Hansard – NT Live (12A)

by Simon Wood

See two-time Olivier Award winners, Lindsay Duncan (Birdman, About Time) and Alex Jennings (The Lady in the Van, The Queen), in this witty and devastating portrait of the governing class, broadcast live from the National Theatre in London.

Hansard noun: The official report of all parliamentary debates.

It’s a summer’s morning in 1988 and Tory politician Robin Hesketh has returned home to the idyllic Cotswold house he shares with his wife of 30 years, Diana.

But all is not as blissful as it seems. Diana has a stinking hangover, a fox is destroying the garden, and secrets are being dug up all over the place. As the day draws on, what starts as gentle ribbing and the familiar rhythms of marital scrapping quickly turns to blood-sport.

Directed by Simon Godwin (NT Live: Antony & Cleopatra, Twelfth Night) and part of National Theatre Live’s 10^th birthday season.

★★★★           ‘Touching and illuminating all at once’   The Times

★★★★           ‘Engrossing and incisive. Performances simply take the breath away’  WhatsOnStage

‘Timely, very moving and beautifully delivered by the superb Alex Jennings and Lindsay Duncan’  Financial Times

‘Two marvellous actors at their intricate best’     The Observer