Fathom Events, National Theatre Live and BY Experience Present KING LEAR and ANTONY & CLEOPATRA in Movie Theaters This Fall

Tragedy never looked so good. Fathom Events, BY Experience and National Theatre Live announce two of William Shakespeare's famed tragedies for cinema screens this fall. Captured live from the Duke of York's Theatre in London's West End and exhibited the same day in U.S. cinemas, Ian McKellen's highly-praised performance as the title character in the Chichester Festival Theatre's "King Lear" screens on Thursday, September 27 only at 7pm local time. On December 6, director Simon Godwin returns to National Theatre Live with his production of "Antony & Cleopatra" from the Olivier Theatre, also at 7pm local time in cinemas.

Tickets for these and the previously announced NT Live exhibition of director Danny Boyle's "Frankenstein" (October 22 and 29 only) can be purchased at www.FathomEvents.com and participating theater box offices. Fathom Events will present both "King Lear" and "Antony & Cleopatra" in more than 500 select movie theaters through Fathom's Digital Broadcast Network (DBN). For a complete list of theater locations visit the Fathom Events website (theaters and participants are subject to change).

"Audiences across the country will now have unparalleled access to the best of British theater, right in their local cinema," said Julie Borchard-Young, co-president of BY Experience. Both 'King Lear' and 'Antony & Cleopatra' will be delivered in the highest-production standards, providing audiences the best seat in the house, direct to cinema screens".

Considered by many to be the greatest tragedy ever written, "King Lear" sees two aging fathers - one a King, one his courtier - reject the children who truly love them. Their blindness unleashes a tornado of pitiless ambition and treachery, as family and state are plunged into a violent power struggle with bitter ends.

Directed by Jonathan Munby, "King Lear" features Oscar®-nominated, Tony® and Oliver award-winning Ian McKellen in an 'extraordinarily moving portrayal' (Independent) of the tormented King Lear.

Director Simon Godwin's (Twelfth Night) "Antony & Cleopatra" will move audiences as Shakespeare's fated couple, Marc Antony (Ralph Fiennes) and CLEOPATRA (Sophie Okonedo), find themselves in a tragic fight between devotion and duty, where their obsession becomes the catalyst for war.

"We are excited to bring the best in London theatre to audiences nationwide," Fathom Events CEO Ray Nutt said. "The addition of 'King Lear' and 'Antony & Cleopatra' to the National Theatre Live line up gives fans an opportunity to see star-studded casts perform contemporary retellings of two of Shakespeare's most beautiful and tragic works."

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