NT Live: Travelling Light
A new play by Nicholas Wright.
How had a twenty-two-year–old pretentious layabout made a discovery that would elude every other cinematic pioneer for years to come?
In a remote village in Eastern Europe, around 1900, the young Motl Mendl is entranced by the flickering silent images on his father's cinematograph. Bankrolled by Jacob, the ebullient local timber merchant, and inspired by Anna, the girl sent to help him make moving pictures of their village, he stumbles on a revolutionary way of storytelling. Forty years on, Motl – now a famed American film director – looks back on his early life and confronts the cost of fulfilling his dreams.
I know it was in the picture. I made the picture and now the cow's getting paid and I'm not!.
Following Vincent in Brixton and The Reporter, Nicholas Wright's new play is a funny and fascinating tribute to the East European immigrants who became major players in Hollywood's golden age. The award-winning Antony Sher - whose previous work with the.
National Theatre includes Primo and Stanley - returns to play Jacob.
Stop Press!: Immediately after the curtain call, a Q&A session with director Nicholas Hytner, writer Nicholas Wright and film critic Jason Solomons will be transmitted.
The National Theatre is inviting you to submit questions via Facebook, Twitter and email before the broadcast starts. You will also have an opportunity to submit a question during the interval.
