Coming up at the Merlin Theatre

There’s a busy weekend coming up at the Merlin Theatre.

On Thursday 12th April, the theatre is screening National Theatre Live’s Julius Caesar, coming live from The Bridge Theatre, London. Caesar returns in triumph to Rome and the people pour out of their homes to celebrate. Alarmed by the autocrat’s popularity, the educated élite conspire to bring him down.

After his assassination, civil war erupts on the streets of the capital. Political backstabbing – whether real or metaphorical – is always in the news and Nicholas Hytner’s production will thrust the audience into the street party that greets Caesar’s return, the congress that witnesses his murder, the rally that assembles for his funeral and the chaos that explodes in its wake.

Ben Whishaw and Michelle Fairley play Brutus and Cassius, David Calder plays Caesar and David Morrissey is Mark Antony.

On Friday 13th April, Angel Exit Theatre returns to the Merlin with The Drive. Two women. A fractured friendship. A car full of boxes and a message from a dead friend, The Drive recounts an unexpected Nordic road trip which sees two estranged friends thrown together on a tense journey from London to Oslo.

The further Becky and Nat get from home the closer they come to confronting the demons of their shared past. Spliced through with humour, slick physicality, an original contemporary soundtrack and video projection, The Drive is a show about friendship, grief, the fragility of memory, turning 40, and coming of age in the 1990s. Recommended 12+.

On Saturday 14th April at 5.30pm, Verdi’s opera Luisa Milla will be screened direct from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, with the legendary Placido Domingo.

This rarely-performed Verdi gem is a heart-wrenching tragedy based on Friedrich Schiller’s novel Intrigue and Love. Sonya Yoncheva sings the title role opposite Piotr Beczała as Rodolfo, with Domingo as Luisa’s stern-yet-loving father.

On Sunday 15th April Dr Phil Hammond returns to the Merlin with his current show ‘Happy Birthday NHS?’ and  will be posing some urgent questions: Nye Bevan’s beautiful baby is 70 this year, but will she make a ton? A decade of austerity with a Brexit cherry on top has brought her to her knees. Do we just keep doing what we’re doing, or is it time for a radical rethink? We claim to love he NHS but then systematically abuse her by abusing ourselves. And nobody likes picking up the bill. Dr Phil looks back to the start of the NHS and forward to the future. Can we still afford universal high-quality care for all? Will technology save us, bankrupt us or kill us?

See www.merlintheatre .co.uk or phone 01373 465949 for further details and to book.