her Own and The Painkiller as part of the Branagh season at London’s Garrick Theatre. They are brought to cinemas in partnership with Picturehouse Entertainment.

Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, which stars Dame Judi Dench alongside Branagh, Olivier Award winner John Dagleish, Tom Bateman, Jessie Buckley, Hadley Fraser, Adam Garcia, Michael Pennington, Zoë Rainey and Miranda Raison, will be the first to hit the silver screen. It will be broadcast on 26 November.

Speaking about the screenings, director and performer Branagh said: “In 2015, where theatre making and film making meet is exciting. The cinema broadcasts of our plays hope to challenge the possibilities of this relationship. We have a team of people who are experienced in both worlds. The potential results, particularly in exploring the magic of Shakespeare, should be fascinating… We will employ film techniques to make these broadcasts truly cinematic, without in any way compromising the theatrical experience.

“The Winter’s Tale is a play I have been drawn to through my entire career. Judi Dench has famously been in the play as Hermione and Perdita, but to have her in the company as Paulina and for us to work together on Shakespeare, which we have not done since Coriolanus in Chichester 20 years ago, is very rewarding.”

The Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company season begins next month when the Bard’s tragicomedy The Winter’s Tale plays in rep with Harlequinade / All On Her Own. The double bill of Terence Rattigan pieces pairs the tale of a theatre company attempting to produce The Winter’s Tale and Romeo And Juliet with a powerful monologue about a woman with a heart-breaking secret, performed by Zoë Wanamaker.