Coming to New Zealand from October. . .National Theatre Live is a groundbreaking initiative to broadcast productions from the stages of London’s National Theatre to cinema screens around the world. The programme began its pilot season in June 2009 with a production of Phedre, starring Helen Mirren, which screened live in 70 cinemas across the UK. 200 more venues eventually showed the production internationally, resulting in a combined audience of around 50,000 people for this one performance.