The Players to Show Ian McKellen as KING LEAR and SAMSOM ET DALILA

The Peterborough Players theatre on Hadley Rd is brimming with activity this weekend as they present encore screenings from the MET Opera and London's National Theatre as part of their Arts On Screen season.

First, on Saturday, November 3 at 1:00pm the Players present a screening of a screening of the Met Opera's Samsom et Dalila. Mezzo-soprano El?na Garan?a and tenor Roberto Alagna reunite in the title roles of Saint-Saëns's biblical epic Samson et Dalila. Darko Tresnjak, who won a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical in 2014 for A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder, makes his Met debut directing a vivid, seductive staging, featuring a monumental setting for the last-act Temple of Dagon, where the hero crushes his Philistine enemies. Sir Mark Elder conducts the first new Met production of the work in 20 years. Runtime is approximately 3 hours and 28 minutes including 2 intermissions

Then on Sunday, November 4 at 1pm they present KING LEAR starring Ian McKellen. Jonathan Munby directs this contemporary retelling of Shakespeare's tender, violent, moving and shocking play. 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. Runtime is approximately 3 hours and 58 minutes including one intermission.

Tickets to Metropolitan Opera screenings are $25. Tickets to National Theatre Live screenings are $20. For tickets and information on this and all upcoming productions, call 603-924-7585 and visit www.peterboroughplayers.org. The Peterborough Players is located at 55 Hadley Road in Peterborough, NH.