Richard Eyre

Archival footage provides a glimpse into the life of Cameron Mackintosh; the storied producer famous for Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera, Cats and many more.

Marking Play for Today’s 50th anniversary, Drama Out of a Crisis is a compelling exploration of the series, its origins, achievements, controversies and legacies. Featuring a rich and surprising range of archive extracts and original interviews with many who created the series, including producers Kenith Trodd, Margaret Matheson and Richard Eyre, and directors Mike Leigh, David Hare and Ken Loach.

Mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine reprises her remarkable portrayal of opera’s ultimate seductress, a triumph in her 2017 debut performances, with impassioned tenors Yonghoon Lee and Roberto Alagna as her lover, Don José. Omer Meir Wellber and Louis Langrée share conducting duties for Sir Richard Eyre’s powerful production, a Met favorite since its 2009 premiere.

Alfredo Germont and the courtesan Violetta Valéry fall in love at a party in Violetta's Paris salon. Alfredo is determined to cure Violetta of her tuberculosis, and the couple leave Paris and begin a contented life in the country. But Violetta's happiness is destroyed when Alfredo's father Giorgio Germont pays her a visit. Richard Eyre's stunning naturalistic production contrasts the superficial glamour of 19th-century Parisian high life with intimate scenes for Violetta with Alfredo and Giorgio Germont, culminating in the heart-breaking final act.

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

6.1/10
9.1%

In the midst of a marital crisis, a High Court judge must decide if she should order a life-saving blood transfusion for a teen with cancer despite his family's refusal to accept medical treatment for religious reasons.

6.7/10
7.3%

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London Live showing of Verdi's Traviata with subsequent re-screenings Violetta, a Parisian courtesan suffering from tuberculosis, is throwing a party to celebrate her recovery. A young nobleman, Alfredo, plans to attend, and has long been in love with Violetta. Before long, Violetta has fallen for him as well, but Alfredo's father disapproves of their relationship. He convinces Violetta to leave Alfredo for the sake of his family's image, not realising how ill she really is. Richard Eyre's production of 'La Traviata' immerses the audience in the indulgence of 19th Century Paris, a vivid setting for Verdi's famous score.

Kristine Opolais is the young woman whose conflicting desires for love and luxury lead to her tragic end, and Roberto Alagna plays the man who falls for her in Puccini’s early hit. Richard Eyre’s elegant production, which sets the action in 1940s occupied France, was one of the highlights of the Met’s 2015–16 season. Massimo Cavalletti as Manon’s brother and Brindley Sherratt as her aging admirer co-star, and Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi is on the podium.

One fateful night in a small English regional theatre during World War II a troupe of touring actors stage a production of Shakespeares King Lear. Bombs are falling, sirens are wailing, the curtain is up in an hour but the actor/manager Sir who is playing Lear is nowhere to be seen. His dresser Norman must scramble to keep the production alive but will Sir turn up in time and if he does will he be able to perform that night? The Dresser is a wickedly funny and deeply moving story of friendship and loyalty as Sir reflects on his lifelong accomplishments and seeks to reconcile his turbulent friendships with those in his employ before the final curtain.

6.8/10
10%

Lesley Manville gives a career best performance in Richard Eyre's award-winning revival of Ibsen's poignant tragedy. Helene Alving (Lesley Manville) leads an outwardly contented life. It is the eve of the 10th anniversary of her husband's death, and she is about to open an orphanage as a memorial to him. To mark this occasion, her bohemian painter son Oswald (Jack Lowden) has returned from Paris. Helene plans to take the opportunity to reveal the truth to Oswald about his father. But the ghosts of the past erupt during an eventful evening, bringing the facade of civilised family life crashing down. Richard Eyre's production of Henrik Ibsen's coruscating masterpiece exploring the malign consequences of buried secrets and lies was universally acclaimed by the critics. It was also nominated for five Olivier Awards. This HD recording was captured at Trafalgar Studios during the play's strictly limited West End season.

Richard Eyre’s elegant production, which opened the Met’s 2014–15 season, sets the action of Mozart’s timeless social comedy in a manor house in 1930s Seville. Ildar Abdrazakov leads the cast as the resourceful Figaro set on outwitting his master, the philandering Count Almaviva, played by Peter Mattei. Marlis Petersen sings Susanna, the object of the Count’s affection and Figaro’s bride-to-be, Amanda Majeski is the Countess, and Isabel Leonard gives a standout performance as the pageboy Cherubino. Music Director James Levine on the podium brings out all the humor, drama, and humanity of Mozart’s score.

8.5/10

Georgian mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili gives a dynamic performance as Bizet’s iconic gypsy, the woman who lives by her own rules. Aleksandrs Antonenko is Don José, the soldier who falls under her spell, and Ildar Abdrazakov plays Escamillo, the swaggering bullfighter who takes Carmen away from Don José—an action that seals Carmen’s tragic fate. Anita Hartig is Micaëla, and Pablo Heras-Casado conducts Richard Eyre’s hit production, set in 1930s Spain.

7.7/10

Renée Fleming has matured into one of the finest sopranos around at the moment, a true star with a sparkling personality and a velvet-toned voice that is capable of wringing the finest emotions out of works by Strauss and Tchaikovsky that from a lesser singer could sound rather cold and clinical. I wouldn't have thought her voice would be so well suited to Violetta Valéry in La Traviata, and it does take some getting used to, but I think she at least brings a distinct quality to the role with an emotional heart that isn't always necessarily there when a leading diva uses it primarily as a display for her vocal talents. It's served well also by Antonio Pappano's conducting of the Royal Opera House Orchestra in a traditional, but effective production by Richard Eyre.

Richard Eyre’s stunning new production of Bizet’s opera was the talk of the town when it was unveiled on New Year’s Eve 2009. Elīna Garanča leads the cast as the iconic gypsy of the title—a woman desired by every man but determined to remain true to herself. Roberto Alagna is Don José, the soldier who falls under her spell and sacrifices everything for her love, only to be cast aside when the toreador Escamillo (Teddy Tahu Rhodes) piques Carmen’s interest. With dances created by star choreographer Christopher Wheeldon and conducted by rising maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin, this Carmen brings every aspect of Bizet’s tale to thrilling life, from its lighthearted beginning to its inevitably tragic climax.

8.4/10

The story of a husband who suspects his wife of adultery, and sets out to track down the other man in her life.

5.4/10
1.5%

A veteran high school teacher befriends a younger art teacher, who is having an affair with one of her 15-year-old students. However, her intentions with this new "friend" also go well beyond platonic friendship.

7.4/10
8.7%

We follow Henrik Ibsen throughout his life. From early shame over his father's bankruptcy, via bitterness over the then conservative public life, to his older years as a national institution that tourists gathered to watch on their way to their very punctual, daily lunch at the Grand Café in Oslo.

Humble Maria, who outfits top London theater star Ned Kynaston, takes none of the credit for the male actor's success at playing women. And because this is the 17th century, Maria, like other females, is prohibited from pursuing her dream of acting. But when powerful people support her, King Charles II lifts the ban on female stage performers. And just as Maria aided Ned, she needs his help to learn her new profession.

7.1/10
6.4%

Richard Eyre talks to Judi Dench about her art, her career and views on acting.

True story of the lifelong romance between novelist Iris Murdoch and her husband John Bayley, from their student days through her battle with Alzheimer's disease.

7/10
7.9%

An old woman in a rocking chair listens to a disembodied voice (her own) that recounts her life and that of her mother's. When the voice stops, she calls for more.

6.4/10

Adaptation of Shakespeare's play.

7.5/10

Political drama written by David Hare and starring John Thaw and based on Labour's disastrous 1992 election campaign. Labour leader George Jones battles with his party on the campaign trail of a general election.

7.4/10

Catharine Holly, a poor relation of a prominent New Orleans family, seems to be insane after her cousin Sebastian dies under mysterious circumstances on a trip to Europe. Sebastian's mother, Violet Venable, trying to cloud the truth about her son's homosexuality and death, threatens to lobotomize Catharine for her incoherent utterances relating to Sebastian's demise. Under the influence of a truth serum, Catharine tells the gruesome story of Sebastian's death by cannibalism at the hands of locals whose sexual favors he sought, using Catharine as a device to attract the young men (as he had earlier used his mother).

7.3/10

The film centres on the experiences of Robert Lawrence MC (played by Colin Firth), an officer of the Scots Guards during the Falklands War of 1982. While fighting at the Battle of Mount Tumbledown, Lawrence is shot in the head by an Argentine sniper, and left paralysed on his left side. He then must learn to adjust to his new disability.

7.4/10

Visualisation of Tony Harrison's poem "v.". v. is about the multiple meanings of the letter - victory, versus, verses, etc. Starting from an incident in a Leeds' graveyard where the poet's parents' headstone has been defaced with graffiti,v. rises to a view of the divisions, antagonisms and aspirations within British society, and the poets own self.

7.6/10

67 year-old Victor is forced to move into an old people's home but he prefers to grow old disgracefully.

8.4/10

Franz, a young man, works in a dye factory in Prague. One day he notices a skin-rash, like eczema, growing on his hands. All attempts to treat it with ointment fail, and the rash gradually spreads over his body. After complaining to the management he is laid off work; his relationship with his fiancee is affected. In an attempt to get compensation from his former employers he goes to insurance firm Assicurazion Generali, where he encounters an enigmatic clerk called Kafka.

7.6/10

A farmer becomes an unintentional celebrity when, because of a strike, he has to walk his 5000 geese 100 miles to market.

5.9/10

A political drama scripted by novelist Ian McEwan about a cunning journalist who does everything to get to the top of his profession, but what he doesn't know is that, he himself is being played by others.

6.6/10

A woman (Lindsay Duncan) enlists a man (Stephen Rea) who claims he is gay to accompany her on a long drive to a feminist conference in Munich.

6.3/10

Madame Ranevsky and her daughter Anya return home from Paris to find that their beloved family estate and cherry orchard are to be auctioned off to pay debts. Lopahin, a former serf on the estate who is now a walthy landowner, proposes razing the home and cherrt orchard and dividing the estate into plats that could be leased at great profit. The family, however, continues to hold out hope that their beloved home can somehow be saved from destruction.

6.7/10

In 1945, the Carlions assemble at an English country house for a family gathering. During the event, they must determine who is to take over the family brewing empire, since the present head of the business, Sir Frederick, is getting old. The results of the 1945 general election causes a major stir, and some angry farmers occupy a barn.

7.2/10

Colin Pasmore tests his strength against his family ties but finds them stronger than he ever imagined.

An Englishman's home is his castle, and Wallie aims to prove it.

Frank, a young lad from Sheffield, leaves home to seek his fortune in London; he finds the big city not all what he had expected

In his further adventures Frank finds success and unhappiness.

School leaver Gordon Saville (Martyn Hesford) joins the army.

Second World War drama - A young woman decides against working in a munitions factory, and lands a post with the signals corps attempting to crack the Enigma code.

A village in Cheshire. A deserted cinema. A poet murdered by Stalin. A blown fuse. Victor Silvester. Pickets on trial. Trimmers and fishwires. These are some of the elements of Tony Perrin's play.

Comedians is a TV movie/play by Trevor Griffiths, set in a Manchester evening class for aspiring working-class comedians.

8.3/10

A watchmaker finds his livelihood is threatened by cheaply imported digital watches.

9.2/10

Play For Today written by and starring Neville Smith. Christian Harvey , a local radio DJ and ageing rocker, is an obsessive fan of Elvis and the news of Elvis's death is for him a personal tragedy as well as the end of an era.

8.2/10

Grace leaves her old folks' home to return to her birthplace in Lambeth, a place which has changed on the surface but at its heart is still the same.

What happens to provincial journalists when there's nothing in the news and they have a paper to fill?

George, a black South African, finds it hard to settle down in London after his experiences in South Africa.

One man's view of the British Army in Germany - the social life, discipline, drink, women and, occasionally, the defence of the West.

Set in a geriatric ward within a small hospital, when news of its closure begins to reach the community, the hospital invites a local news crew to document their planning of a concert in honor of the hospital's most celebrated nurse. But there might be something more threatening to the hospital itself, more deadly than the politicians ready to shut down the place at a moment's notice.

6.8/10
8.5%